All's Well

By: Mona Awad

Narrated by: Sophie Amoss

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the author of Bunny, which Margaret Atwood hails as “genius,” comes a “wild, and exhilarating” (Lauren Groff) novel about a theater professor who is convinced staging Shakespeare’s most maligned play will remedy all that ails her - but at what cost?

Miranda Fitch’s life is a waking nightmare. The accident that ended her burgeoning acting career left her with excruciating chronic back pain, a failed marriage, and a deepening dependence on painkillers. And now, she’s on the verge of losing her job as a college theater director. Determined to put on Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, the play that promised and cost her everything, she faces a mutinous cast hellbent on staging Macbeth instead. Miranda sees her chance at redemption slip through her fingers.

That’s when she meets three strange benefactors who have an eerie knowledge of Miranda’s past and a tantalizing promise for her future: one where the show goes on, her rebellious students get what’s coming to them, and the invisible doubted pain that’s kept her from the spotlight is made known.

With prose Margaret Atwood has described as “no punches pulled, no hilarities dodged…genius,” Mona Awad has concocted her most potent, subversive novel yet. All’s Well is a “fabulous novel” (Mary Karr) about a woman at her breaking point and a formidable, piercingly funny indictment of our collective refusal to witness and believe female pain.

©2021 Mona Awad. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic Reviews

"Amoss delivers harrowing descriptions of Miranda’s years of agonizing treatments and self-medicating. Finally, thanks to three mysterious men and their 'golden remedy,' Miranda’s pain ebbs, and Amoss captures her amazement. But now the female lead in ALL’S WELL is in excruciating pain, and everyone believes Miranda's responsible. Reality is slippery in this novel, but Amoss’s performance will keep listeners tuned in." (AudioFile Magazine)

Mixed bag but excellent performance

The narration of this book is pitch perfect. I listened to the end. and it was the excellent performance that pushed me forward.

Unfortunately, I can't really recommend this book. The beginning is incredibly dark and disturbing. It borders on body horror. So I think a lot of people should simply skip this book. There's no real pay-off at the end for all of the dark content.

Every aspect of the book very self-consciously references Shakespeare. So Shakespeare fans may enjoy that aspect.

Almost perfect

Awad nailed the vicissitudes of chronic illness especially for a woman. You don’t know real happiness until you’ve experienced real pain .

Confusing

When I caught on to the entwined stories of Macbeth and All's Well, I thought this book was going to be brilliant, so I stuck with it to the end. But in truth, it is so unrelentingly dark, escalating and escalating in fever pitch...the ending seems unsatisfying. What was real? What's the lesson? Whether a tragedy or problem play, Shakespeare resolves. This book just ends. Which is sad because the writer,'s imagery and language are stunning...it's...the plot is unweildy.

What a Ride!

Dark humor - understatement! The beginning was a little long on describing the character's life with chronic pain and I almost stopped listening, but the writing was so good I kept on, then the book took off like crazy. The author wove Shakespeare's plays in throughout, cleverly explaining enough for those of us who don't know the plays well, as she blurred his characters with hers. So creative and so snarky, I loved the protagonist's voice, saying so much of what we all think. The narration was excellent.

Ummm wow?!

This book was very surprising. That’s the best way to describe it. The genre blending was done very well and, being a theatre major at college, I very much enjoyed the drama 😂. The story lays a little, but this is soooo well performed!

Confusing and odd

I found the characters in this story to each be unlikeable in their own way. There was no one to root for. It was a bit long and drawn out and I was left with too many questions about what actually happened.

Different

This is an unique read but the beginning starts to get a tad annoying with the never ending whining over pain. I get it, but perhaps a chapter or two would have done the job.

I was confused

I waited so long for a dramatic dark ending that never happened. Thank god for Hugo.

Perfect Duo

Mona Awad might be the best modern day novelist I've read. Sophie Amoss is such a delightful narrator too. This was a trippy story, and if Mona were less talented, I might find it frustrating, but she's so good, I'm captivated. And Sophie...ugh, Sophie, so emotive and easy to listen to. The two of them together is perfection.

Waste of time

Seriously, hours is a bad dream?!!!!!!!!
I kept listening to it thank you and it’s got a turn around because I got great reviews but it just was a miserable listen