inciminci's Reviews > Rouge

All of Mona Awad’s characters feel so unique yet so familiar in that their patterns of speech are absolutely distinct and like nothing else I’ve read before, but also their constant questioning themselves and their wonky reality, as well as their internal turmoils escalating to clashes of madness and sanity are almost Shakespearean in their nature.

With her Oriental father and European mother, and all the identity crises that entails; her mother fixated on beauty and skincare and the resulting self-doubts about her own appearance, and finally her closeness to her grandmother who allows her liberties she's not normally granted, her latest novel Rouge’s lead woman Mirabelle is a character which hits close to home for me. Put that character in the aftermath of her parent's death, her obsession with skin care taking alarming dimensions and a cult-like formation claiming to help her, actually driving her more and more into some psychedelic adventure and add some jellyfish... Voilà, Rouge!

Awad's almost hypnotic writing can be perceived as monotonous or dull by some readers, who obviously don't vibe with the author's rhythm, but this style in actual fact serves to lull the reader into the reality, the addictions, longings and wishes of the lead character, their impotence in the face of their life situation. She then takes all this to escalate it slowly slowly to metaphoric absurdity, often resulting in the reader "waking up" at some point of the story, wondering how it ever could have gotten this far. Delicious.

I have been a fan of Mona Awad from the very first book I've read by her, All Is Well - a strange retelling of Shakespeare's Scottish Play with a main character preoccupied and buried so deep into her physical pains (and who lets us know all about it) that she would accept any deal with any three shady Scottish blokes to end it. Awad's absolutely unique understanding of horror and her absolutely original, yet similar, main characters speak to me like few other authors do and if there's a new release by her, it's natural for me to automatically purchase it, no questions asked. So it was for Rouge and I wasn't disappointed. I understand her writing isn't for everybody but with me she always, al-ways hits the mark, she makes me chuckle with her humor, makes me sigh with understanding of her characters' state, makes me wonder how anyone can be so kooky - I'm a big fan. And this eerie, yet strangely heartwarming tale has evoked all those feelings in me yet again. Even though I just got my fix I already can't wait for her next.