Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

All's Well by Mona Awad

43 reviews

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If you enjoy theater or anything literary, I beg you, please read this book. 

This is an eloquent lens into the world of pain, especially female pain. There is a deep desire in today’s society to suppress and forget about pain. 

Miranda, the main character speaks about her perpetual agony and the widespread effects that it has had on her life. She also speaks on how the once smiling faces of people whom she loved, eventually became the coldest to her and her agony. I feel like this is something that gets overlooked in media. We want to believe that the people we love the most will always be there for us, but when it comes down to it even they can experience the taxing repercussions of pain. 

I also IMMENSELY appreciated the theatrical aspects of this book. I have never read something that I could so vividly imagine being a film. I’m not just talking about the possibility of it being a film, but literally imagine it scene for scene. I adored that. Awad did an excellent job of incorporating aspects from both All’s Well and The Scottish Play, into something that breathed new life into Shakespeare. With that being said YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE FAMILIAR WITH EITHER PLAY OR EVEN SHAKESPEARE TO APPRECIATE THIS STORY. Albeit, it does help especially concerning the mysterious three men and their motives, but I have not read/seen All’s Well and I never felt lost of a moment. With that being said, I do intend to brush up on both plays in order to fully appreciate this work and all the hidden easter eggs in it. 



Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

god i love love LOVED the beginning of the book and the depictions of chronic pain so much, they way they were written were so interesting and real and relatable. i also really love that i was at times angrily on miranda’s side, while at other times i felt horrifically guilty for almost beginning to doubt her pain and deem her an unreliable narrator, like everyone else in her life clearly has. the book was a bit confusing, and the end didn’t quite satisfy me, but i still absolutely adored the book.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious sad 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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this was a wacky and surreal book that would have maybe benefitted from being shorter? i liked the narrative tone but since there was a lot of internal monologue involved, it dragged on sometimes.

it was interesting to read this after rouge, and spot the occasional similarities between the protagonists and the themes! 

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dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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