“It’s a problem play, remember? Neither a tragedy nor a comedy. Both, always both.”

This line from All’s Well (the book) describes All’s Well That End’s Well (the Shakespeare play). But it also describes the book. And life.

All’s Well is a weird, wild, and wonderful book.

After a bad fall ends her career as a theater actress, Miranda has taken a job as a college theater director. This year, she’s chosen to direct All’s Well That Ends Well as the big Shakespeare production. The students, however, have their hearts set on staging Macbeth, and they revolt to overturn her decision. Things take a turn when Miranda encounters three mysterious strangers at a local pub.

Miranda, our narrator, is existential, dark, and wry. I don’t think she is a classically likable protagonist, but she's certainly compelling.

By the end of the book, I had a strong sense of resolution and found meaning in this twisted tale that explores the connection between agony and ecstasy and asks whether meaning can be found in madness.

Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the e-ARC to read and review!

Arguably one of the weirdest books I've ever read, but wow did I enjoy it. I love Shakespeare, so that element helped a lot! If you can make it through the weird, definitely pick this up!

3.5 stars. Thank you, publisher and netgalley for the early copy! This was an intense and strange novel.

Awad’s writing isn’t going to be for everyone, but it definitely is for me. She is the master of writing trippy books that feel like fever dreams and in the best way.

Being deep inside the main character’s mind was both exhausting and compelling. The dark humor is so blunt and funny that I even laughed out loud. At the same time the depiction of chronic pain was done so well that it was difficult to read at times.

I read Bunny earlier this year and as divisive as it was for a lot of readers, for me it became an instant favorite. I loved how familiar the writing felt in this story and how much it reminded me of Bunny. If you enjoyed the strange and surreal vibes of Bunny, you won’t be disappointed in this one.

This is the first book I read of the authors. It was very interesting and not at all what I expected. The writing was great. I am sure there is a deeper meaning that went over my head but as a lover of the theater and Shakespeare I loved the story about putting on a play. As a lover of supernatural, I enjoyed the story of her disappearing pain. Still thinking about it after I finished it.

After reading 'Bunny' by Mona Awad last year and having the experience of stumbling through a surreal but entertaining fever dream, I knew I had to pick up her next novel 'All's Well'. I was intrigued by how this book discussed the idea of chronic pain, and specifically, how that interlinks with misogyny and visibility. The main character of this book faces extreme suffering, and yet, the people around her find her pain difficult to believe. 'All's Well' is both claustrophobic and delightful, not a read for everyone, but I wholeheartedly enjoyed it.

Miranda Fitch was involved in an accident that ended her blossoming acting career and left her with excruciating pain. The consequences on her life were devastating, and she's now facing a failed marriage, lost friends, a precarious job, and a reliance on painkillers. She's determined to put on All's Well That Ends Well, a play that she has obsessively focused on as the one that cost her everything. Unfortunately, she faces a mutinous cast who desperately want to stage Macbeth instead. When she meets three strange figures in the local bar, who offer her a chance for change, she doesn't refuse. However, no bargain ever comes without a cost.

Mona Awad's writing straddles the line between slow-paced and choppy. The style is odd, but it accentuates the surreal, dream-like nature of her works. 'All's Well That Ends Well' is known as one of Shakespeare's problem plays, in that it exists in a sort of liminal space between tragedy and comedy, with dislikeable characters, and a strange, divisive ending. Mona Awad has masterfully incorporated these features into the book alongside a variety of Shakespearean references. This book is purposefully confusing and ambiguous, with an unreliable main character who dips between intense depression and extreme mania; it'll trap you in its pages.

The dominant themes of 'All's Well' focus on the idea of women's suffering, desperation, and believability. Chronic pain is a notoriously difficult disorder to understand as it often has no obvious cause. It's difficult to treat, it's difficult to diagnose, and it wholly depends on believing the account of the individual. This is why many people with chronic pain struggle intensely to be understood and believed. It is intensified for people who are impacted by misogyny, as our society has internalised the idea that women are overemotional and likely to exaggerate. Mona Awad tackles this phenomenon in detail within the book. She describes how Miranda is disbelieved by both the doctors she visits, and the people around her. Miranda is so intensely desperate for her pain to be believed, for her suffering to be visible, but she also realises she can't show too much, or the ugly reality of pain will cause people to step back from her.

The theme of believability was further exemplified through Miranda's character, and the choice to have her be unreliable and unlikeable. Often disabled people in books have to be viewed through a lens of respectability. They have to be inspirational, kind, and determined. Miranda is not respectable. She's angry, she pushes people away, she's selfish, she's stubborn, at times she's a downright horrible character to read about. You feel intense sympathy for how the world has treated her, how much suffering she is needlessly put through, but it's also difficult to be sympathetic for her; she's deeply frustrating. When you combine that with how unreliable a character she is, Miranda becomes a character that is difficult to believe. This was my favourite aspect of the book. You have to think about the believability of Miranda's experiences, even as you become angry at the way she hasn't been believed in the past. You have to answer the question; do you believe her?

'All's Well' is an engrossing, wild read that's not afraid to plunge deeply into strangeness. Although this novel is likely to be divisive due to the eccentricity of its writing style and an ever-twisting final act, it's a worthwhile read to those who enjoy dark, strange books.

Crazy amazing. So well written. So interesting in the plot and connection to Shakespeare. This book took me places and I truly enjoyed being taken on this ride that made me furrow my brow and reread certain passages because I thoughts “what?!” It was a book full of delightful, smart, odd, creative “what?!”s. I dug it. I want to read more from this author. A great read that I’ll be thinking about for a long time - highly recommend this one! Heartfelt thanks to Simon and Schuster for the copy. I’m grateful.

After a career-ending fall from the stage as an actress, Miranda now grapples with devastating chronic pain and teaching uninspired student actors at an underfunded New England college theater program. For their Shakespeare production, Miranda is determined to put on a production of *All's Well That Ends Well*, the unpopular problem play she once starred in—but her students are hellbent on performing *Macbeth*. As Miranda goes head to head with her mulish lead actress, she meets some men at the bar who offer an unorthodox solution.

*All's Well* is Mona Awad's third novel, and contains more of the weird dark academia vibes that readers loved from her award-winning *Bunny*. This time, we approach academia from the professor's point of view, and Awad doesn't dip quite as far into the weird as she has in the past (though there's still fever dream-like writing galore!). Dark academia fans will enjoy this fresh perspective in the genre—although I’m sure having a professor as a narrator has been done and I simply haven’t read it, the world of academic theater is a welcome diversion from the usual classics and literature, without forsaking a certain level of pretentiousness that seems requisite for dark academia.

I’ve read *Macbeth* many a time, so didn’t refresh myself before this read, but I wasn’t familiar with *All’s Well That Ends Well,* so I gave it a read. Certainly not the Bard’s best piece, the play follows our heroine, Helen, who is in love with Bertram, a noble. This love is unrequited, and Bertram is in the employ of the French king, who is deathly ill. Helen tells the king she can heal him, and miraculously succeeds; when promised a reward, she asks for Bertram’s hand in marriage. Unhappy Bertram refuses and flees to Italy, where Helen pursues him and uses a case of mistaken identity to become pregnant by him and take his ring, and when all is revealed at the end, Bertram agrees to the marriage.

You can see why it’s a “problem play”.

To her credit, Awad takes the problematic themes of the play and runs with it. There are echoes of it throughout the novel, and when one reaches the finishing line and looks back, Awad’s attention to detail stands out. One of my favorite gimmicks that Awad uses is how she used four-letter names for almost all the male characters in the novel. With names like Paul, John, Mark, Todd, it’s clear that the men in Miranda’s life are interchangeable—echoing Helen’s case of mistaken identity—and that small detail goes a long way in the narrative.

Ultimately, *All’s Well* is a spectacularly put together novel, technically. She expertly weaves together threads that culminate in a feverish finale, and it’s intriguing to watch Miranda’s descent. This dynamism is really what I look for in an unlikable narrator like Miranda, and the pacing is on point. The risk that Awad has taken here is that she takes very few risks at all. Yes, *All’s Well* is too weird to be considered mainstream, but a rigorous attention to structure and theme leaves little room for heart. In the end, I didn't end up connecting with the story as much as I'd prefer. It was a good book, but for me there was something missing that I can't quite put my finger on.

**Review will be posted at link provided on Aug 10 at 7am EST

Rounded up from 2.5 stars. I'd like to thank NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book.

The story follows Miranda Fitch, a former stage actor turned theater professor after a fall during a performance that changed her life forever...

This was, without a doubt, my most anticipated release of 2021 after reading the author's debut and loving it. Going into this novel, I had the sense that perhaps there was something to be said about the way that women are often gaslit by medical professionals or the fact that women's pain isn't taken as seriously as men's pain but the novel didn't quite get there.

Miranda Fitch is the epitome of an unlikeable, unreliable narrator. Typically, I love unlikeable, unreliable narrators. They make everything so much more interesting. The problem here was that Miranda lacked humanity. I found her to be an incredibly static character, despite undergoing serious physical and supernatural changes throughout the novel. She went from being self-involved in the first half of the novel, to being unbearably self-involved in the second half. It became taxing to read from her perspective pretty quickly. Now, I'm totally willing to believe that this was an intentional stylistic choice from the author. If you told me that the reader was meant to feel about Miranda the way that the rest of the character's in the novel do, I would believe you. It just isn't the most enjoyable perspective to read from. I think that this story would have been infinitely more interesting if it were told from the perspective of one of the students or even Grace. I feel like an outside perspective would have really amped up that element of the bizarre that Awad does so well.

My favorite sections of this novel involved the three men in suits. I can't remember exactly how Awad refers to them but they're essentially the equivalent of the Weird Sisters in Macbeth. I loved the uncanny, supernatural element that they brought to the story. That being said, I almost wish that there was MORE of that weird atmosphere throughout the novel. Again, I think if we'd seen the story through someone else's eyes, that would've been more present. I work in theater and have for a long time. There is an inexplicable kind of magic that exists in the theatrical space and for me, Awad just missed the mark a bit in that respect. I wanted more outright mutiny from the cast and fewer references to Shakespeare's plays. Or maybe the same amount of references but from just one play instead of several.

I wanted to love this novel so much. Bunny is one of my favorite books from the past few years but All's Well simply didn't have the same effect on me. I have no doubt that lots of people will love this novel and I will continue to read Awad's future work.

Novel Summary: A theatre professor struggling with chronic pain stages a production of a lesser performed Shakespearean play, All’s Well That Ends Well.

I am not familiar with the play at the center of this novel. The author however incorporates scenes and dialogues from the play into the novel in a way that the reader can get a sense of the play without having read it.

The novel has a Shakespearean feel. It is constructed in three parts much like a play would be in three acts. In the first part we are introduced to the main character, Miranda and her plight. By the second part, magical realism is introduced. I am not a fan of magical tales but the way the author uses magic in the novel is intriguing, unexpected and bordering on voodoo.

This would be an interesting read for those who enjoy theatre, books written in a college setting, books about Shakespeare or magical realism.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing a review copy of this book via Netgalley.

All's well that ends well. Hmmm... is it?

The theme of "all's well" was used throughout this dark novel about a theater director with chronic pain. Miranda (who I found quite unlikable) is staging the Shakespeare play of the same name. And she is in constant pain but no one believes her. Then folks get what they deserve. Or do they?

After I got through Part I, all I kept thinking was "all will be well when this long story ends." In other words, I didn't love it and skipped through several chapters to get to the final chapter.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the digital advanced reader copy of this book via the NetGalley app. Unfortunately, this is my honest review.

Miranda Fitch was a rising star on stage, until her fall. Left broken and in permanent pain, Miranda had to put her dreams aside and settle for a job as a college theater director. Every year she puts on a Shakespeare play, with as much effort as she can muster.
This years play is Alls Well That Ends Well. With a storyline close to her heart, she wants to give it everything she's got. Which isn't much, until she meets the three men in a bar. Now she is completely pain free and taking back her life, no matter who is in her way...

I loved Mona Awad's last book, Bunny, because it was so strange. I wanted a whole new genre created especially for her style of book. I would call it Weird Fiction. With my new love for Weird Fiction, I was ready for new Mona Awad.
All's Well starts so promising. My heart broke for Miranda. Pain that can't be diagnosed by any doctor or soothed by any medication, is terrible. I wanted someone to help her, to acknowledge her suffering.
When we meet the three men in the bar, things start to get strange. I got the feel of Macbeth's witches from them, and knew nothing good would come from them. And I was right. The rest of the story plays out like Macbeth, Miranda loses her mind.
I'm usually good with a little madness, but this was too much. It got repetitive and overwhelming, and kind of overtook the plot. And the end of it all, the final act....well I wasn't impressed. I wanted really it to get really wierd, which I guess it was, but not in the bizarre way. After Bunny, I expected to be stunned.
It was entertaining, and I liked the Macbeth parallels, but I went in with high expectations. Next time she will go wierd, I know she will.

Love this cover!!

All's Well is about a theater teacher, that got into a bad theater accident, injured her leg and is now addicted to pills/painkillers. She is also on the verge of loosing her job and she has already lost her partner.

I found this to just be a lot of complaining which made it boring to me. I did like that we got to see the thoughts our main character was having.

I still want to pick up Mona's next book!

I like to give authors multiple chances to make an impression. Sometimes I may not like a specific aspect of a story but I want to try again with the author. I absolutely despised Bunny. I found it far too weird for my taste and I simply did not understand what was going on in the story. Unfortunately, the same can be said about this story. I definitely think there is an audience for this type of writing. I just find it bizarre and confusing. I am glad that I gave Mona Awad another chance because I know that this type of writing is not for me.

A chronically ill theatre professor decides to put on the Shakespear play All's Well That Ends Well. At the start of the novel we follow Miranda through her agony, pain, and despair as she tries to live her daily life and make a living for herself. She was a former actress on the rise until an accident left her dehabilitated and nothing she tries helps ease the pain. As someone with chronic hip pain I thought this one might be interesting and one that I can relate to but I just found it tiring. Mirando constantly complained and was miserable but when the pain miracously dissapeared I didn't find her attitude any better. This is one that I just couldn't connect to and enjoy. It's touted as comedy and drama but I didn't find much humour in it.

DNF @20%
OHHHHH, this is just not for me. As someone who has chronic pain, I am particular about reading about people in CP [even though I know everyone suffers differently, I know that whining never gets you anywhere] and this was not going to do it for me, plus the whole "miraculous healing" thing is also REALLY not going to work for me. For those of us who are really in pain, the idea of healing is something we all wish for and this feels like it was treated trivially [even though I believe in miracles, to read about it and believe it means it has to be well-written and I do not think that this one is]. I am very disappointed, but have realized that this author is probably not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mona Awad, and Simon and Schuster for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“All’s well that ends well yet, though time seems so adverse, and means unfit.”

The Gist: While suffering from a chronic illness that no one quite believes, theater director Monica Fitch puts on a production of All’s Well That Ends Well, and soon her life takes a surprising turn.

My Thoughts: This book was BONKERS, but it was exactly my brand of bonkers. This needs to be adapted into an A24 film directed by the showrunners of Slings & Arrows...I’m now realizing one of my favorite hyper-specific genres is “people putting on a Shakespeare play while the plot and themes of the play occur around them in real life.”

Awad’s writing is lovely - a bit stream of consciousness and flowery, but the kind I really find myself immersed in and don’t want to leave. I felt as manic and unhinged as Monica did at times. And I absolutely loved it.

Not going to give anything away, but woo did I love the wild journey this took me on. I’m still ruminating over that ending.

I haven’t read Bunny yet to know how it compares, but you better believe I immediately put that book on hold at the library.

“All’s well that ends well, am I right?”

CW: Chronic illness, medical trauma, drug abuse

This book was just too out there for me. Reading books by unreliable narrators is always a struggle for me & this was no exception. I’m a Shakespeare buff so I loved the parallels between All’s Well That Ends Well and Macbeth both on stage & off.

Our protagonist, Miranda, is a theater director at a New England college, bedeviled both by chronic pain and her entitled yet uninspired students. Though her students want to perform Macbeth, Miranda intends to put on a production of All's Well That Ends Well, one of The Bard's lesser known plays. This is where things get spooky - Miranda meets three mysterious strangers at a bar who make a significant donation in support of the All's Well production. I won't say any more at risk of spoiling this delightful novel, but prepare yourself for black magic and revenge.
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When I wasn't reading this book I could not stop thinking about it. All's Well seems like a natural progression from the darkly comic and thoroughly bizarre Bunny, though the novels are quite distinct from each other. Reading Hamnet a few months ago reignited my interest in Shakespeare, and I'm grateful to Awad for picking up that thread and taking it to a weird place. (Note: references to Shakespeare are pretty much the only thing this book has in common with Hamnet).

I wish I'd liked this book more. Miranda is a theatre teacher with chronic pain. She is guarded and doesn't trust anyone. She attempts to put on the tricky Shakespeare play All's Well That Ends Well. I have picked this book up and gotten thru almost a hundred pages, twice. I just can't connect to Miranda at all and the book seems to be all over the place.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review. This one is not a winner for me.