All's Well: A Novel

wow. wowweee wow. after i devoured “bunny” in just a day, i was really excited about all’s well. and awad did not fail me! i read this one just as quickly. it has the same cynism, magic, surrealism as bunny, with a totally new twist. miranda is VERY relateable. as someone who suffers from chronic pain from IBD, the descriptions rang true to how pain can emerse your entire world affecting the smallest things. her obsession and delusions lead her down a strange path. i wanted to be on this path too, i wanted to be in miranda’s head constantly. the slight shakespearean metaphors that are allll through the book are a true testament to awad’s literary love. the weird brethren representing all of miranda’s hopes dreams failures and everything tied in sooo nicely with macbeth’s weird sisters and the tragic hero concept. this is SUCH a good book for theater lovers, english majors and anyone familiar with pain. want to see a trick?

Not surprising, as it was written by Mona Awad, this was a very different type of story. It was fun to read, amazingly well- written and clever. The main character sparkles through her pain and, perhaps, madness. Very much enjoyed it!

I loved the premise -- a college Shakespeare play and Shakespearean themes -- and the plot came together nicely in the end. I liked the depiction of the impact of chronic pain on the heroine's life and career, but unfortunately the author bogged down in showing this over and over again. Worth the read, though!

“All’s Well is the story of a woman at her breaking point and a formidable, piercingly funny indictment of our collective refusal to witness and believe female pain.”This is my second Mona Awad book, and I’m pleased to say that I’m hooked! Awad combines surreal elements to set a haunting dream-like stage (pun intended) that is humorous and downright subversive. There are Chuck Palahniuk elements in both All’s Well and Bunny but still reads as something original. All’s Well is the novel I was most excited to receive a copy of this year, and it lived up to all of my weird girl expectations (and then some). Do yourself a favor and order this book immediately!

All's Well is a book about a former theater actress who had to leave her rising world of Fame and glory when an awful accident happens. She's in constant pain, but no one seems to believe her, and she's so very tired of hurting all the time. Enter 3 gentlemen in a bar who ask her if she wants to see a trick. This trick takes away Miranda's pain but bestowes it on others, leaves her oblivious to life actually happening around her. Now a theater director for a high school and well versed in Shakespeare she decides they must put on the play she was in when her tragic fall happened, ripping her fate away from her... All's Well That Ends Well. And in a mousy little girl she sees her Helen...Ellie, the only person who has treated her like a person since her life changed. Will it really be all's well that ends well or will the gentlemen be back for their trick? And could it possibly be someone, and something, she never expected to be her saving grace? If you like weird and different, All's Well is your book!

Awad's subject matter, the psychodramas of writing programs, as in Bunny, or theater programs as in this novel, at struggling backwater universities, are illuminated and informed by something that is not quite fantastic realism, not actual fantasy or even horror, but a kind of hybrid. Her writing is sly, with an urbane kind of dexterity and a comprehensive knowledge of her characters, with whom you identify, however uncomfortably.

Magic?I laughed so much. Cared so much. Lost me with magic. Wanted to see her work it out with time.

I liked this a lot. It was lacking in some areas and I wish there were some more definitive answers to what exactly happened but it was very interesting. I am excited to read her new novel. Miranda was not a very lovable character but I think that was the entire point. To show the darker side to her and her subconscious intentions

Tres beau livre, bon état

This was like a fever dream in the best way! I love Mona Awad's writing. I loved Bunny and All's Well has been equally intense but in its own way. This eerie and deep down endearing tale has all the best parts of Mona Awad's writing and humour with a very fresh story. I hated to be in Miranda's head for most of this book but I ultimately loved the novel.

Loved the references to Shakespeare and the tone of Awad’s writing. Very humorous with a dark edge.

I abandoned this novel after a couple of hours reading. The principal character – or really the only character – projected a misanthropy that, however understandable, became tedious.Miranda is a drama teacher whose acting career was ended by a fall, leaving her with chronic pain. The plot is set around her college’s production of All’s Well that Ends Well. Curiously Megan Abbott used much the same idea in her last novel, to much better effect.Her therapists – all men and unsympathetic to Miranda – are called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, complemented by her ex-husband, Paul. Every character referenced something or somebody else. There was something too calculated and confected about All’s Well. There was also a lot of repetition: we are reminded multiple times that Miranda left Paul, not the other way round. I can appreciate how chronic pain may make a sufferer self-centred but, here at least, it smothered the writing.Gave up.

The book arrived damaged and dirty! Not happy at all!