Miranda, our protagonist, suffers from chronic pain, and it consumes the first part of All’s Well from author, Mona Awad. Her friends have had enough, and she is finding herself increasingly alone. She combines pills and adds alcohol on top. She’s seen doctor after doctor after therapist: no one has helped. Is it in her head, like some seem to think? In her college theatre job, she’s directing “All’s Well That Ends Well”, a play her students have no interest in. (Brushing up on one’s Shakespeare before reading this, or at least know the general plot of AWTEW and Macbeth, will add depth.)
The desperation and exasperation of this novel’s first part drew me in; the mania is deliciously delirious in part two. The messages surrounding invisible disabilities, the dismissal of women’s pain, and the social advantages conferred by conventional attractiveness and an able body are, for the most part, well-delivered, though the finale could have pushed the boundaries further.
When Miranda meets up with three strange men, and one shows her “a trick”, that’s when things start to get really interesting. The magic realism here almost turns into a horror show. All’s Well is a very strange book, dark, surreal and almost hallucinatory; Awad has a unique, captivating voice and her writing feels both refreshing and haunting.
All’s Well, Mona Awad (Simon & Schuster)
Price: £14.99. Info: here
words BILLIE INGRAM SOFOKLEOUS
Buzz Culture
Discover how our brand new learning experience is giving young people in Wales the skills they need to get ahead