Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Þernan by Nita Prose

129 reviews


This book kind of frustrated me in that it felt kind of like they were making light of what literally happens to ASD folks regularly, getting unknowingly coerced/manipulated into crimes because they think the person is their friend. I appreciated the ending and was glad she ended up with JM.

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celery's profile picture

celery's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 17%

Didn't vibe with the writing style. I don't believe it was very good autistic representation either, the narrator/main character did not come across as autistic, she came across stupid, and they are not the same thing.

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funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Although this book wasn't what I expected going into it, I still found myself rooting for Molly the maid and hoping for the best for her. Rather than a deep murder mystery or even cozy mystery, I found this book to be more of a cozy character study of an obviously neurodivergent/autistic young woman (although it is never outright stated) with a small murder and crime subplot in the setting of a bustling, grand hotel. There were times when it was hard to read this book because the main character was so sweet and naive and so many people in her life took advantage of her or judged her for being different. The mystery part of the plot was also very predictable and the twist at the very end didn't feel like a huge reveal at all. Despite these parts, I still enjoyed seeing Molly gain a new found family and wanted her to get a happy ending. 

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challenging dark sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense 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

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lighthearted 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

Although the mystery was a bit predictable, there were still some surprising revelations - I really enjoyed the endearing characters 

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dark lighthearted mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I had assumed that the author of this book was neurodivergent, like her main character, and when I found out she wasn’t it seemed like such a weird choice, especially with the way she chose to write Molly, who reads like Amelia Bedelia most of the time. The mystery itself isn’t anything especially interesting, and if I wanted a charming British whodunnit I should have just re-read Thursday Murder Club 

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emotional lighthearted 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

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

   Molly, a neurodivergent maid, finds the rich and mean Mr. Black dead in his bed. It turns out he was murdered. And Molly ends up under suspicion for his murder. But some of the people at the hotel are not who they seem. And they may have used Molly's neurodivergence to their advantage. 
   I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I know some said it was inconsistent, but I find that, as a neurodivergent person, I can see how her seemingly very shifting rules don't shift as much as they seem to do to some people. I know that certain rules in my mind are different than how a "normal" person may have their rules. And once you get to the end it all makes sense, at least to me. 
   I didn't guess the killer, though I guess another one of the "plot twists" (the one with her grandmother.)

Narrator Rating: 3.5 stars
  She did a decent job but for most of the book she had kind of pout to her voice which was childlike and annoying for a 20-something woman.

Elemental Levels:  Fluff-3.5/5  Heartfelt-3/5   Helpful-NA     Horror-NA  Inspiration-NA  
Love aka Romance-2/5   Mystery-5/5     Predictability-2.5/5   Spice-NA    Suspense-2/5    Tear- 3/5  Thrill-1.5/5  Humor-1/5 

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