Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Maid

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Maid by Nita Prose

30 reviews

chondritesandchondrites's review against another edition

emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Maid is a difficult book to review. Like most mysteries, the first half of the book is set up and the second half is about revealing answers. Once I hit the midway point in this novel, I really started to enjoy it. It was fast paced, playful, and unexpected. I was incredibly invested, and had trouble putting the book down. At one point, I was crying while reading.

All this said, I nearly didn’t get to the mid point of this book. The first half I found slow and difficult to read. I felt, at times, that the author did not trust the reader as certain points were repeated with a heavy hand. Additionally, Molly’s social awkwardness plays a key role in this book, but it also feels over done to the point of caricature.

I’ve seen other readers speculating on whether Molly is autistic. There is no point in the book where Molly is identified as such, and that’s honestly a good thing. It would be a very poor representation of an autistic person.

As such— I give this book 3.5. While readers might have to weather the first half of the book, the second half is a great read and incredibly fun.

Content Warnings

short_stories's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Content Warnings

sarahna's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

ktembreull's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved the book until the point where the person Molly loved and trusted most made her think that ending a life was mercy.

Content Warnings

rodiemom's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

erindoesdesign's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

thndrkat's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

There were aspects of this book I found enjoyable, but more that I didn't. Prose does a great job at times with the contrast between what we know to be true and what the main character believes to be true, creating some truly cringy moments that I found entertaining. But more often, the story is cringy in a truly unpleasant way, from the unnatural dialog (such as countless instances of "my dear girl..."), to the absurdly two-dimensional characters (portrayed with stereotypes that are simplistic at best, offensive at worst), and the severely unbelievable wrap-up. I don't normally read mysteries, so I don't have a sense of the normal level and types of tropes, but this is not a book I would recommend. However, I picked it for a book club, so I had to finish it!

Content Warnings