Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

All's Well by Mona Awad

42 reviews

soggymcflurry's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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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This authors writing style is very interesting and addicting. This book was slow and difficult to read at times. The parts of the book that are real representations of life are depressing and challenging. The parts that are creative and mysterious are disturbing enough to make you read on. There’s a lot to unpack and think about. 

Miranda’s descent includes a lot of stuff I didn’t care much about and struggled to connect to the story, and the end of the book was confusing at first. But overall a great read, especially for the chronically ill, the women filled with anger, people who have a small piece of them who desire revenge for the way the world has treated them, or fellow theater nerds.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing

stracciastela's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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the perfect greek tragedy
the descriptions of miranda's chronic pain was so visceral i kept flinching for no reason

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

perth_is's review against another edition

4.5

dark tense medium-paced

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I mean, god. What an enjoyable book! This book was point blank, so much fun and was gripping from beginning to end. It something very important to say about people with chronic pain not being believed by doctors and impacting their relationships in horrible ways, even more painful then the pain. Miranda believes that many people are her enemy and are against her and you can really see that fractured reality as you spend it in her head. More specifically, near the end of the book where she goes to sleep in the ocean. 

Were some points shoved in your face? Yeah but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of this book in any way. 

Also, another win for the lesbians!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

cameron_esten's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I read this in one sitting and literally could not put it down—I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The best kind of fever dream!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol

Moderate: Grief

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Hmm. Odd. But I don’t know enough about All’s Well That Ends Well to dispute this. I will say that I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style. Lots of repetition and also no one says another persons name that often when speaking to them?? “Hello, Miranda! Miranda, are you okay, Miranda? That’s so weird, Miranda. You’re limping, Miranda.” SHUT UP??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship

Minor: Body horror, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail

ellen_is_reading's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Blood, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol

Incredibly weird and witchy.

pussylungs's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

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Reality blurs as this character slowly spirals in a pill-induced haze down the rabbit hole of her own failures. Addicts and disabled folx will identify with this story, theatre lovers will find it amusing, and no one will know what is real and what is not. This book was meant to convey how women go insane from not being believed about their pain. But it turned out to be more about how addiction/lack of therapy & proper medical care/delusions can lead to a downward spiral. But hey, all's well that ends well, right?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail

danielatheinkdrinker's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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all’s well is mona awads portayal of chronic pain, she did wonderfully. i have fibromyalgia which is a chronic condition and i stopped myself more than once after i finished the book to make sense of this realization.
i am miranda. she is me.
it terrifies me, how i understand her pain all too well; however what terrifies me the most is: i wouldn’t doubt twice to take a trick. i. wouldn’t. think. twice.
this book; it’s fine, it’s all well. how could it now be? why would it not be?

But not too much pain, am I right? Not too much, never too much. If it was too much, you wouldn't know what to do with me, would you?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting

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.