Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

All's Well by Mona Awad

11 reviews

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Gaslighting, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Medical content, Alcohol, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Stalking, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Medical content, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content

biobeetle's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death

noshinbean's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual content, Blood, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship

withlivjones's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Holy hell, Mona Awad has done it again. This book as it all: trippy dream sequences, mysterious characters reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, and overall a really powerful message about how women’s pain, especially if it’s invisible, is so often dismissed and erased. Part of me sympathises with and roots for Miranda as she gains the ability to take ownership of her chronic pain and punish those who have downplayed it, while part of me grows slightly more horrified as she descends further into insanity. This book, like Awad’s other writing, reads like an acid trip, and I am so here for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Ableism, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, and Alcohol

mothie_girlie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Addiction, Misogyny, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship

decie's review against another edition

dark tense

1.0

something about this book just rubbed me the wrong way. a big part of that was definitely the way disability was talked about/used almost like a horror element in parts....it feels like it's supposed to show the reality of life as a woman with chronic pain, but it just ended up pushing cure rhetoric and framing disabled people as crabby old hags with "dead legs" who are resented by their former loved ones

until they are cured and "back to normal" for the happy ending

 

I am literally begging authors to stop using the magically disabled and tragically disabled tropes in their books. it really shouldn't be this hard.

I also felt like Awad was trying to have an unreliable narrator but made her so unreliable that half of the story was lost. we only needed one sentence from a onlooker's pov to make the entire book make sense, but we didn't get that. instead, we got a bizarre ableist fever dream without any clear messaging. wild.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual content, Death, and Misogyny

Minor: Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Rape

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Medical trauma

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Death of parent and Violence

paperbackparker's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I was really loving this, but the ending wasn’t my favourite. However, Miranda and this story will stick with me for the rest of my life. As someone who deals with chronic pain and chronic illness, this book really left a mark on me. I also don’t think I’ve ever experienced the simultaneous delight and hatred for characters like I did while reading this. What a story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual content

Moderate: Ableism and Misogyny