Stunning, cunning and maniac. All of Mona Awads greatest talents in one novel. I enjoyed every turn I took with Miranda. I loved watching her be angry at the world, resent her job and body, and go thru her chronic pain journey. Then one drunken night in her local bar she meets three mysterious men who know everything about her and I get to enjoy another version of Miranda. Fun, talented and happy. Miranda character arc is one for the ages!! I felt as though the three men were all in Miranda’s imagination and she made everything up in her mind until the last couple of chapters whenever grace and Ellie saw the men as well. Who knows and who cares. I enjoyed every turn Mona took and I’m going to miss Miranda. I hope she is well.

What a shame! I absolutely love Mona Awad's previous novels, but "All's Well" left me feeling frustrated and underwhelmed. The main plus of this novel is Awad's writing style. She really understands how to write impactful characters and dark and demented storylines. This book started really strong but around the 55% mark, I was feeling annoyed with the switch in premise and tone. The overall vibe started to become over-the-top and satire-ridden and not in a good way. I think I was just basically confused what was going on since I am not a huge of Shakespeare's plays. I haven't read Shakespeare since high school (late '90s) so I'm not familiar with all his material at the drop of a hat. The protagonist, Miranda is a college theatre professor at a liberal arts college. She also suffers from chronic pain after taking a tumble off the stage when she used to be a theatre actress in her younger days. At times, I thought the writing even though it's strong became repetitive and draggy. I felt like things were explained to death. Also, this book is way too looooooooong! The author should've cut at least 200 pages worth. Also, the ending was not satisfying. I was like, that's it?! I think Mona Awad hadn't written this, my rating would be lower. Overall, it's an interesting story but the pay-off is not worth this long and bumpy ride. It's a mixed bag for me.

Thank you, Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the digital ARC.

not sure what the FUCK i just read but i loved every minute of this trippy journey and Miranda Fitch is a character i’ll think about for a long time. favorite book of the year so far

My reactions are all over the palace for this book. It started off slow, but I started to really enjoy it a few chapters in. The writing of being consumed by chronic pain, being ignored by doctors, having people around you not believing you and hopes constantly crushed for new medicines or therapies was spot on. I was interested to see where the story was going to go after meeting the “three men”. By the last third though I wasn't sure what was happening and what the point was. Admittedly, I'm not a Shakespeare stan so I'm sure I missed a lot of the allusions to Macbeth (which I haven't read in over twenty years) and All's Well (which I don’t think I’ve read). The story does help you remember the plays through the dialogue.

We see Miranda start off as a Helen, the constantly ignored victim with no control, and turn into a Lady Macbeth, someone who is untrusting and trying to regain their status. While this worked thematically it was one of my issues as a reader, Miranda's lack of agency throughout. You could say that at the beginning it makes sense with her chronic pain, but so many times she would think one thing and say the opposite (like not wanting a procedure but getting it done any way). But once her transformation begins, she still has no control of ‘the trick’. She has control of the play, but even then I feel like she doesn't really know what's going on.

I also worry that parts read a little dismissive about her pain (is she faking it?). The three men almost seem to think so. If pain can just be moved magically does that mean you can just change your mind on it? I don't believe Awad is dismissing chronic pain but I’m leery someone could read it like this.

I love Awad’s writing, she writes surreal scenarios so well. A lot did read like a fever dream. The ending was anticlimactic. While this book is smart and, I didn't connect to it like I did to Bunny. I was never a theater kid.

While I am still new to Mona Awad, I bought Bunny earlier this year and am determined to read it soon, I was incredibly excited to hear about Awad's latest book, All's Well. As a Theatre Major and Fine Arts teacher, a referential story of a Theatre director putting on a Shakespeare show written by a weird and sinister author sounded like everything I needed.

All's Well stars college teacher Miranda Fitch, a former actress until a fall left her with chronic pain, as she directs this year's Shakespeare production, All's Well That Ends Well. Miranda is dissatisfied with many areas of her life, from her pain, the people in her life, and her revolting students set on performing Macbeth instead. On the brink of ending her own life, Miranda is approached by three mysterious men who offer to change her fate.

The story really centralizes on a lot of similarities from All's Well That Ends Well and Macbeth, as well as theatre culture in general. With references to many of the characters from both plays, parallels between some of the plot points, and some of the textual writing styles, it is clear that Awad did her research and crafted All's Well as a love letter to Shakespeare and his works.

However, much of this book is really carried by the strong characterization of Miranda, as she slowly grapples with the consequences of her encounter with the mysterious men. Her struggles with chronic pain and the conversations around it are brutal and incredibly difficult to read about. The way she's also portrayed in her descent into madness, whether it be from her perception or the world around her, is extremely well handled. I would argue that Awad was capable of creating a modern-day Shakespeare woman, with all of the trauma and themes that are commonly involved, better than any other contemporary author of our generation.

Miranda's transition from her own perception of being Helen, the relenting victim within her own uncontrollable circumstances, to becoming the Lady Macbeth, desperate to regain her status and untrusting of the people around her, is mostly seamless in its execution. I would also argue that there are elements of Ophelia’s blind innocence and how the world views her thrown into Miranda's characterization as well.

My biggest struggle with All's Well was the pacing. A majority of this book is spent existing in the head of Miranda without much dialogue. There is a large build up to understand Miranda's psyche, which works better when new stakes are incorporated but begins to feel tired after running into the same problems. After the main conflicts are set into motion, we begin to lose connection with the concrete reality of the story, and we can begin questioning what is happening. This is never truly corrected leading to many moments feeling rushed and the resolutions becoming anti-climactic.

I did enjoy All's Well and I found meaning and relatability to the Shakespeare and theatre of it all. Miranda Fitch may also be one of the most well-formed characters of this year in my opinion. I look forward to this book’s publication to read about the opinions and scholarly essay's that are bound to be created from this. While the story lacked in parts for me, this wouldn't deter me from recommending this to others and discussing the characters with others. I look forward to my read of Bunny later in the year!

I really enjoyed this book. It was the perfect mix of surreal and offsetting.

Full review linked on my goodreads page. Link provided below.

This book leaves me with so many more questions than answers. And I guess that was the point?

I was so absolutely enthralled with the idea of this novel. I am a big Shakespeare fan, and I was excited to see the modern take on putting on a Shakespeare play. However, that was not the novel that I got. It’s about “All’s Well that Ends Well”, without it ever actually being about that.

The major points I got away from this book was that I loved the characters, I loved their development, I was so invested in everything that happened to them. I am just confused by what happened to them. Is this book just the result of an unreliable narrator? The author wrote beautifully and clearly put a lot of work into this.

One major concern I have about the book is the disability representation. I am not someone that deals with chronic pain, but I know people that do. The author actively fights against the narrative that the pain is all in your head. But the book ends with the pain coming and going at the whim of a magic college student. The reality of someone with chronic pain was realistic until her pain just magically went away.

I gave this book three stars because I was actually interested in the plot, but I am unsatisfied with the ending. I am left in a simple state of confusion

“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 absolutely hooked! Awad combines surreal elements to set a haunting dream-like stage (pun intended) that is both humorous and completely subversive. There are Chuck Palahniuk elements in both All’s Well and Bunny but still reads as something original. This is the novel I was most excited to receive an eARC for, and it lived up to all of my weird girl expectations (and then some). Do yourself a favor and preorder this book immediately!

Release date is August 3rd.

Thanks so much to NetGalley & Simon and Schuster for this eARC in return for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of All's Well by Mona Awad.

Wow, this book was literally a rabbit hole of pain and lunacy and I was INTO it. What a total fever dream of a read, it took me a few days to let the emotional bruises of this story heal.

Miranda is a tragic character, crippled by chronic pain after a fall off of a stage, she somehow has to keep working in the theater department. She limps, she drinks, she can't sit or lay down without being slammed with unimaginable pain. Doctors have failed her, husband and friends keep her at a distance because of how much her pain has changed her. But amidst all that, her job is to launch a college performance of All's Well, even though all of the actors strong oppose her choice in play.

But at the bar one day she meets three strangers that seem to know Miranda, they understand her pain, they sympathize with her. After a few encounters with them, she notices a dwindling in her pain. She has a bit more energy, and she's feeling rejuvenated to work and interact. But while she gets better, her nemeses are now getting sick. And soon her healing turns to mania, and now she is pushing people away for completely different reasons...

Like I said, total fever dream, but I really felt it. This was such an intense and unique read that launches you deeply into the world of chronic pain and how it effects you, as well as the people around you. The writing was so clear, and I loved all of the characters, even in their terrible-ness.

I love Mona Awad and I was so excited that Netgalley gave me an advance copy of this book... but now I am a bit annoyed that I read it so early and I can't find any thinkpieces on it!! As with any of Awad's writing, All's Well has a LOT to unpack and I'm not sure I unpacked it all.

The book is centered around/told from the point of view of Miranda, a stage actress of middling success who is forced to retire due to falling off the stage during a performance and suffering grave injuries. She visits doctor after doctor to address her chronic pain, none of which are able to provide any relief -- and many of which seem to think it's just psychological. Her husband grows weary of dealing with the hopelessness of her situation and ices her out until she is forced to leave him.

Meanwhile, she has transitioned to the role of director of an uninspired theater department at a small college -- a role she got by embellishing her resume. Her pain makes it difficult for her to do her job, and the students don't like her, especially because she is making them put on a rendition of All's Well that Ends Well when they all want to do Macbeth. She begins spiraling when the students appeal to the dean to override Miranda's influence on the play and allow them to perform Macbeth.

Things take a very mystical turn when, while self-medicating at a local dive, she gets too drunk with three businessmen at the bar and has an extremely disorienting experience (this part reminded me a lot of Twin Peaks, in a good way, lol). The men are weirdly prophetic; they know her name and her situation and act very sympathetically. They seem like a better version of the three witches in Macbeth. She doesn't remember how the night ends, but things really start looking up for her from there.

This book seems to be an answer to All's Well that Ends Well (I had to SparkNotes it to refresh my memory). Both Miranda and the main character of All's Well are "invisible women" to the men in their lives (Helen's husband, Miranda's doctors and literally every other person of influence). No one takes Miranda seriously until she heals and her beauty is restored, after which they fall on her every word. And to that end, she isn't able to heal until she meets the three men at the bar - these men seem to really know her and see her, even though she's never met them. It's a really powerful and unique take on how women need to be so many things before they can have a level playing field, and about how the approval of men translates to feminine power.

I am not really sure I understood everything that happened in this book but I really enjoyed it.

All's well is a fantastic comeback from Mona Awad which delves into the complexity of female pain, and the unwillingness of the world to accept that it exists. While it is not a flawless piece, All's Well was still fresh and mostly kept me engaged throughout my read.

The story follows Miranda Fitch, a once-prominent stage actress who, in the present, has been reduced to a shell of her past life. We see a depressed and desperate woman, who wants so hard to regain the life that she had before the chronic pain. Miranda is a very difficult character to like. At times, I felt so hurt for her and I wanted so desperately for her to gain the help she deserves. On the other hand, Miranda felt very selfish and surface level, and I found her interactions with the students she teaches to only amplify her awfulness. Even before her accident, Miranda was not a likable character. However, I do recognize that by making Miranda flawed, Awad tried to show that not all people who are hurting were necessarily angels before their situations.

The plot of the story could be best described as The Twilight Zone meets King Midas. It was fine, and while parts of it became predictable, it still holds up throughout the book. I did find myself a little bored in the novel, especially in the beginning when the set-up was occurring. Also, the climax of the novel was okay. Nothing crazy that had me gripped to my seat, but nothing mind-numbingly dumb.

There are plenty of references to All's Well, the Shakespeare play being produced within the novel, but it's not necessary to read the play before reading this book. The ending of the story was a bit meh, but I think that if you read this book as an exploration of chronic pain, it makes sense. Not every story has a happy ending, and I think the ending is appropriate when considering that in the present, the best patients can do sometimes is manage their symptoms.

I would say that out of everything this book does well, I think Awad nailed the discourse around chronic pain. She writes the experience to be so realistic and eye-opening. Many people in Miranda's life believe that she is exaggerating her symptoms, and at one point the reader feels the same. I remember reading and being like "wow she totally is faking it" and immediately feeling guilty afterward. I also think that the most character growth in the novel was of the people within Miranda's life, who had to experience what Miranda felt and to be in her skin literally.

The biggest flaw of this novel, I believe, is just Miranda's thoughts. Halfway through the novel, Miranda becomes very very very weird, and as a reader, I just found myself cringing constantly. I know that Awad usually writes really absurd stuff sometimes, but sometimes it's just too much. Miranda's sexual escapades are gross and weird, and the amount of personal investment that Miranda has with her students is uncomfortable.
Overall, I think this was a solid comeback of a novel. It is not perfect, but I do think that it is refreshing and insightful, talking about a topic that few books can delve into. Another flaw was just how long it takes for the story to really start moving forward. For a good chunk of the book, we are just waiting and waiting for the conflict to happen, but it just takes its time. It is only when you are 4o% through the book does the plot start to roll, and the length of set-up can really set people off especially people who DNF pretty fast.

Overall I would say that this is a pretty solid comeback of a novel. The novel is not life-changing, but I think credit should be given for being a fresh idea and exploring a topic that few novels really explore. If you like Bunny, I think you would like this book.

I was given an ARC in exchange for a review from the publisher and Netgalley.

A haunting, complicated story that depicts the impact of chronic pain and chronicles the many ways that the health system can demoralize people who suffer. We live in Miranda Fitch’s head while she undergoes a variety of therapies including the golden therapy of alcohol while she also directs a student play “All’s Well” at a small college. Poignantly written, captivating in style . . . we wander her mind, her story, her friendships. Most importantly we see her need for love both past and present and the devastation of losing a child. As a psychologist, I was intrigued from the beginning, hope for a “cure,” wondered about the transfer of physical symptoms to other characters, and cheered with each step of progress. A clever, inspiring, intriguing read. May her life end well.

Fan's of Awad's novel BUNNY will not be disappointed. ALL'S WELL has a similar tone of spooky feminine horror, and it's clever in very similar ways, this time dealing with the community of the theater program at a college. Not only is this book terrifying, but when hearing of Miranda's chronic pain, it makes the reader so grateful to NOT have that kind of pain--and, I imagine, those who do have a similar pain will feel very seen. This literary horror novel is amazing, and I'll recommend it to everyone. I really can't oversell it.

Stunning, eerie novel about chronic pain and invisibility.

While I haven't read Bunny yet, I have read and loved 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, so I was instantly compelled to reach for her new release. I'm so happy I did because I absolutely loved it!

This book follows Miranda, a chronic illness sufferer and a theater director at a local community college. The first half of the book is structured to portray the hopelessness Miranda feels in her condition, at the same time not being believed by everyone, including her doctor, family, friends and students. Then, the second half of the book is when she gets a chance to improve her life and the book takes on magical realism and pure weirdness.

I love this author's voice. Just as in 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, we really feel the struggle of the character who is nonetheless very much flawed and controversial. It's also part dark, part weird, but always very unique and gripping.

I may have discovered a new favorite author.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this literary horror, Miranda is the director of the theatre department of a small college who has struggled with chronic debilitating pain since she fell from the stage years ago, ending her acting career. No doctor or physical therapist has ever been able to aid her pain, so she has turned to drink and pills to keep herself afloat. Amongst her own issues, she is determined for the department to put on All's Well That Ends Well, one of the problem plays, for the annual Shakespeare production, despite the wishes of the students and staff who she is losing her control over.

Bunny, also by Awad, was my favorite book of last year and has become one of my favorite books of all time. I jumped at the chance to read this in advance and I was not disappointed in the slightest. Like in Bunny, the main character is an unreliable narrator who experiences things that are never confirmed to be real or in their head in their inebriated state. Readers can feel Miranda lose her grip on reality and are just as shaken and confused as she is; Awad truly has a gift for being able to put the reader in the shoes of the main character. Her writing style is, in my mind, perfect - when you look at one sentence by itself, it is as simple as can be, but when they are strung together one after the other, the result is a dizzying tableau that conjures up intense emotion. You cannot always root for Miranda, her emotions, motives, and actions, but you want everything to turn out for her, which struck me as Shakespearean. There are other allusions to Shakespeare, such as the three men, on top of the plays being performed. My only concern with this story is that the mysticism surrounding chronic pain in this may come across as trivializing chronic pain, though I cannot believe that someone could read this and not feel a deep empathy for those with such conditions regardless of the main character's journey. Overall, this was a complete joy to read and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy upon its release. Fans of Bunny will not be disappointed.

I really wanted to love this book more then I did. The beginning was such a thoughtful and realistic exploration of chronic illness. From the crushed optimism, countless practitioners, being disbelieved by your community, and most of all, the sense of hopelessness. I really enjoyed the exploration and interior workings of Miranda. I lost interest right when things turned magical. I have read Mona Awad's other work, and was prepared for the unusual, but this strayed too far into the wacky for my taste. I found myself rushing towards the end of the book just so it would be over. Not my favorite, but I will pick up other Mona Awad titles in the future.

Everything is surreal and everyone is awful, in a mercilessly human sort of way. I wasn’t at first sure if I was enjoying All’s Well, having found myself trudging along certain chapters, occasionally eating up others, but I never strayed from the story, always wanting to know what would happen next; having now finished, I still can’t bring myself to quantify my reading experience, but I believe that to be the mark of craftsmanship. All’s Well is one of those rare books that’ll forever turn itself over in my mind, catching different angles of insight over time.

As a theatre student with chronic illnesses, I was really excited for this book about a theatre professor with chronic pain. However, in the best way possible, this book was nothing like I expected. We follow Miranda as she is in crippling pain from an accident years prior. She yearns to be free from the prison of her body and makes some choices with unintended consequences. Buckle in for a wild ride!

this book was weird. really weird. but it was also so so so much fun. there were times where i laughed out loud (and this is a horror novel?) and times where i was confused out of my mind but excited all the same.

i guess that “all’s well” with this book?

---

more seriously, i loved this book so much. mona awad's writing style was addicting, and the plot was hilarious. this is my second mona awad book (i read bunny last year), and she is definitely an author i will continue to check out.

The book starts as the story of a woman living with chronic pain due to a fall on stage while trying to prevent a mutiny from her students and put on All's Well That Ends Well. But it creates such as unexpected world by exploring in a meaningful way how it is for Miranda to live with such incredible pain and feel like no one listens to her, no one sees her when she's right there. How she feels completely invisible while still trying to please the people that are "trying" to help her. And when she gets a chance (or not) to maybe make her life better, the book turns into something so beautifully weird mixing the line between reality and Miranda's own head.
By the end, I was enthralled by the book but I don't know if I was able to fully grasp the story that was being told - it got a little too weird by the end for me. But I can definitely see people loving this book.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.