rionstorm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
There were a few nice pieces of writing, like the description of chronic nerve pain as "red webs", but mostly the writing felt clumsy, messy, and melodramatic. It has the feel of an edgy teenager's fanfiction, but not in a good way.
The plot feels very cliche but also doesn't resolve in a way that feels satisfying. It seemed like it was going to go in an interesting direction a few times, but then consistently took the most obvious and least interesting path.
There is also a bunch of weird moral implications? Maybe I'm missing something but the main character really seemed to be portrayed as a bad person for being unwell and angry about it. It was also peppered with fatphobia, and had a similar misogynistic undercurrent to Bunny.
Also similar to Bunny, the implied experience of madness/psychosis/delusions felt very much how someone without much actual information or sensitivity around the subject would write it. Gave me the vibe of, again, am edgy teenager RPing as a ~crazy~ character.
Overall disappointing.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Injury/injury detail, Drug abuse, and Ableism
Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, and Blood
lindseyhall44's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
For any fans of character studies, Shakespeare, and darker stories, I would 100000% recommend.
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Medical content, Abandonment, Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Injury/injury detail
dearbhlanoonan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Ableism, Medical content, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
readwithbells's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Medical content, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Drug use, and Injury/injury detail
genny's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Apparently some people found Miranda's POV tiring, but I was engrossed. Awad does love her "can't tell if they're still experiencing reality" protagonists. I work in the medical field so the discussion about chronic pain was doubly haunting to me; I don't ever want my patients to feel unheard, to become this hopeless, although I understood the struggle of treating an "invisible" illness. Other than the Weird Brethren, there was probably a bunch of other parallels to Shakespeare's work that sadly went over my head. I already enjoyed this so much, I can only imagine how cool it must be to have that added perspective. Even the interview with the author at the end made for great reading, with the explanations about how theater/performance/pain can intertwine.
I'll leave a few of my favorite quotes here because I don't know what else to say other than I LOVED THIS, it was so freaking good.
Spoiler
I felt a drop, I told Grace. Felt their anger in the filthy air. Felt the sword above my head. Felt my doom in the thickening night as we drove here. Three silhouettes looming in my side mirror, loping along the shoulder like wolves. But the dread had strangely left me in the dressing room. I even smiled at the fog all around as I parked the car and walked toward Grace. Walked, not limped. Not yet. I held up my aching hands to the drizzle. Go ahead, I whispered to the black clouds gathering. Come for me.Spoiler
Her leaf-green eyes have returned to their former brightness but there are shadows among the leaves now.Spoiler
And my tear-streaked face impossibly smiling. Not the brightly beaming face of the young woman from the old Playbill photo, not anymore. No more eyes like stars, no more blinding eclipse. 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 both again.Graphic: Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, and Ableism
Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Sexual content
decie's review against another edition
1.0
Spoiler
until they are cured and "back to normal" for the happy endingI am literally begging authors to stop using the magically disabled and tragically disabled tropes in their books. it really shouldn't be this hard.
I also felt like Awad was trying to have an unreliable narrator but made her so unreliable that half of the story was lost. we only needed one sentence from a onlooker's pov to make the entire book make sense, but we didn't get that. instead, we got a bizarre ableist fever dream without any clear messaging. wild.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Ableism, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Sexual content, Death, and Misogyny
Minor: Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Rape
astronut's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Chronic illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Addiction, Body horror, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
Minor: Death
clea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I appreciated the Shakespeare mentions/references and the deeper symbolic meanings and connections that Awad made (and I'm sure I missed a lot of them).
The reason why my rating is comparatively low is that it was not an enjoyable read, it was quite painful to be honest (but which was the point, so Awad achieved it). It made me think a lot and helped me understanding what people who suffer from chronic pain go through, but other than that, I did not really connect with the story nor the characters. I think, it was just a bit too dark (and thus very tiring) for me.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Violence, and Medical content
Moderate: Addiction and Sexual content
lisa00's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, and Drug use
Minor: Sexual content
vigil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
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?”
Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness