All's Well

The novel uses elements of horror and surrealism to portray Miranda’s experience. Analyze how Awad employs genre conventions, such as the uncanny benefactors and surreal transformations, to critique the real-world phenomenon of medical misogyny and the invalidation of female pain.

How does Awad’s depiction of pain shift from a private, internal state of suffering for Miranda to an external, weaponized force she wields against others? Discuss the moral implications of this transformation.

Discuss how Awad uses Miranda’s unreliable first-person narration to convey the disorienting and gaslit reality of living with an invisible illness. Pick two or three passages from the novel that exemplify how her pain warps her sense of reality.

Do you think Ellie’s magic is real? Argue for or against this, using evidence from the text.

Briana’s character arc is a direct inversion of Miranda’s. Analyze how Briana’s transformation, particularly her newfound ability as an actor once she experiences genuine suffering, functions as a commentary on the relationship between authenticity, performance, and empathy.

The Canny Man pub and the black box theater are crucial settings in the novel. Analyze how these spaces function as liminal zones where the boundaries between reality and performance collapse.

The Faustian bargain is a literary archetype in which a character trades something of moral or spiritual value for worldly gain. How does All’s Well update or change this classic trope?

Examine the three men at The Canny Man as a symbolic manifestation of the patriarchal systems that have failed Miranda.