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novi's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
When Instarted reading this, he news about this going to be made into a movie starring Florence Pugh already spreaded, so when reading the first half of this I was really wondering "how the hell they would make this into a movie?" because the whole book is this neurodivergent character's monologue, that is so integral to the story. The essence is basically we are to understand her. Made into a movie, they better know what they're doing and do the book justice!!! But the latter half of the book was clearly a movie material. The pace picked up (the first half was pretty slow), and it was so so heartwarming, even though it has a lot of cliche elements lol but they're cliches because they work, i guess!
So I don't think this is a cozy mystery,I don't think it's a thriller either. This book is about Molly, our main character, that would make any reader of this book fall in love with her. The first half of the book was also wasn't as enjoyable as the latter half, because Molly was so mistreated by the people around her, and it was frustrating seeing her so powerless. But there's character growth here, so don't worry.
Another thing, is it just me, or this book for several times made me felt like "oh it's the ending" but then there's another chapter! And it happened several times! Am I just so impatient or...? But I just felt "this point is good enough as the ending" but they managed to reveal yet another thing about the case and situation (which I guess I didn't care as much, and I didn't even realized thy haven't even revealed the real murderer lolll) and we even got the epilogue (which I'm not sure how I feel about it).
So I don't think this is a cozy mystery,I don't think it's a thriller either. This book is about Molly, our main character, that would make any reader of this book fall in love with her. The first half of the book was also wasn't as enjoyable as the latter half, because Molly was so mistreated by the people around her, and it was frustrating seeing her so powerless. But there's character growth here, so don't worry.
Another thing, is it just me, or this book for several times made me felt like "oh it's the ending" but then there's another chapter! And it happened several times! Am I just so impatient or...? But I just felt "this point is good enough as the ending" but they managed to reveal yet another thing about the case and situation (which I guess I didn't care as much, and I didn't even realized thy haven't even revealed the real murderer lolll) and we even got the epilogue (which I'm not sure how I feel about it).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Drug abuse and Toxic friendship
ejanephillips's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Bullying, and Terminal illness
alyssapusateri's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Gaslighting, Death, Murder, Cancer, Terminal illness, Ableism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Drug use
onemamareads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Read my full review here: https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/the-maid
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying
andatherrin's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Grief, Drug abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders
forrestalexander's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I was so frustrated with this book, I considered giving it 0 stars.
With that being said, this character is very clearly coded to be autistic - despite the fact that the author never says this, it is obvious to any autistic folks or anyone who knows anything about autism spectrum disorder at all. She describes her various sensory issues, spends a great amount of the book talking about how she does not understand social situations in any capacity, she takes everything literally, she is a stickler for routine and does not stray away from the familiar, not being able to make small talk and being aware of this, etc.
As an autistic person, it was clear as day from the first few pages.
In addition, she has confirmed this in interviews, saying she used to work with high school kids with "very specialized needs" and implies that this was an inspiration for the character.
With that being said, it is an ignorant and harmful portrayal of an autistic person, rooted in stereotypes. Molly, as a character, feels both incredibly artificial and infantilized. She is an adult, lives on her own, pays rent, and is in all other senses of the world, completely independent. Being cut from a similar cloth and being a grown adult, I felt like the character was incredibly unrealistic - and this would be fine if the character didn't meet nearly all of the criteria for ASD. It feels like the author is attempting to shove every single autism stereotype into every chapter of the book, especially during the first half or so.
In reality, our lived experiences aren't like that. Through having to navigate a neurotypical world as autistic people, we often pick up on things like social cues and conversational context, even if we don't understand them. We also learn to "mask" our autism enough to present as neurotypical to the world - in fact, this has to be done oftentimes just to feel safe in certain situations. Molly would have, at least, picked up on enough through her decades of life to know when someone is probably not being literal. Toward the end of the book, she does start to pick up on this, even using a puzzle as an analogy of finally putting the pieces together and saying "I am learning to be less literal" when in reality, if she can understand this on her own now, she would have done this a long time ago. We don't get the luxury of being able to stay blissfully unaware of how our autism affects other people. From an early age, we are told how it inconveniences society (even if we have no idea we are autistic), and learn how to hide it so we inconvenience people less.
She is also told she is "such a special girl" by all of her coworkers and friends, and through most of the book she is infantilized, like a lot of neurotypical folks love to do, despite the fact that she is a grown adult.
Again, this character being written this way would be fine if the character didn't meet nearly all of the criteria for ASD and the author didn't imply she based her at least partially off of disabled children she used to teach - but she does, and she did. Despite the fact that this is a fictional character who is not specifically stated as being autistic, she is clearly written as such - and this is a real condition with a real community of real people who are already marginalized and discriminated against for the exact stereotypes she's basing this character off of. Doing this character and disabled folks justice would have been writing her correctly, stating her as autistic, and then making the points of people mistreating her clear, but none of this was done and the message is convoluted and lost in translation.
With that being said, this character is very clearly coded to be autistic - despite the fact that the author never says this, it is obvious to any autistic folks or anyone who knows anything about autism spectrum disorder at all. She describes her various sensory issues, spends a great amount of the book talking about how she does not understand social situations in any capacity, she takes everything literally, she is a stickler for routine and does not stray away from the familiar, not being able to make small talk and being aware of this, etc.
As an autistic person, it was clear as day from the first few pages.
In addition, she has confirmed this in interviews, saying she used to work with high school kids with "very specialized needs" and implies that this was an inspiration for the character.
With that being said, it is an ignorant and harmful portrayal of an autistic person, rooted in stereotypes. Molly, as a character, feels both incredibly artificial and infantilized. She is an adult, lives on her own, pays rent, and is in all other senses of the world, completely independent. Being cut from a similar cloth and being a grown adult, I felt like the character was incredibly unrealistic - and this would be fine if the character didn't meet nearly all of the criteria for ASD. It feels like the author is attempting to shove every single autism stereotype into every chapter of the book, especially during the first half or so.
In reality, our lived experiences aren't like that. Through having to navigate a neurotypical world as autistic people, we often pick up on things like social cues and conversational context, even if we don't understand them. We also learn to "mask" our autism enough to present as neurotypical to the world - in fact, this has to be done oftentimes just to feel safe in certain situations. Molly would have, at least, picked up on enough through her decades of life to know when someone is probably not being literal. Toward the end of the book, she does start to pick up on this, even using a puzzle as an analogy of finally putting the pieces together and saying "I am learning to be less literal" when in reality, if she can understand this on her own now, she would have done this a long time ago. We don't get the luxury of being able to stay blissfully unaware of how our autism affects other people. From an early age, we are told how it inconveniences society (even if we have no idea we are autistic), and learn how to hide it so we inconvenience people less.
She is also told she is "such a special girl" by all of her coworkers and friends, and through most of the book she is infantilized, like a lot of neurotypical folks love to do, despite the fact that she is a grown adult.
Again, this character being written this way would be fine if the character didn't meet nearly all of the criteria for ASD and the author didn't imply she based her at least partially off of disabled children she used to teach - but she does, and she did. Despite the fact that this is a fictional character who is not specifically stated as being autistic, she is clearly written as such - and this is a real condition with a real community of real people who are already marginalized and discriminated against for the exact stereotypes she's basing this character off of. Doing this character and disabled folks justice would have been writing her correctly, stating her as autistic, and then making the points of people mistreating her clear, but none of this was done and the message is convoluted and lost in translation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Ableism, Death, and Bullying
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
dcong16's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
1.0
The concept was so interesting but for a mystery I saw major components of the ending coming a mile away. Maybe not the twist in the epilogue but then that pissed me off because it came so out of left field and felt like it had no precedent in the rest of the story. Seems kind of counterintuitive to say some things were too obvious and others were obvious enough but the way things all work out has to have some clues somewhere and I guess there were a few TEENY TINY crumbs that might lead to the final reveal but it just wasn’t enough to be believable especially when everything else was so obvious. Also yes I knew this was a murder mystery but I wish I would have had a trigger warning for some of the death/dying elements related to her grandmother which I was not at all adequately prepared for.
Only thing giving it one star and not zero is the characters, but then the ending even sort of ruined Molly for me? Like it didn’t fit with how she’d behaved / acted the whole rest of the book???? The others were annoyingly surface level when they had potential to be so interesting, but I think that was part of getting to know them from Molly’s perspective, so I was willing to overlook it. On that note, I’m curious how this depiction of Molly’s experience was in terms of accuracy / sensitivity.
While we never get an actual name for it, I think the author’s intentions are fairly clear in depicting a character on the Autism spectrum. I have mixed feelings about that. Why make the reader read between the lines about that? Why not just say it? Why have there be no diagnosis? I don’t have the personal experience to judge whether this was or was not a faithful depiction of ASD, but the fact that it’s so heavily alluded to despite never being named strikes me as a little… shady I guess?? Like the author wanted to write the character that way but didn’t want the potential to be called out. I genuinely can’t see any reason why naming it would make a difference to the story, since Molly states, herself, on many occasions, that she knows she’s different and experiences the world differently and therefor has trouble understanding social situations that are easy for others. Having a name and a diagnosis for that difference wouldn’t really make a difference to the plot. I don’t know maybe I’m just conspiracy theorizing at this point. Regardless, I’d love to know what people with ASD or more personal experience with it than me think of Molly’s characterization. I hope it’s a faithful depiction because I think people deserve that, I’m just not very trusting when it comes to these things.
Only thing giving it one star and not zero is the characters, but then the ending even sort of ruined Molly for me? Like it didn’t fit with how she’d behaved / acted the whole rest of the book???? The others were annoyingly surface level when they had potential to be so interesting, but I think that was part of getting to know them from Molly’s perspective, so I was willing to overlook it. On that note, I’m curious how this depiction of Molly’s experience was in terms of accuracy / sensitivity.
While we never get an actual name for it, I think the author’s intentions are fairly clear in depicting a character on the Autism spectrum. I have mixed feelings about that. Why make the reader read between the lines about that? Why not just say it? Why have there be no diagnosis? I don’t have the personal experience to judge whether this was or was not a faithful depiction of ASD, but the fact that it’s so heavily alluded to despite never being named strikes me as a little… shady I guess?? Like the author wanted to write the character that way but didn’t want the potential to be called out. I genuinely can’t see any reason why naming it would make a difference to the story, since Molly states, herself, on many occasions, that she knows she’s different and experiences the world differently and therefor has trouble understanding social situations that are easy for others. Having a name and a diagnosis for that difference wouldn’t really make a difference to the plot. I don’t know maybe I’m just conspiracy theorizing at this point. Regardless, I’d love to know what people with ASD or more personal experience with it than me think of Molly’s characterization. I hope it’s a faithful depiction because I think people deserve that, I’m just not very trusting when it comes to these things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, and Death
Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Physical abuse
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Domestic abuse
milojean_reads's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Cancer
corruptednatz's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-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
5.0
Oh poor sweet Molly and the terrible people who she thought were her friends. The main character is very interesting because she’s direct, literal and doesn’t convey peoples emotions well. So the point of view is of a person who is confused about who to trust and if they’re laughing at her or with her. I will say when I was finished with this book I really wanted the “tour of Italy” from Olive Garden, it’s cute that’s her favorite restaurant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, and Grief
Minor: Drug abuse
boba_n_books's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I really enjoyed this book’s unique perspective. It was interesting to read this and see through Molly’s eyes how what may be “obvious” to some isn’t to others. It helped me see how oblivious I can be and how our legal system needs to help cater to those who aren’t neurotypical.
Good story with a fun cast of characters. Slow at times and somewhat repetitive towards the end, but overall a great read.
Good story with a fun cast of characters. Slow at times and somewhat repetitive towards the end, but overall a great read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Bullying