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A review by daizie
All's Well by Mona Awad
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I only became interested in this about a third of the way through - it felt like the inciting incident of meeting the men in the bar could have happened way earlier to hook me in a bit better. I'm glad I stuck with it, though. Super interesting exploration of chronic pain and differing kinds of power dynamics - within workplaces, romantic relationships, friendships, teacher/student, etc.
I don't think this is as strong as Awad's other works. Perhaps I'm more disconnected from the subject matter of this one (as I'm not a Shakespeare person, by any means) but it hasn't really stuck with me the way Bunny and Rouge have even months after reading them. I think it's the ending that's messing with my perception of it - the whole of the story was tense and crazy, but the ending felt like, well...All's well. That's it.
Reading via audiobook was helpful as it gave the narrator a nice sense of voice - if you're not clicking with the story, I highly recommend listening to it.
I don't think this is as strong as Awad's other works. Perhaps I'm more disconnected from the subject matter of this one (as I'm not a Shakespeare person, by any means) but it hasn't really stuck with me the way Bunny and Rouge have even months after reading them. I think it's the ending that's messing with my perception of it - the whole of the story was tense and crazy, but the ending felt like, well...
Reading via audiobook was helpful as it gave the narrator a nice sense of voice - if you're not clicking with the story, I highly recommend listening to it.