Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Maid by Nita Prose

138 reviews

vireogirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

Read it in one evening. Several chuckles. Nice to see a neurodiverse character. A bit cheesy at times but there were some twists I didn’t expect and a lovely message of embracing who you are. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Infidelity, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

samburkhouse's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Physical abuse, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Deportation

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted sad fast-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

Another brilliant neurodivergent protagonist at the heart of a fantastic book. Like Eleanor Oliphant, Molly struggles with social cues and the meaning behind the looks people give her. It was hard sometimes to read the way people take advantage of Molly and her differences. But ultimately this is a pretty feel-good story about found family and the value of true friendship.

I find the writing in books like this really clever, as the incricacies of the mundane (in this case the way Molly cleans a room) really get inside the main character's head. It's filled with emotion and brilliantly thought out characters, and I flew through it so quickly.

The plot is a little predictable at times, but threw in enough curve balls to keep me guessing. I'm excited by the idea that there will be more books featuring Molly the Maid!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, and Murder

anekk78's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Only minutes into this book it became one of my favorites ever! It is beautiful book about human relations with a murder sprinkled over. And the main character is an Eleanor Olyphant type character, you’ll either live her or hate her. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Police brutality

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

mercy killing

dev921's review

emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Classism

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

Additional Content Warning: Assisted Suicide