Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Maid by Nita Prose

164 reviews

lex_l's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Grief, and Death

auliarach's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Terminal illness

chondritesandchondrites's review against another edition

emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

The Maid is a difficult book to review. Like most mysteries, the first half of the book is set up and the second half is about revealing answers. Once I hit the midway point in this novel, I really started to enjoy it. It was fast paced, playful, and unexpected. I was incredibly invested, and had trouble putting the book down. At one point, I was crying while reading. 

All this said, I nearly didn’t get to the mid point of this book. The first half I found slow and difficult to read. I felt, at times, that the author did not trust the reader as certain points were repeated with a heavy hand.  Additionally, Molly’s social awkwardness plays a key role in this book, but it also feels over done to the point of caricature. 

I’ve seen other readers speculating on whether Molly is autistic. There is no point in the book where Molly is identified as such, and that’s honestly a good thing. It would be a very poor representation of an autistic person. 

As such— I give this book 3.5. While readers might have to weather the first half of the book, the  second half is a great read and incredibly fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Suicide, Drug use, Infidelity, Abandonment, Deportation, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Additional Content Warning: Assisted Suicide

keishac13's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Death, Physical abuse, and Grief

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

ohyeah_karyn's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Deportation, Murder, Terminal illness, Death, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

frantically's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-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? Yes

1.0

I'm not autistic, so keep that in mind while reading my review.

This writing style, this style of writing about neurodivergent/autistic people has been so overdone and to me it's nothing less than dehumanising. As other reviewers have pointed out, we're supposed to believe this takes place in the present (which I couldn't believe throughout the whole book) and still, not one character thinks "Hey maybe Molly isn't just quirky & annoying, maybe there's some autistic traits here".

I have friends who have autism, you probably have too and it serves none of us if they keep being portrayed as these quirky people who have no clue how to interact with others and seem to have completely different thought patterns — it just divides us even more.

The writing style distracted me from the whole mystery but honestly it wasn't life-changing either.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Racism, Bullying, and Domestic abuse

agirlnamedellie's review against another edition

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

3.0

Was a decent read but nothing special. Didn't really feel any emotion or connection to any of the characters so found myself not being fully invested. Guessed most of the plot but not the final reveal which was a bit of a shame because I like to be kept on my toes reading a mystery book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Grief