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Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

All's Well by Mona Awad

164 reviews

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark funny slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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mysterious reflective tense fast-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

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I did not like this book.
There were a few nice pieces of writing, like the description of chronic nerve pain as "red webs", but mostly the writing felt clumsy, messy, and melodramatic. It has the feel of an edgy teenager's fanfiction, but not in a good way.
The plot feels very cliche but also doesn't resolve in a way that feels satisfying. It seemed like it was going to go in an interesting direction a few times, but then consistently took the most obvious and least interesting path.
There is also a bunch of weird moral implications? Maybe I'm missing something but the main character really seemed to be portrayed as a bad person for being unwell and angry about it. It was also peppered with fatphobia, and had a similar misogynistic undercurrent to Bunny. 
Also similar to Bunny, the implied experience of madness/psychosis/delusions felt very much how someone without much actual information or sensitivity around the subject would write it. Gave me the vibe of, again, am edgy teenager RPing as a ~crazy~ character. 
Overall disappointing. 

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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.

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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