This one was not quite as punchy and feverish as Awad's other novels, but I still enjoyed it. Definitely recommend starting here if you aren't sure you'll like her more dreamlike and feverish stories. 

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. 

‘”𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚜, 𝚘𝚋𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢. 𝚈𝚘𝚞, 𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚗, 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑. 𝙰𝚛𝚎𝚗’𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞?”’

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.

𝚀𝚞𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

“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 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗.”

“𝙾𝚞𝚝, 𝚘𝚞𝚝, 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎. 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎’𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚠. 𝙰 𝚙𝚘𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚞𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎.”

hallucinatory and bizarre. the only way i can describe it.

the way this book is set up is to function as a retelling of all’s well, the play being put on during the book. i’m not too familiar with all’s well that ends well but from what i’ve gathered, it does it adequately. but a part of me wonders why it even bothered at all, considering it had nothing new to contribute. i feel like if you’re going to create a retelling of a shakespearean play and put your own spin on it, you should at least have something to say. 

the main on going theme throughout this book is pain (physical and emotional) but with the odd pacing, and overwhelming plot that got a bit lost in the noise. i feel like mona actually had really insightful things to say, but she tried to make a metaphor a plot, (which can absolutely be done and done well, writers do it all the time, i just don’t think it was here) and then it just went off the rails.

the plot builds to an immense degree, to the point where the ending just feels lackluster. i usually don’t mind an open ended finish but i don’t think it was executed to its fullest potential here. at the end of it all i was left thinking “ok now what? why did we do all of that?”

and that’s really the question i have about the novel as a whole. what was the point? i feel like there may have been one at some moment or another, or popping in and out, but it drowned in the sea of weird. this book has several hundred pages and manages to say too much and not enough at the same time. 

the writing style, reflective of miranda’s mental state, is longwinded and repetitive. i didn’t mind this much, but there were several times where my eyes glazed of the descriptions because it became too much.

i think this review gives off a harsher view of this book than i have. i did actually enjoy this, and it’s a total page turner. mona awad is in excellent writer and i do plan to read more from her. but this book wasn’t what i thought it would be coming into it, and even while reading it. if you wanna have a fun, weird, worrying, time and have a background metaphor for pain weaved in throughout, you should read it.

it’s not a bad book in the least, but at the end of it i came away feeling “that’s it?”

Reading Mona Awad's books requires a certain amount of faith. It is a leap, in a way, to give yourself over to the extreme and the absurd so wholly. Is it worth it? Will I reach the end of the journey and wonder whether the journey even happened? I've certainly felt that way reading literature like this before. Bret Easton Ellis comes to mind. But after reading 'Bunny' and letting myself go along for the insane, quirky, ride, I knew what I was getting into when I started 'All's Well.'

I'm so glad I was able to put aside all of my concerns and preconceptions, and dive into this work. 'All's Well' is a story of magic, of witches, of the fantastical and the mundane. It's also, primarily, a story about living with chronic pain. How it feels to be rendered invisible to professionals and loved ones alike. How it transforms you. 

I think this book is an absolute masterpiece. I loved it even as I hated it.