All’s Well by Mona Awad ★★★★★

Hey book lovers! I apologize for not posting for a while. I’ve been enjoying summer, including a long-awaited trip to Newfoundland to see my family. I’m here with a book review for All’s Well by Mona Awad, a Netgalley arc inspired by All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare.

Here’s a short video with a summary of All’s Well That Ends Well https://youtu.be/XuC8FNrWLFk

About The Book 📚

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57114892-all-s-well

Title: All’s Well

Author: Mona Awad

Publication Date: August 3, 2021

Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada

Suggested Reader Age: Adult

Genre: General Fiction, Fantasy (Magical Realism), Horror

Triggers: chronic illness

About The Author

“Mona Awad is the author of Bunny, named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue, and the New York Public Library. It was a finalist for the New England Book Award and a Goodreads Choice Award. It is currently in development for film with Jenni Konner and New Regency Productions. Awad’s first novel, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and winner of the Colorado Book Award and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, TIME, McSweeney’s, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. She teaches fiction in the Creative Writing program at Syracuse University. Her new novel, All’s Well, has been named a best or most anticipated book of summer by Entertainment Weekly, O Magazine, Goodreads and many more.”

http://mona-awad-grou.squarespace.com/

My Review

›” ‘All’s Well That Ends Well,’ the dean repeats, winking at me again. ‘Just great. That one of the comedies or tragedies, Professor Fitch?’ ‘Both,’ I say. And my own voice sounds richer, deeper to my ear. ‘It’s both.’ “

All’s Well truly is a comedy and a tragedy. AND a horror, and a mystery. Miranda Fitch is a 37 year-old who had a happy marriage to Paul until her hip injury after falling off the stage during a performance. She believes the bad recovery following surgery led to her chronic leg and back pain. The accident led to their divorce and her taking a job as a theatre professor in a high school. Her “enemy” is Fauve, the music professor who wants Miranda’s job. This year’s play will be All’s Well That Ends Well. Briana is the leading actress playing Helen (Miranda doesn’t like her), her boyfriend Trevor is playing Bertram, and shy Ellie (Miranda’s favourite student) is playing the King. Miranda has a crush on the school handyman, Hugo. He’s an an ex-con who fell in love with Shakespeare while in prison and now helps design and build the sets. Miranda swings by the pub after rehearsal where she meets a strange man. The bartender gives her a drink called “the golden remedy”.

“He’s still a fuzzy blur even though I’ve wiped my eyes.”

Ellie offers Miranda a bath bomb/bag mixture of natural ingredients to help Miranda’s pain, just like Helen offered to the King in the play. The next time Miranda visits the pub, the strange man is there with two other men. They somehow know her name, and they ask her if she’d like to see a trick.

“Blue skies in my blood blacken. Great weight on my chest. Spinal cord a column of fire. Can’t breathe. Can’t speak. On the floor. Cheek resting now on the cold floorboards. Three pairs of shiny black shoes pointed toward me, tapping. Tapping along to music. Music somewhere. Familiar. Old movie music. Making the floor shake beneath my temple. What’s happening?”

What’s happening indeed!

The three strange men are in a band called “The Weird Brethren”, which is an interesting name…The weird religious member…Hmmm…and Miranda talks about hearing the song “Get Happy” and “Me and My Shadow” by Judy Garland.

Get Happy Lyrics:
Forget your troubles, c’mon get happy
You better chase all your cares away
Shout “hallelujah”, c’mon get happy
Get ready for the judgement day

Me and My Shadow Lyrics:
And when it’s twelve o’clock, we climb the stair
We never knock, cause nobody’s there
Just me and my shadow
All alone and feeling blue
Me and my shadow
Strolling down the avenue

“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky”
– All’s Well That Ends Well, Act One, Scene One

From here, it’s a wild ride that barely makes any sense at all. Are Ellie’s bath mixtures helping? Does magic exist? We don’t know if Miranda is losing her mind, and we don’t know what’s real or fantasy. Embrace the madness.

› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 8

› Atmosphere: 9

› Writing Style: 10

› Plot: 9

› Intrigue: 10

› Logic: 8

› Enjoyment: 9

Average 9

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★

My Rating ★★★★★

› Final Thoughts
• All’s Well is one of the best books I’ve read in 2021. Even after reading the book TWICE I’m still not sure I understand what was real or fantasy and I don’t understand the ending at all, and I don’t care. LOVED THIS!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.