Reviews tagging 'Blood'

All's Well by Mona Awad

28 reviews

raitherabbit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

As someone who does theatre, this book wrecked me. As someone who also has a degree in psychology, this book was fascinating and kept me asking for more. Watching the slow downfall of someone you supposedly root for is excruciating, but also satisfying. There was no way I would predict how any of this ended (both the play and the plot itself). I do think things will get better after this. In other news, female rage is a powerful thing and it was made more interesting by the intricate interpersonal relationships Ms. Fitch had with her students and coworkers. I rooted for everyone but also wished for their downfall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Alcohol, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Ableism, Blood, Cursing, Chronic illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Death

minxtte's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Drug use, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

americattt's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

“You want a good show. They all do. A few pretty tears on my cheeks that you can brush away. Just a little bit of ouch so you know there’s someone in there. So you don’t get too scared of me, am I right? So you know I’m still a vulnerable thing. That I can be brought down if need be.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Medical content

Minor: Blood

savvy999's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Now this is how you use Shakespeare in contemporary lit. Dark, absorbing and visceral. Complicated blurred lines between medicine and magic, pain and performance. Stellar in its use of the Bard. Loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content

medini_l's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Gaslighting

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Drug use and Death of parent

marissab's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Addiction, and Body horror

Minor: Blood, Grief, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

rionstorm's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

1.5

I did not like this book.
There were a few nice pieces of writing, like the description of chronic nerve pain as "red webs", but mostly the writing felt clumsy, messy, and melodramatic. It has the feel of an edgy teenager's fanfiction, but not in a good way.
The plot feels very cliche but also doesn't resolve in a way that feels satisfying. It seemed like it was going to go in an interesting direction a few times, but then consistently took the most obvious and least interesting path.
There is also a bunch of weird moral implications? Maybe I'm missing something but the main character really seemed to be portrayed as a bad person for being unwell and angry about it. It was also peppered with fatphobia, and had a similar misogynistic undercurrent to Bunny. 
Also similar to Bunny, the implied experience of madness/psychosis/delusions felt very much how someone without much actual information or sensitivity around the subject would write it. Gave me the vibe of, again, am edgy teenager RPing as a ~crazy~ character. 
Overall disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Ableism

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, and Blood

coffeecass's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Ableism

Moderate: Blood and Suicidal thoughts

reggiethebird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Ableism, Medical trauma, Drug use, Alcohol, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Sexual content and Blood

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

jillgoober's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.25

When I attempt to rate books, I try to take into consideration both how much I personally enjoyed it as well as objectively how well written the book was. I personally did not enjoy reading this book for the most part, however I do feel as though it was interesting and thought-provoking and therefore I gave it a middle range score.

Good chunks of this book were what I imagine an ecstasy trip would feel like. Miranda, our protagonist, has chronic pain that it seems everyone thinks she could simply will away if she wasn't so set on being miserable. This book is a solid commentary on how society and doctors especially don't take female pain seriously. However, the book takes a turn into magical realism territory when three strange men appear (Macbeth's witches?) to "help" her. This is where the whole "ecstasy trip" thing starts to ramp up. In addition, the ending was very open-ended and a little confusing which was probably the point but just wasn't for me personally. However, I always have to give points to a book for having theatre references.

If you enjoy reading books that are a bit outside the norm, character-driven, and have unresolved endings, you would probably enjoy this more than I did.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Blood and Suicidal thoughts