Reviews with content warning for Ableism - The Maid

CW: drug trafficking/use, violence, blood/injury, death, ableism, gaslighting, cancer/illness

I loved this so much, I devoured all in a day, completely unintentionally. once I started I just couldn't stop. I love molly and I got so angry at all those around her treating her poorly and taking advantage of her. her character reads as possibly autistic, and even though it's not explicitly stated, I'm sure it's intentional.

I will absolutely be picking up more from Nita Prose in the future, I had a blast with this one!

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alyssapusateri's review against another edition

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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

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hamohero's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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map755's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

1.5

I had many issues with this book, mostly directly related to the protagonist's portrayal. While it's never said directly, it's very clear that the author intended the audience to read the titular maid, Molly, as autistic. The author made this clear by giving Molly every characteristic that comes up when you Google "high functioning autism symptoms." That's a problem on its own as no autistic person has every single one of those characteristics and even if one does they're not going to be displayed in such a rigid way. Beyond that, the author very inconsistenly applied these traits to Molly, and used them only when it was convenient for the story. Molly liked following rules, including those for etiquette that her grandmother taught her, but her rule following could be abandoned if it moved the story forward. We even see her magically begin to start understand facial expressions, with no explanation for why she would have this breakthrough now. Further, Molly's place as an autistic character does nothing for the community as nearly every other character in the book (including in the courthouse, where, inexplicably her lawyer is present and direct examining her when she's not on trial) laughs at her for her quirky differentness. Rather than being an empowering character who autistic people can claim as one of their own, Molly is the butt of the joke in the book for all of her inconsistenly applied traits. Shakily applied misunderstanding of autism is not representation anyone wants.

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forrestalexander's review against another edition

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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.

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