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adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness
Moderate: Death of parent
dark
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexual content
dark
mysterious
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 have no idea what just happened. I think that was the point.
When presented with an unreliable narrator in a story that's supposed to confuse the reader, my preference is to receive at least a few kernels of truth from an outside perspective. That way, I can use those kernels of truth to create my own theories about what is actually going on. Awad doesn't provide any source of truth outside of Miranda's narration, which gives readers no starting point in deciphering what is true and what is not. As soon as I felt like I had a handle on the truth, a bunch of curveballs were thrown. I closed the book having more questions than answers. I assume that was Awad's intent, and it's a valid artistic choice, but it's not my preference. By the end, I was so overwhelmed by the chaos that I didn't care to figure out the truth or tie up the loose ends in my mind.
Basically, if you love weird shit that is not supposed to ever make sense, pick up this book. If you need things to make at least a little sense, skip this one.
When presented with an unreliable narrator in a story that's supposed to confuse the reader, my preference is to receive at least a few kernels of truth from an outside perspective. That way, I can use those kernels of truth to create my own theories about what is actually going on. Awad doesn't provide any source of truth outside of Miranda's narration, which gives readers no starting point in deciphering what is true and what is not. As soon as I felt like I had a handle on the truth, a bunch of curveballs were thrown. I closed the book having more questions than answers. I assume that was Awad's intent, and it's a valid artistic choice, but it's not my preference. By the end, I was so overwhelmed by the chaos that I didn't care to figure out the truth or tie up the loose ends in my mind.
Basically, if you love weird shit that is not supposed to ever make sense, pick up this book. If you need things to make at least a little sense, skip this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Medical trauma
Moderate: Death, Violence
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug use, Medical trauma, Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
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
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use
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
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
Well presented woman’s grief and chronic illness however the ending was not satisfactory— to rough and blunt and for it it’s not a 5 star read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness