Looking beautiful
Belle, the novel's main character, is obsessed with having clear skin and looking beautiful. Her mother was very similar in that regard. However, this effort to look beautiful and young backfires for the women. Their lives become consumed with it; her mother was killed, in fact, because of this obsession. It also leads the two women to find La Maison de Méduse, a cult-like club and spa.
Ultimately, the two women's obsession with looking beautiful created the main conflict in the novel. It also added depth to each woman. On the outside, they were beautiful; however, on the inside, they were less beautiful. In fact, they both felt empty.
Cults
Cults is another important theme in Rouge. La Maison de Méduse, a club and spa, plays an important role in the novel. Awad portrays the institution as a cult. At first, women go there to get beauty treatments, and as a way to decompress with a community of women they are able to easily connect with. As Belle later discovers, however, La Maison de Méduse is more than a club and spa. It fosters a cult-like atmosphere centered around something called "the mirror," which allows people to peer into themselves and those around them. The novel makes the case that, left unchecked, a community like the one at La Maison de Méduse can easily turn into a damaging cult.
Mystery and intrigue
Another significant theme in Rouge is mystery and intrigue. After the sudden and shocking death of her mother, Belle was left perplexed. Although she was not close to her mother, she still loved her dearly and wanted nothing bad to happen to her. Because of this, after her mother's death, Belle travels to her mother's home in Southern California. There, she tries to unravel the mystery that is her mother's death. She begins to dissect every aspect of her mother's life, including her involvement with the cult-like spa La Maison de Méduse. While trying to uncover what happened to her mother, Belle also tries to unravel what is happening with her mother's estate, which appears exceptionally complex. She is able to find out what happened to her mother and is likewise able to discover what happened with her mother's estate.
