Reviews with content warning for Addiction - All's Well

Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

All's Well by Mona Awad

31 reviews

stripes_and_naps's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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.

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lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Although All's Well is classified as horror, similar to Bunny, but it could be more appropriately categorized under magical realism (or perhaps surrealism), just like Bunny.

This book confirmed my suspicion that Mona Awad will be an auto-buy author for me. Awad has indeed made it to my list of favorite authors because I have an affinity for the peculiar.

Articulating my thoughts on Awad's books is always a challenge, despite the excellence of her prose and storytelling. Rating All's Well was difficult as I found the ending slightly underwhelming. I sought more rage and a more unhinged narrative.

While I rate Bunny higher (I wish I could read that book for the first time again), All's Well is still a good read. It's just so frustrating for me to still not know what Miranda's, the main character of All's Well, mental health issue is, unlike in Bunny when it was clearly schizophrenia. However, maybe I'm overanalyzing and All's Well is merely about the dismissal of women's pain coupled with misogyny, even from women themselves.

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rachelly's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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pagesfromhome's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Awad really went there with this one. I have literally never read a book like this one in the best way possible.

Her stream-of-consciousness first-person writing is impeccable and pulls you through Miranda's story wonderfully. You go from pitying her to hating her to questioning her to fearing her to being scared for her, and through all of it you're left wondering what in the world could happen next. Awad does an incredible job of weaving Shakespearean nods throughout the characters and the plot seamlessly and it was really fascinating to see how she used that in her craft.

This also does a wonderful job of highlighting what it is to live with chronic pain with the need to be a "good patient" and how anger and fear can get involved. All in all, I'd call this a perfect book club pick or definitely one to add to your list if you like a story that keeps you guessing at every turn.

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