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challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
This surreal novel tells the story of Miranda, a college theater director in Boston who lives with extremely debilitating chronic pain after a fall off a theater stage shattered her burgeoning acting career and caused her to have to undergo surgery on her hip and physical therapy, among other treatments that aren't working. She is doing battle with her body and her students and co-director about their Spring play, which Miranda wants to be Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well." One night, Miranda goes after rehearsal to her and her colleague Grace's favorite dive bar, contemplating ending her life, when she meets three mysterious men who give her a drink, the golden remedy, which gives her the power to seek vengeance by inadvertently transferring her pain to those who have wronged her. As Miranda's health improves, the people she made sick (her nemesis student, her physical therapist), things are finally going her way, but at what cost? I really loved this weird novel for it's depiction of navigating how people treat you when you have chronic pain and how much we take our health for granted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse, Misogyny
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was hard to tell what this book was going for a lot of the time. It was a good depiction of what it's like to live with chronic pain, certainly. It was a mildly interesting exploration of some of the themes from Macbeth and the titular All's Well that Ends Well. It could almost have been a YA novel, aside from all of the sex and profanity.
It certainly wasn't a gripping read. The first 1/4 of the book did a good job of setting up the characters and plot, and the ending was dramatic and compelling, but the middle half of the book really dragged. The writing was not bad, but the inner dialogue of the main character got pretty full after a while. I listened to it as an audiobook, otherwise I wouln't have finished it.
It certainly was not Shakespeare!
It certainly wasn't a gripping read. The first 1/4 of the book did a good job of setting up the characters and plot, and the ending was dramatic and compelling, but the middle half of the book really dragged. The writing was not bad, but the inner dialogue of the main character got pretty full after a while. I listened to it as an audiobook, otherwise I wouln't have finished it.
It certainly was not Shakespeare!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Sexual content
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Alcohol
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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
I loved this all the way through to the end, which left me dissatisfied. It really spoke to me as an actor and a woman with chronic pain. The elements of Macbeth woven into the story were delicious. There were some cheekily haunting refrains and a brilliant sense of character in the protagonist and her friend. I just wish it had committed fully and not pulled the punches in the end - it felt very much like a horror, with a building sense of dread, but then blew the threat away to turn it into magical realism. Which, I guess if you're reimagining Shakespeare, isn't unlikely. It's just not a trope that fit the rest of the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Abandonment
Minor: Fatphobia, Sexism, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Hard to guage content warnings for this book as a lot is of questionable reality and implication rather than graphic on-page fact, so have tried to enter with fitting levels of each instance.
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A Protagonist falling into madness but also existing in a magical realism space where you, the audience, can't tell what is in-universe fact from in-universe fiction? Honestly what a ride.
Awad makes an unsettling atmosphere early on and charges forward until I both feared for and felt fear of Miranda as she told the story. This book gave me a lot of anxiety even when I put it down, trying to go about my simple, regular life.
I haven't read anything like this, but also I don't know if I'd recommend it to any of my friends so it's hard to rate. but I do think it masterfully captures of an emotion, even if the plot suffers a bit for it
Awad makes an unsettling atmosphere early on and charges forward until I both feared for and felt fear of Miranda as she told the story. This book gave me a lot of anxiety even when I put it down, trying to go about my simple, regular life.
I haven't read anything like this, but also I don't know if I'd recommend it to any of my friends so it's hard to rate. but I do think it masterfully captures of an emotion, even if the plot suffers a bit for it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fucking insane. A worthy follow-up to Bunny. Witches, madness, chronic pain, & Shakespeare.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Death, Infertility, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
didn’t like the ending because it didn’t fit with the dark tone of the rest of the book, but the author has a lot of poignant things to say about chronic pain and medical sexism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol
Moderate: Death
Minor: Car accident
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
By the time I finished the first few paragraphs I knew I was hooked. The sardonic humor, paired with painfully relatable chronic pain representation set the tone for what truly was a wild ride. While I can admit that this book is not for everyone, I enjoyed the surreal elements as they kept me guessing. I also really enjoyed the references to Shakespeare. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Kurt Vonnegut’s work or who loves a good antihero.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol
Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Gaslighting
dark
funny
mysterious
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:
Yes
There are sexual elements to this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship
Minor: Injury/Injury detail