Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

51 reviews

everyotherpageorso's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Michaelides’ endings are always so unexpected! The middle was definitely slow, though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident

chlomonte's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, and Pedophilia

jos17's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

The main character is introduced to another character twice within three chapters, she describes her childhood as “Spartan” but turns around and describes it as “privileged”, at least two characters serve solely to make the character fear physical harm, and the “twist” ending had absolutely no set up. Oh there’s also a side plot with characters that sort of ties in to this sorry that I’m pretty sure was only included so the author could get self-referential about his other book.

Also most of the internal dialogue is the main character sad about a man, suspicious of a man, or fearful of a man.  Not my thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Self harm

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

bethgraham1102's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Infidelity, and Animal death

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

killerpancake's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Things I did not enjoy about this book:

• Every bit that involved psychotherapy. It seems in order for this topic to be interesting in books that it always has to be approach unethically.
• The Greek tragedy themes feeling like window dressing
• The extremely obvious red herrings

This just didn't do it for me on any level. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

koyalites's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Animal death

mydearwatsonbooks's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Grief, and Domestic abuse

chelsearose's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

katiescott's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. 

I really enjoyed The Silent Patient and was ecstatic to receive The Maidens. I really try not to compare books to each other, but in this case I just couldn’t read The Maidens without also thinking of The Silent Patient. 

Unfortunately, with my high expectations and the comparison between books, The Maidens fell flat for me. I didn’t get the thriller I was hoping for and the dark academia vibe that seemed sure to be interesting was just plain boring. The twists were obvious and the ending was too frantic. 

I enjoyed the bits and pieces of mythology weaved throughout the story, although I will say I wanted more even of that aspect, and I look forward to future books by Alex Michaelides. However, I can’t say that I would recommend The Maidens as a “must read” for thriller fans. I will say that one bonus is that the narration of the audiobook is superb.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

unboxedjack's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence