Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

All's Well by Mona Awad

61 reviews

lizpodgorny's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious fast-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

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I loved this book. It was thought provoking and the writing elicited strong emotions. I found the narration and POV to be interesting. I’m a huge Shakespeare fan so I appreciated the combination of elements from All’s Well That Ends Well and MacBeth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Alcohol

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

silverseaslug's review against another edition

3.0

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

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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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Sexual content

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Blood, Death of parent

moxiereads's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

annaonthepage's review against another edition

4.0

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

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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.

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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.

richelleski's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Dysphoria

jettiphoned's review against another edition

4.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail

cannibalgender's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

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I read this whole thing while bedridden from extreme pain due to endometriosis and oh my g-d did it make the experience that much more intense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical trauma

megan_xn's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gaslighting

glassflowrr's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

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This one was not quite as punchy and feverish as Awad's other novels, but I still enjoyed it. Definitely recommend starting here if you aren't sure you'll like her more dreamlike and feverish stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail