All's Well (2021)

"I'm faking it and you're faking it and we're all fucked, basically."

Rating: 4.5/5

Author: Mona Awad

Premise: Several years ago, young actress Miranda Fitch suffered a career-ending fall during a production of Shakespeare’s ‘All's Well.' Today, she is a bitter but passionate theatre director at a local Uni, haunted by a crippling pain that evades diagnosis. Realities collide and distort as Miranda endeavors to put on ‘All's Well’ once again with her students. 

Recommend: Chronic pain girlies assemble. Bonus points if you did Shakespeare in school and/or D&D. I first read All's Well in the midst of a six-month stint of undiagnosed sciatica. Fatigue and stiffness lingering like an unholy mist, ready to scalp the next person who suggested trying a heat pack. This is the best way to read All's Well. Miranda is often unlikeable, but she garners our sympathy for good reason. Through self-criticism, sarcasm, medical trauma, and beef with children, she reaches out and touches the reader. But it's hard not to lean back. Awad distills realistic conflicts and challenges with a dark, aggressive hand, and unexpected nips of fantasy. The hatred and hope wrestle across some 350-odd pages before finally, spectacularly, melding together. 

In the vein of: Bunny (Mona Awad, 2019), 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl (Mona Awad, 2013), My Year of Rest and Relaxation (Ottessa Moshfegh, 2018).

Mood: A murky candle-lit bath.