recently read: rouge by mona awad

 Today I bring you my most recent read of 2024: Rouge by Mona Awad. This is the second book I've read by her (the first being Bunny) and I have really come to like her writing style. The main character, Mirabelle -- also referred to as Belle in the story -- has such interesting internal dialogue, and the writing style of the novel fits the bill perfectly. The story follows a woman whose mother just mysteriously passed away on the cliffs of La Jolla, in San Diego. She also finds herself weirdly obsessed with skincare videos by the same individual. She travels from Montreal to deal with her mother's piling debts and rundown apartment when she attends a haunting French spa on the cliffs. 

I found this story much more intriguing than Bunny, but maybe I am biased. As a San Diego local myself, we all wonder what the hell is happening on the La Jolla cliffs because the people who own houses there are so obscenely rich they have to be doing some kind of creepy ritual or whatnot. It is always interesting to see how color shapes a story, and this is a perfect example. The spa's main colors are black, white, and red, with lots of shades of gray/silver in the mix. These colors play a great part in Belle's skincare obsession and her crumbling relationship with her mother that leads up to her untimely death. 

Belle is a main character that you initially will probably dislike, because she seems to be a rambling, almost insufferable downer about everything, even when she claims not to miss her mother. However, as the story progressed, I found myself wanting her to solve her deep-rooted trauma and escape from those shackles. 

The supporting characters were almost perfect in my eyes. I loved all of them in their own ways: Tad, a stereotypical Californian, Sylvia, a pretentious older La Jolla native, and Hud Hudson (funny name), the beautiful investigator. Of course, many other supporting characters contribute to the weirdness of the Rouge Spa, but I don't want to give away too much in case you want to read it too. 

I saw people saying this was a retelling of Snow White, but honestly, it was really hard for me to even notice the story lining up the same way Snow White does. It is a great spinoff if that was her intention in writing and you won't even be able to tell this was inspired from a fairytale. I am very much looking forward to reading her next book, whenever that comes out.