Rouge: A Novel

“I would be watching Marva all night while I double cleansed in the dark, then exfoliated, then applied my many skins of essence and serum, pressing each skin into my burning face with the palms of both hands […] The next day, when I opened my suitcase in the hotel in La Jolla, all I found in there was a French mystery novel, some underwear, and seven ziploc bags full of skin products. Apparently, I remembered the Botanical Resurrection Serum and the Diamond-Infused Revitalizing Eye Formula and my three current favorite exfoliating acids. I remembered the collagen-boosting Orpheus Flower Peptide Complex and the green tea-and-chokeberry plumping essence and the Liquid Gold. I remembered the Dewy Bio-Radiance Snow Mushroom Mist and the Advanced Luminosité snail slime, among many other MARs—Marva Adamantly Recommends. But not a single dress.”

Awad uses polysyndeton to suggest the excessive nature of Mira’s skincare routine and emphasize its centrality to her life. The detailed names of the products emphasize beauty industry claims about what the products will do, particularly words like resurrection, revitalizing, and plumping. Awad introduces the theme of The Insidious Nature of the Beauty Industry through Mira’s devotion to her skincare guru, Marva, and the extent to which she prioritizes her skin products over necessities like clothing.

“A clock somewhere ticks and ticks. Didn’t know Mother had a clock like that. Tick, tick, telling me I should move along. All I’ve done so far is unpack the box Sylvia gave me from the shop basement. Disappointing. Mostly old dolls—my childhood dolls, I guess. They all looked exactly alike, like Mother, in fact. Pale skin. Blue eyes of glass that stared up at me unblinking. There was an old clock in there too, with a picture of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on the face. Funny, I don’t remember owning a clock like that. There was a red diary, locked, no key. A picture book of what looked like a Snow White story. The Beautiful Maiden, it was called. Very worn. Spine cracked. I must have loved that story once.”

This passage includes several sentence fragments—like “Disappointing.” and “Pale skin.”—which reflect Mira’s disjointed thought process. Awad also includes an allusion to “Snow White,” which underlines the novel’s focus on beauty and envy and foreshadows some of the novel’s magical elements, like Seth coming out of the mirror.

“The music is louder now, a celestial drone full of airy chimes. Sort of like what you might hear in a spa. Just then I notice the signs in the arches above each corridor flanking the grand staircase: SIGNATURE RITUALS, reads one. VOYAGES MERVEILLEUX, reads the other. Up on the wall, there’s a screen playing a video of a very white woman with her eyes closed. She has small black discs on either side of her face. She looks to be in absolute bliss. Superimposed over her pale face are lapping ocean waves. A Rendez-Vous with Yourself, it reads in red looping letters by her high, plump cheek. I smile. A spa. Of course. There’s even what looks like a little boutique in that corner over there. Tall glass cabinets full of red bottles and jars. Each cabinet backlit like the products within are works of art. The red jars are just like the ones in Mother’s apartment. She must have come here for treatments. Now I’m really smiling. So this was it, Mother. Your secret place. Probably you loved the little French touches, the old-Hollywood fashion. Sipping red stars.”

This passage provides a vivid sensory description of the standard spa-like elements of La Maison de Méduse. Awad simultaneously includes ominous, uncanny details, like the red color of the champagne and the celestial quality of the music. This contrast foreshadows the subtheme that develops later in the novel: the contrast between beautiful appearance and terrible actions. Additionally, this passage alludes to how beauty standards are rooted in whiteness, from the “very white” and “pale” woman in the advertisement to the use of French to convey luxury.