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dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
All’s Well may be one of the weirdest book I have ever read, and I mean that in the best possible way. Any fan’s of the fever dream-esque atmosphere of Bunny will adore this novel, since the stream of consciousness writing amplified the feeling.
For any fans of character studies, Shakespeare, and darker stories, I would 100000% recommend.
For any fans of character studies, Shakespeare, and darker stories, I would 100000% recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When I attempt to rate books, I try to take into consideration both how much I personally enjoyed it as well as objectively how well written the book was. I personally did not enjoy reading this book for the most part, however I do feel as though it was interesting and thought-provoking and therefore I gave it a middle range score.
Good chunks of this book were what I imagine an ecstasy trip would feel like. Miranda, our protagonist, has chronic pain that it seems everyone thinks she could simply will away if she wasn't so set on being miserable. This book is a solid commentary on how society and doctors especially don't take female pain seriously. However, the book takes a turn into magical realism territory when three strange men appear (Macbeth's witches?) to "help" her. This is where the whole "ecstasy trip" thing starts to ramp up. In addition, the ending was very open-ended and a little confusing which was probably the point but just wasn't for me personally. However, I always have to give points to a book for having theatre references.
If you enjoy reading books that are a bit outside the norm, character-driven, and have unresolved endings, you would probably enjoy this more than I did.
Good chunks of this book were what I imagine an ecstasy trip would feel like. Miranda, our protagonist, has chronic pain that it seems everyone thinks she could simply will away if she wasn't so set on being miserable. This book is a solid commentary on how society and doctors especially don't take female pain seriously. However, the book takes a turn into magical realism territory when three strange men appear (Macbeth's witches?) to "help" her. This is where the whole "ecstasy trip" thing starts to ramp up. In addition, the ending was very open-ended and a little confusing which was probably the point but just wasn't for me personally. However, I always have to give points to a book for having theatre references.
If you enjoy reading books that are a bit outside the norm, character-driven, and have unresolved endings, you would probably enjoy this more than I did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
All's Well has very intense descriptions of chronic pain. Miranda's pain truly dictates every part of her day. Despite her immense suffering, she experiences disbelief and cruelty from friends and medical professionals alike. Everyone Miranda knows suggests that her symptoms are psychosomatic. As if real, lasting pain wouldn't be a consequence of a traumatic accident. Mona Awad vividly and empathetically portrays Miranda's world of pain and the resulting painkiller addiction.
This wouldn't be a Mona Awad book, though, without a hypnotic descent into fever dream territory. After Miranda has a magical encounter at a pub, her narration becomes more and more unreliable. What's real in Miranda's life? She herself has no idea. This segment of the book was certainly an entertaining rollercoaster ride. However, it seemed to drag on and on only to maintain ambiguity. Perhaps my lack of familiarity with Shakespeare's less popular plays is what led to my feeling of disconnect from All's Well by its ending. I could tell that Awad was referencing Shakespearean tropes and characters but many of the references flew right over my head.
This wouldn't be a Mona Awad book, though, without a hypnotic descent into fever dream territory. After Miranda has a magical encounter at a pub, her narration becomes more and more unreliable. What's real in Miranda's life? She herself has no idea. This segment of the book was certainly an entertaining rollercoaster ride. However, it seemed to drag on and on only to maintain ambiguity. Perhaps my lack of familiarity with Shakespeare's less popular plays is what led to my feeling of disconnect from All's Well by its ending. I could tell that Awad was referencing Shakespearean tropes and characters but many of the references flew right over my head.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
What a vicious, chaotic book that I loved. It absolutely lulled me into a false sense of security for the first half and I forgot it’s also a horror from Mona Awad’s bizarre brain and it got dark. But where Bunny didn’t stick the landing for me, this absolutely did. I think it’s an incredible social commentary piece, though the first 100 pages are slow going (though I do think that may have been me trying to read this during finals). The hallucinations at the end get hard to parse from reality but I do believe that’s the point - major Black Swan vibes once we got deep into the rehearsal process. Either way it can only get 5 stars from me. Twisty and positively bizarre. I adore a woman antihero and want more books like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug use, Sexual violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I listened to this as an audiobook and I just want to say MY GOD, WHAT AN AMAZING NARRATOR.
Having said that, I didn’t love this read. In the first part I was hypnotized; I loved every single bit, I felt so understood with my injured knee, I appreciated the writing so much! I even read along All’s Well That Ends Well because I could tell it was just going to be that kind of quality read with depth and subtexts! And then by the middle part of the book I honestly just wanted it to be over, I was so tired and embarrassed for the main character I actually yelled at her a couple of times because I just needed her to snap out of it. I KNOW this is a sign of great writing because… that was kind of the point, wasn’t it? But for it to go in for so long I really couldn’t take it anymore. I honestly only finished it because I go on half an hour walks every day and I listen to my current audiobook as I walk. I do have to say the last 30% of the book took back what it’d left in the beginning and it was wacky and intense and I did appreciate it a lot, I also could feel how the author weaved the book in a theatre structure like I really can’t say this is a bad book because it’s really well constructed but If I ever reread this I would just skip the middle. The ending was nice, like a flower saying All’s Well after that damn nightmare but I did feel like it lacked something, I’m not sure what.
Having said that, I didn’t love this read. In the first part I was hypnotized; I loved every single bit, I felt so understood with my injured knee, I appreciated the writing so much! I even read along All’s Well That Ends Well because I could tell it was just going to be that kind of quality read with depth and subtexts! And then by the middle part of the book I honestly just wanted it to be over, I was so tired and embarrassed for the main character I actually yelled at her a couple of times because I just needed her to snap out of it. I KNOW this is a sign of great writing because… that was kind of the point, wasn’t it? But for it to go in for so long I really couldn’t take it anymore. I honestly only finished it because I go on half an hour walks every day and I listen to my current audiobook as I walk. I do have to say the last 30% of the book took back what it’d left in the beginning and it was wacky and intense and I did appreciate it a lot, I also could feel how the author weaved the book in a theatre structure like I really can’t say this is a bad book because it’s really well constructed but If I ever reread this I would just skip the middle. The ending was nice, like a flower saying All’s Well after that damn nightmare but I did feel like it lacked something, I’m not sure what.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail
dark
tense
something about this book just rubbed me the wrong way. a big part of that was definitely the way disability was talked about/used almost like a horror element in parts....it feels like it's supposed to show the reality of life as a woman with chronic pain, but it just ended up pushing cure rhetoric and framing disabled people as crabby old hags with "dead legs" who are resented by their former loved ones until they are cured and "back to normal" for the happy ending
I am literally begging authors to stop using the magically disabled and tragically disabled tropes in their books. it really shouldn't be this hard.
I also felt like Awad was trying to have an unreliable narrator but made her so unreliable that half of the story was lost. we only needed one sentence from a onlooker's pov to make the entire book make sense, but we didn't get that. instead, we got a bizarre ableist fever dream without any clear messaging. wild.
I am literally begging authors to stop using the magically disabled and tragically disabled tropes in their books. it really shouldn't be this hard.
I also felt like Awad was trying to have an unreliable narrator but made her so unreliable that half of the story was lost. we only needed one sentence from a onlooker's pov to make the entire book make sense, but we didn't get that. instead, we got a bizarre ableist fever dream without any clear messaging. wild.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexual content
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Alcohol
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content