All Better Now is UNDOUBTEDLY one of the best books I have ever read. Set in a dystopian post-pandemic world, the book revolves around a new sort of virus that is threatening to become the next worldwide pandemic. Anyone who recovers from the virus becomes immensely content. Something which is bad for business, and drives the rich and wealthy to race to develop a cure.
The book has three main characters: Tiburón Tigre Escobedo, referred to by his nickname Rón, the son of an ultra-rich businessman, Mariel Mudroch, a street-smart girl who dwells borderline in poverty, and Morgan Willmon-Wu, a recent college graduate given an opportunity to change the world. The novel alternates between the perspectives of each of these characters, though not necessarily on a chapter-to-chapter basis. Shusterman has done an exceptional job at creating three seemingly unrelated characters, and then weaving their stories into one. The majority of the story is set in the United States, with some parts being set in the United Kingdom.
I enjoyed reading this novel because it was full of twists and turns. It poses an interesting question; ‘Is being utterly content a good thing?’ You will gain new perspectives into both sides of this question. The novel also provides an insight into the struggles of impoverished people in pandemics, and also into the private lives of the ultra-rich.
All Better Now is a captivating novel that captures the struggles of different sides of a conflict, and shows the struggles faced by different people in the midst of a pandemic unlike any other.
Hariharan Senthilkumar, 15
All Better Now
Neal Shusterman
Walker, 2025
Paperback, £8.99
ISBN: 9781529517590
