Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Maid by Nita Prose

178 reviews

davinmotion's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

What a fun mystery with a plucky heroine! For some reason I thought of her as a fashionable Amelia Bedelia, despite not having read those books in decades. She has heart of gold and a clever way with words. I sincerely hope to see more characters like her. 

If you want a fun, light-hearted mystery with a lot of memorable characters, I highly recommend this one. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Terminal illness

If you’re sensitive to the unfortunate prejudice a neurodivergent person may face this book may be difficult for you to read.

smsegal's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Bullying

bookishoptimist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.75

I appreciate that the main character is neuro-divergent.  It made for an interesting twist on the typical murder mystery.  It was also informative on the struggles that someone whose behavior is considered abnormal might have to deal with on a day to day basis.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Violence, Bullying, and Torture

misskitty14's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Many murder mysteries are helmed by a neurodivergent detective (Holmes, Poirot, Monk), but most of them rarely get into how their mind works and even fewer acknowledge the challenges faced by these characters' disability (their attention to detail is simply a superpower). The main character of the novel, Molly Gray, is neurodivergent but this does not make her a superhuman detective. Instead, the reader comes to realize how much Molly doesn't see or understand because of the way her mind works. It can be frustrating at times to watch as she trusts the wrong people and misunderstands situations that are very obvious to the rest of us.  I've heard many people with neurodiversity discuss how they hate that their disability is oftentimes represented as a superpower rather than an actual disability (comedian Fern Brady has a whole stand-up about it). Overall, I found this aspect of the novel to be incredibly educational and led to increased empathy on my part.

The reason I don't give this book 5 stars is because of the ending. Prose fell into the classic murder mystery trope of keeping valuable information from the reader.

From the beginning our main character knows who killed Mr. Black (it isn't anyone ever put on our radar) but never tells anyone or discusses it in her own mind.

Before I got to the end of the novel, I thought I figured out the answer, which seemed very obvious from the beginning, but I was impressed by how the pieces had come together. Instead, like all other murder mystery authors before her, Prose decides to justify a left-field answer by withholding information from the reader, information that should be known to us since we are inside Molly's head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Bullying, Terminal illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

mercy killing

hannah_steven's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, Death, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Cancer, Deportation, and Domestic abuse

averyprettyboy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

just wow wow wow 

this book was probably one of my absolute favorite reads this year. even before learning of it online, i had suspected that molly could be on the spectrum and also might have ocd, but it was great to see this representation even if it might have made her an “unreliable narrator” to some. i was captivated from the very start and throughly enjoyed this book until the very end. 

i nearly sobbed when learning the final fate of molly’s gran, but i also understand why it was done. it was just heartbreaking to learn. i kind of suspected that rodney was involved in some nefarious dealings and that juan manuel may have been as well but was utterly shocked at how deep the pool of deceit went. and the ending??? wtaf i had no idea that the first mrs black would be the true killer, although i am glad that molly left her to peacefully live out her live, even if shes rich, rodney deserved jail time more than she did. im really pissed that we never learned where wilbur went and for whatever reason, i suspected him to be mr black 😭 it seemed like something he would do and with molly being a unreliable narrator and also not always putting the pieces together right away, i wondered if she even knew. but i guess as far as we know wilbur is not mr black. and i was really thankful of giselle for helping molly out, they really both deserve happiness and peace now. also juan manuel and molly getting together is something i wanted since he was first introduced so im super happy about that.

all in all, great read and would recommend to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Ableism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, and Physical abuse

mal_reads_books's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Murder, Death, and Bullying

Moderate: Drug use and Toxic friendship

kristinj1's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

This was an enjoyable, fast read. Molly, the main character, felt like she was fully realized and had been thoughtfully written. I really enjoyed the premise of Molly having some sort of social processing challenges, without it ever being named specifically. I liked all the characters I was meant to like and would read about that band of friends again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying and Drug use

Minor: Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Murder, Grief, and Bullying

stardustdreamer's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Murder, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, and Terminal illness

Minor: Vomit and Excrement

chaotically_katie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Deportation, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Trafficking