Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - All's Well

Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

All's Well by Mona Awad

164 reviews

bdingz's review against another edition

4.25

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

A wild ride. As someone who now experiences some (comparatively) mild chronic pain, I shared many of Miranda’s frustrations. Despite her not being “likeable,” I felt like I was rooting for her the whole time. This book is kind of genre-defying, but it definitely has horror elements. The end leaves the reader with questions, though at the same time, I don’t think it ends in an unsatisfactory way.

Content Warnings

kingsamong's review against another edition

4.25

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

lisa00's review

3.0

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

bluberrybooks's review against another edition

4.5

challenging funny mysterious reflective tense medium-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

I enjoyed the story writing and the story itself. The way she talks about pain and how the doctors and people around her treat her is very real. Doctors dismiss and don't really listen to their patients. They all have their own idea of chronic pain that is flawed and treat their patients horribly in different ways wheather they mean to or not. I have chronic apin and I related to doctors/ physical therapists not really understanding or not having the knowledge to help me. There were many lines that's struck me.

I loved the magic and dream sequences. It felt like a thriller, comedy, drama and realistic fiction all at once. I love the different genres combined

All's well really captures chronic pain and how ignored and overlooked it is by everyone around you even family.

Spoiler...

I love the character development even if it was small with most of the characters like Briana and how Grace apologized Miranda grew as a character as well.

This review is not well written, but I loved it overall

Content Warnings

vigil's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

hallucinatory and bizarre. the only way i can describe it.

the way this book is set up is to function as a retelling of all’s well, the play being put on during the book. i’m not too familiar with all’s well that ends well but from what i’ve gathered, it does it adequately. but a part of me wonders why it even bothered at all, considering it had nothing new to contribute. i feel like if you’re going to create a retelling of a shakespearean play and put your own spin on it, you should at least have something to say.

the main on going theme throughout this book is pain (physical and emotional) but with the odd pacing, and overwhelming plot that got a bit lost in the noise. i feel like mona actually had really insightful things to say, but she tried to make a metaphor a plot, (which can absolutely be done and done well, writers do it all the time, i just don’t think it was here) and then it just went off the rails.

the plot builds to an immense degree, to the point where the ending just feels lackluster. i usually don’t mind an open ended finish but i don’t think it was executed to its fullest potential here. at the end of it all i was left thinking “ok now what? why did we do all of that?”

and that’s really the question i have about the novel as a whole. what was the point? i feel like there may have been one at some moment or another, or popping in and out, but it drowned in the sea of weird. this book has several hundred pages and manages to say too much and not enough at the same time.

the writing style, reflective of miranda’s mental state, is longwinded and repetitive. i didn’t mind this much, but there were several times where my eyes glazed of the descriptions because it became too much.

i think this review gives off a harsher view of this book than i have. i did actually enjoy this, and it’s a total page turner. mona awad is in excellent writer and i do plan to read more from her. but this book wasn’t what i thought it would be coming into it, and even while reading it. if you wanna have a fun, weird, worrying, time and have a background metaphor for pain weaved in throughout, you should read it.

it’s not a bad book in the least, but at the end of it i came away feeling “that’s it?”

Content Warnings

carbs666's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Completely gripping. I couldn't read it during my lunch break because I knew I wouldn't be able to tear myself away to go back to work. This book is dark and surreal and so compelling. I love the way Awad weaves magic into the mundane and I love how distinctive Miranda's narrative voice is with those staccato sentences. Just a really, really good book.

Content Warnings