‘”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.”

I was thrilled by Mona Awad’s ‘Bunny’ so I thought I would be into this one.

Very bizarre, very intriguing storyline! I didn’t know Shakespeare’s ‘All’s Well’ play at all but could still read Awad’s story. It wasn’t my favourite out of her stories, however I was still HOOKED into this Faver/Miranda dynamic and the way in which women’s pain is always belittled and ignored 😳 ‘Maybe it’s all in your brain’ lit a fire under my ass and made me rage 🔥

3.5 out of 5 stars for me on this one 🥹 Thank you!

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.