From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?
For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.
Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.
(view spoiler)[ what on earth? who was the guy? what was this house? and who was the guy in her mom's place?
the red shoes, the obsession with staying young and all her products. Right now this feels like a fever dream. I like that she keeps saying things that make sense but what she's seeing/experiencing is so odd
(view spoiler)[ wow, this is still so twisted why are the mirrors cracked? Seth? Tad? who are all these men still around her now that her mother's gone?
and what is this other world? and this treatment? are they stealing her youth? stealing her years? trying to inhabit her?
and what happened to her mother? this is all so weird but I do like the audio so far! (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[ okay so Tom Cruise/Seth has been with her longer than we thought? or is this her inserting him into her previous memories as dreams or something? How was he both there when she was a kid and is here now?
and she's losing word meanings and not able to recognize people - just like her mom near the end. I don't understand what these treatments are yet. I hope this next "part" has her shaking out of this and we get more answers (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[ this is just getting weirder and weirder are these things feeding off her? are they getting redder from feeding on her?
I'm still so so confused. Are these demons?
that moment at the store when the officer arrived. it was so sad and so weird. they keep saying she looks so light - what's going on? and why did she call the mannequins her sisters? (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[ okay, now we know she did something to her mother and made her seemed worried about being attacked by her but this was something - again, this same weird man - that lead her to do it (even though she was so young).
how are the roses in the past and now? how is this guy in her life so so much? (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[ this was just so weird. eating the jellies, Tom Cruise again and again, roses and Lake and. . .
I did like the conclusion, her mom saying she couldn't save her but she'd tried. but the way of roses and the group of those trying to eat their beauty or youth. it was all so odd (hide spoiler)]
For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.
Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.