A review by amayakodi
All's Well: A Novel by Mona Awad

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

4.25

"sometimes we wish or terrible things, things we deserve. how could we not wish for them when we deserve them? and sometimes the heavens hear us. something hears us. and our wishes come true. should we feel guilty? of course we shouldn't feel guilty, why guilty? why guilty when we deserve it, when maybe, just maybe it's a question of justice?"

medical misogyny will make you so much of a shell that vindication consumes you whole and you will do everything in your power to make them rue the day. pain must be performed to be taken seriously, but simultaneously, they will accuse you of overperformance, of putting on too much of a show. 

ending is ambiguous, but i think it deserves to be as such. it would not be a problem play without it. on the topic of problem plays, i think deeply about the representation of disability media, in which disabled peoples are relegated to tragic storylines for able bodied characters or as comic relief characters in which viewers are meant to laugh at their pain. forced into the binary of tragedy or comedy, awad asks us (through the conceit of the problem play) to criticize what we see and know of disabled peoples; that maybe, able bodied people need to get the fuck off the stage for once! 
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