Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

All's Well by Mona Awad

25 reviews

stripes_and_naps's review against another edition

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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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minimicropup's review against another edition

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

5.0

Setting the Scene: πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ A cozy, slightly eerie college in a Massachusetts town in the chill of winter. 
POV: We follow our main character, a burgeoning theatre actress now heading up the college production of Shakespeare as an assistant professor and navigating academia. 
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
-Swipes of bizarro academia 
-Speculative and magical realism theatre production drama
-Wintery theatre and cozy pub vibes
-Themes and symbolism around pain, disability, chronic illness, recovery, redemption, beauty, adversity, ambition, and hypocrisy
 
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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags πŸ•
 
πŸ—£οΈ Tale-Telling: The narration is present-tense third-person and what I’d call mind-bender style. I was pulled in to the characters’ world through every little task, pain, and thought. It led to a rollercoaster of empathy and frustration, understanding and annoyance with our main character and showed the complexities of pain and perception.  
 
πŸ‘₯ Characters: The characters were vibrant, multifaceted, yet constantly shifting as we learn more about them. Miranda, our MC, is dealing with an invisible chronic condition, but she was so much more than that. She had me both rooting for her recovery and success, while also making me feel second-hand embarrassment, annoyance, and even disgust. 
 
πŸ—ΊοΈ Ambiance: The setting was crafted and captured the wintery aura. Each location, from office to stage to clinic to a pub, was rich with atmosphere and character. 
 
πŸ”₯ Fuel: The story revolved around pain – real and imagined. There were elements of wondering if what’s happening has a physical or cosmic origin. The mysteries build with magical realism and psychological drama, so understanding dawns slowly while questioning the nature of reality (in the story). 
 
🎬 Scenes: The pacing was slow, steady, and immersive. I think depending on your tastes for subtletly (read – β€˜I have no clue what is going on’) and introspective narratives this could be a hit or a miss. The scenes oscillated between being deeply introspective and distantly observational. Often my perspective of Miranda and the other characters would change after a discussion or hearing Miranda’s motivations and thoughts. A lot of the scenes are directly or symbolically showing the harsh realities of academia, personal struggles and battles of wit and willpower. 
 
πŸ€“ Random Thoughts: This wasn’t a typical mystery or thriller; it was an exploratory journey into empathy and the surreal. It involved dismissal of a woman’s pain by male clinicians, but gender wasn’t the focus. The focus is the difficulty communicating one’s inner condition, the dismissal itself and the broader commentary on perception, judgement, and disbelief of invisible β€˜mystery’ pains and illnesses. I think it may resonate or be cathartic for anyone who has experienced β€˜invisible’ conditions like chronic illness, pain, or mental illness. 
 
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Content Heads-Up: Medical (chronic pain, clinical disbelief, injury). Alcohol use (self-medicating, casual). Drug use (prescribed). Medical incompetence. 
Rep: Cisgender. Heterosexual. White Americans. 
 
πŸ‘€ Format: Library Digital
 
β€œReviews are my musings πŸ’– powered by puppy snuggles 🐢 refined by my AI bookworm bestie βœ¨β€
 
πŸŒŸπŸ’— Potential Favourite of 2024

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_annajackson_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

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. 



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biobeetle's review against another edition

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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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noshinbean's review against another edition

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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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withlivjones's review against another edition

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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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booksofautumn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0


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raitherabbit's review against another edition

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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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enchanted_reader32's review against another edition

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

1.5

β€˜β€π™±πšžπš πšπš‘πšŽπš’ πš πšŽπš›πšŽ πšŠπš•πš• πšπš˜πš˜πš•πšœ, πš˜πš‹πšŸπš’πš˜πšžπšœπš•πš’. 𝚈𝚘𝚞, π™·πšŽπš•πšŽπš—, πšŠπš›πšŽ πšπšŠπš› 𝚝𝚘𝚘 πš›πšŽπšœπš’πš•πš’πšŽπš—πš πšπš˜πš› πšπšŽπšŠπšπš‘. π™°πš›πšŽπš—β€™πš 𝚒𝚘𝚞?”’

Thank you to @jonathanballpublishers for the gifted copy!

Miranda is a woman in pain. She was an actress who fell off of the stage and is now permanently damaged. Her career as an actress was gone and there was a constant ache in her leg, hip and back. Then she meets three men who give her the power to transfer her pain onto someone else. 

This woman was unhinged in a Macbeth kind of way. None of the story made sense to me and I was left wondering what exactly I had just read at the end. This is neither a light read nor a good one and I was very disappointed that I had spent six days to finish it.

I saw that some folks gave this book 4 – 5 stars and I’m happy that they could understand the story but I was lost (and a little grossed out, to be honest). Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this story and I’m sorry to say that I wouldn’t recommend it.

πš€πšžπš˜πšπšŽπšœ:

β€œπšƒπš‘πš’πšœ 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎 πšœπš‘πš’πš—πšŽπšœ πšŠπš—πš˜πšπš‘πšŽπš› πš•πš’πšπš‘πš. πšƒπš‘πš’πšœ 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚜 𝙸 πš‘πšŠπšŸπšŽ πš•πš’πšŸπšŽπš, π™Έβ€™πš– πšŠπš•πš’πšŸπšŽ. πšƒπš‘πš’πšœ 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚜 π™Έβ€™πšŸπšŽ πš”πš—πš˜πš πš— πš“πš˜πš’ πšŠπš—πš πš™πšŠπš’πš—, πš”πš—πš˜πš πš— πšπš‘πšŽπš– πš‹πš˜πšπš‘. π™Έβ€™πš•πš• πš”πš—πš˜πš  πšπš‘πšŽπš– πšŠπšπšŠπš’πš—.”

β€œπ™Ύπšžπš, 𝚘𝚞𝚝, πš‹πš›πš’πšŽπš πšŒπšŠπš—πšπš•πšŽ. π™»πš’πšπšŽβ€™πšœ πš‹πšžπš 𝚊 πš πšŠπš•πš”πš’πš—πš πšœπš‘πšŠπšπš˜πš . 𝙰 πš™πš˜πš˜πš› πš™πš•πšŠπš’πšŽπš› πšπš‘πšŠπš πšœπšπš›πšžπšπšœ πšŠπš—πš πšπš›πšŽπšπšœ πš‘πš’πšœ πš‘πš˜πšžπš› πšžπš™πš˜πš— πšπš‘πšŽ 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎 πšŠπš—πš πšπš‘πšŽπš— πš’πšœ πš‘πšŽπšŠπš›πš πš—πš˜ πš–πš˜πš›πšŽ.”

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tessvosper's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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

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