Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

All's Well by Mona Awad

33 reviews

_annajackson_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

If you enjoy theater or anything literary, I beg you, please read this book. 

This is an eloquent lens into the world of pain, especially female pain. There is a deep desire in today’s society to suppress and forget about pain. 

Miranda, the main character speaks about her perpetual agony and the widespread effects that it has had on her life. She also speaks on how the once smiling faces of people whom she loved, eventually became the coldest to her and her agony. I feel like this is something that gets overlooked in media. We want to believe that the people we love the most will always be there for us, but when it comes down to it even they can experience the taxing repercussions of pain. 

I also IMMENSELY appreciated the theatrical aspects of this book. I have never read something that I could so vividly imagine being a film. I’m not just talking about the possibility of it being a film, but literally imagine it scene for scene. I adored that. Awad did an excellent job of incorporating aspects from both All’s Well and The Scottish Play, into something that breathed new life into Shakespeare. With that being said YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE FAMILIAR WITH EITHER PLAY OR EVEN SHAKESPEARE TO APPRECIATE THIS STORY. Albeit, it does help especially concerning the mysterious three men and their motives, but I have not read/seen All’s Well and I never felt lost of a moment. With that being said, I do intend to brush up on both plays in order to fully appreciate this work and all the hidden easter eggs in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

biobeetle's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death

noshinbean's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Blood, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

withlivjones's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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? No

4.5

Holy hell, Mona Awad has done it again. This book as it all: trippy dream sequences, mysterious characters reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, and overall a really powerful message about how women’s pain, especially if it’s invisible, is so often dismissed and erased. Part of me sympathises with and roots for Miranda as she gains the ability to take ownership of her chronic pain and punish those who have downplayed it, while part of me grows slightly more horrified as she descends further into insanity. This book, like Awad’s other writing, reads like an acid trip, and I am so here for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

booksofautumn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

raitherabbit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As someone who does theatre, this book wrecked me. As someone who also has a degree in psychology, this book was fascinating and kept me asking for more. Watching the slow downfall of someone you supposedly root for is excruciating, but also satisfying. There was no way I would predict how any of this ended (both the play and the plot itself). I do think things will get better after this. In other news, female rage is a powerful thing and it was made more interesting by the intricate interpersonal relationships Ms. Fitch had with her students and coworkers. I rooted for everyone but also wished for their downfall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent

enchanted_reader32's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

‘”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.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

tessvosper's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism

itisnatal's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gaslighting

sophmcgraw's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Moderate: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent