Reviews with content warning for Animal death - دوشیزگان

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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

دوشیزگان by Alex Michaelides

317 reviews

michleea's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

cammiem8's review against another edition

1.0

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

You can tell this guy read The Secret History and tried to rip it off while fundamentally misunderstanding what makes that book interesting. One of the most bullshit, out of nowhere twists I’ve read, and the women are so poorly written I’d not be surprised to find out the author has never met one in real life.

Content Warnings

rinku's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The idea behind The Maidens had so much potential but it wasn’t realized to its fullest. Hence, I only liked the general plot and story, and many moments in the course of the story were a bit flat and too cliché for my taste.

The story follows Mariana; her husband has died and now her niece is the only left in her life. She visits her at her college after a friend of her niece has died where she tries to figure out who the murderer is. She becomes fixated on the Professor Fosca and the so-called maidens who he has gathered around him.

In general, I found the story engaging and I was also guessing who the murderer could be. I especially enjoyed the references to different psychological and literary ideas. But there were some things I didn’t like too much: The story had some clichés, like the incompetent police, there was in some parts too much telling, and some moments didn’t feel as emotional as they were supposed to.

The novel got so exciting when only a few chapters were left but the conclusion was just unsatisfying to me:

The plot twist that Sebastian was in love with Zoe and only married Mariana to be close to her was so disturbing, but I don’t know what to think about? Zoe being the killer was just … okay too, I guess, and I especially hated that Fred saved Mariana in the end

I generally liked the setting and the writing style, which was easy and fast to read, especially with the short chapters. The characters were mostly okay but often a bit cliché as well. Mariana was an interesting main character, and her emotions were portrayed well but it annoyed me how naïve she was when it came to certain characters. I was also annoyed by the fact that almost every guy was into her.

The Maidens was an average thriller that made me nevertheless interested in Michaelides other work because there were some references to The Silent Patient in this book.

Content Warnings

lexslittlelibrary's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I want to love this book so much! Up until the very last plot twist I was captivated by everything within the text. Given how convinced Mariana was that Fosca was a murderer I went into this going “okay so not him” but time and time again I was a bit unsure. I think there was one potentially really good red herring thrown in but he was too easy to dismiss. Same with the other attempts made at a suspect.

Henry could have been such a great suspect if he wasn’t clearly too far gone to write that kind of text /

It was too easy as a reader to look at the letters of confession and know who could not have written them. However the plot twist at the end did nothing feel entirely earned. It came out of left field without much to substantiate it and honestly made a lot of the emotion I invested in some of the characters feel a bit wasted?

Overall, the side characters who could have been compelling fell flat. We didn’t see enough of Fosca and the Maidens (in my opinion) and the Maidens we did see were hard to get a feel for.

The two introduced Maidens who died just felt like a toss up of ‘oh I know that name. Didn’t contribute to who was a suspect or give much emotion for the victims /

Overall, I want to love this book. And it’s fun enough — until the very end with the very last reveal. That’s where it lost me. Solid read but fell a hit short for me.

Content Warnings

mrpecans's review against another edition

2.25

dark mysterious tense fast-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

A book that was enjoyable as I was reading it mainly because I was always convinced it was right about to get good. And because it actually held my interest the whole time, I can’t claim to outright hate it…

…but it does get worse and worse in my memory. Truly a cockamamie plot and not in a good way. This book is a mess and I don’t recommend it, especially if, like me, you were hoping for something to scratch that Secret History itch.

Content Warnings