Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - All's Well

Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

All's Well by Mona Awad

123 reviews

read_by_mads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was a strange one for me, even as an actor and Shakespeare appreciator. It was really hard to be on the hero's side, which was maybe the point? I wouldn't read this one again.

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genny's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

Gorgeous prose, oh my goodness. I was afraid Bunny would be a one-hit wonder in regards to my own enjoyment of Awad's work, but clearly that isn't the case! In fact, I'm a little peeved that this hasn't gotten the same amount of hype as Bunny, because it's fantastic IMO. Less comedic & visceral but equally as dark. I wish I wrote a review right after I finished this instead of putting it off for a week so that I could've gushed more thoroughly.

Apparently some people found Miranda's POV tiring, but I was engrossed. Awad does love her "can't tell if they're still experiencing reality" protagonists. I work in the medical field so the discussion about chronic pain was doubly haunting to me; I don't ever want my patients to feel unheard, to become this hopeless, although I understood the struggle of treating an "invisible" illness. Other than the Weird Brethren, there was probably a bunch of other parallels to Shakespeare's work that sadly went over my head. I already enjoyed this so much, I can only imagine how cool it must be to have that added perspective. Even the interview with the author at the end made for great reading, with the explanations about how theater/performance/pain can intertwine.

I'll leave a few of my favorite quotes here because I don't know what else to say other than I LOVED THIS, it was so freaking good.

I felt a drop, I told Grace. Felt their anger in the filthy air. Felt the sword above my head. Felt my doom in the thickening night as we drove here. Three silhouettes looming in my side mirror, loping along the shoulder like wolves. But the dread had strangely left me in the dressing room. I even smiled at the fog all around as I parked the car and walked toward Grace. Walked, not limped. Not yet. I held up my aching hands to the drizzle. Go ahead, I whispered to the black clouds gathering. Come for me.

Her leaf-green eyes have returned to their former brightness but there are shadows among the leaves now.

And my tear-streaked face impossibly smiling. Not the brightly beaming face of the young woman from the old Playbill photo, not anymore. No more eyes like stars, no more blinding eclipse. This face shines another light. This face says I have lived, I’m alive. This face says I’ve known joy and pain, known them both. I’ll know them both again.

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decie's review against another edition

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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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streamthief's review against another edition

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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

4.0

Read this after reading Bunny, which I adored. I still think All's Well was a fantastic book, but I don't think it tops Bunny. The first part was really hard for me to get through, not because it was boring like most people seem to think, but because I have a small amount of chronic pain in my life and it hit pretty hard. The way it seems to seep into everything, constantly having to plan around it, seeing other people completely unaware of how healthy they can be, and the loss of something you love, rang really true. My main problem with the book was that I didn't like Miranda, largely her irresponsibility towards others in her life m. HOWEVER, I truly understand how deeply she wants to be well and that that is what's driving most of her dubious decisions. The other thing was that the ending was kind of confusing/underwhelming to me. Overall, the writing was amazing and the portrayal of chronic pain was amazing, characters are largely unlikable, and I finished a little confused but still happy with my reading experience.

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astronut's review against another edition

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dark funny tense slow-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

3.5

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wrestleacademic's review against another edition

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dark funny tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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kam_pearson's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

2.0

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clea's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.5

The novel was written in a very clever way; I liked that the protagonist was unreliable and made many wrong and exaggerated assumptions about how people view her. Although she is a very morally grey character and makes a lot of bad and mean decisions, Awad wrote her character so well, that I could not NOT feel for her. Though some scenes made me feel uncomfortable (which was the point) and towards the ending, Miranda really started to get on my nerves, I still could fully relate to her and understand her. The depiction of chronic pain is authentic and feels very real, almost to the point that you start feeling it itself. The novel helped me understand how this kind of omnipresent pain really affects every area of a person's life, how they engage with the world around them, and even how they perceive their surroundings in a different way.
I appreciated the Shakespeare mentions/references and the deeper symbolic meanings and connections that Awad made (and I'm sure I missed a lot of them).
The reason why my rating is comparatively low is that it was not an enjoyable read, it was quite painful to be honest (but which was the point, so Awad achieved it). It made me think a lot and helped me understanding what people who suffer from chronic pain go through, but other than that, I did not really connect with the story nor the characters. I think, it was just a bit too dark (and thus very tiring) for me.

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bdingz's review against another edition

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dark funny tense slow-paced

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

4.25

A wild ride. As someone who now experiences some (comparatively) mild chronic pain, I shared many of Miranda’s frustrations. Despite her not being “likeable,” I felt like I was rooting for her the whole time. This book is kind of genre-defying, but it definitely has horror elements. The end leaves the reader with questions, though at the same time, I don’t think it ends in an unsatisfactory way.

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kingsamong's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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