Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

234 reviews

emma6544's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

I read The Silent Patient and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to this book. 

I was hesitant going into it because I have not enjoyed a lot of dark academia books but this book is different. It balances the academic and mystery lines really well so I felt that both areas were explored really well. I also loved Alex’s descriptive writing style which brought the characters and story to life. 

The plot was face paced and it kept me invested into who the killer is. While I wasn’t hugely shocked at one of the people involved as I had my suspicions on them for awhile, I was majorly shocked at the twist

we find out that Zoe, her niece, had killed the victims, influenced by her lover Sebastian, Marianas husband who she is grieving throughout the book. This came as a shock as the book builds up to Edward Fosca and I was also expecting Fred by the language of the last few journal entries. This shock blew me away and it flipped the book for me, like it did Marianas world.

I also really enjoyed the references to The Silent Patient

Theo, the therapist from The Silent Patient, makes an appearance towards the end of the book. Mariana recommends him for a job at The Grove, his place of employment in the book. Plus, after Zoe’s arrest, he is the one treating her and we get a little preview of that in the epilogue.

This book blew me away and this is my favourite book of his so far and I am looking forward to enjoying his latest book, The Fury. Despite the references to the last book, you can easily read this book first. I highly recommend reading this book, even if you are not a fan of dark academia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Pedophilia and Death of parent

pedophila is brought up towards the end of the books

lionfish_22's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death

gabrielleclawson's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness

carolines'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Animal death, and Sexual assault

thatlibrarychick's review

dark mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Stalking, Sexual content, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

filipa_maia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I'm not a huge fan of 'The Silent Patient' and I found this book even less enjoyable. I definitely don't like Alex Michaelides' writing, I always feel like his books could be movie scripts. That is something that don't work for me.

Overall I liked the plot. The story is well built and the characters are interesting with complex and very dark backgrounds but the ending... my God... Why? I didn't like it one bit. It definitely subverted expectations but was completely unnecessary.

I enjoyed the "crossover" with 'The Silent Patient' though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Incest, and Car accident

sophiecarbs's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Pedophilia, Stalking, Drug abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

dev921's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Drug use, Bullying, Sexual assault, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

mxdegroot's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

There's so much still unclear, and I think that that's exactly the point.

Michaelides knows exactly how to write a fucked up story with fucked up characters without making it fundamentally problematic. In a lot of books with storylines centered around violence against women, you will see language that is inherently offensive. In The Maidens, this is not the case. For all the violence and manipulation, Michaelides has manages to write the story with respect. Every single character is messed up in a way, but they're still human.

The ending was all but perfect.

If Fosca had turned out to be the actual murderer, it would have been very satisfying, but Zoe's story and her motivations were a wonderful and yet heartbreaking plottwist, which is why I was so happy to see that she was not completely demonized in the epilogue. She was manipulated and used for such a long time and in such a fundamental way that she was still under its influence after her abuser died, and while this in no way excuses the murders she committed, she doesn't deserve to be completely villainized. Simultanuously, while Fosca isn't a murderer, he is still a pedophile and an abuser, and this is not erased, which I was very happy to read.

I am still confused about the character of Henry. He is severely messed up and straight up stalks Mariana throughout the book, and it is never really explained, nor does he appear much in the book after he 'attacks' Mariana. He is just never explained. There are some more small things that I felt could have been handled better, but I'll spare anyone reading this the excrutiatingly elaborate details of that.

While the ending is open and a little confusing, it worked perfectly for the story. Mariana already had trouble dealing with what she knows, and now she's expected to deal with revelations she couldn't have dared to imagine before. A lot of characters have a lot of recovery and development to go, so an open epilogue like this worked perfectly.

January 29th, 2024 - January 31st, 2024.

Reading about life was no preparation for living it; [Mariana] had learned this the hard way

Let me tell you something - this is what those old Greek plays are about. What it means to be human. What it meanst to be alive. And if you miss that when you read them - if all you see is a bunch of dead words - then you're missing the whole damn thing. I don't just mean in the plays - I mean in your lives, right now. If you're not aware of the transcendent, if you'ren ot awake to the glorious mystery of life and death that you're lucky enough to be part of - if that doesn't fill you with joy and strike you with awe... you might as wel not be alive. That's the message of the tragedies. Participate in the wonder. For your sake - for

Tara

's sake - live it."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Death, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity and Classism

sugarbucky's review

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? N/A

5.0

Michaelides has done it again!! You will NEVER guess the twist in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Animal death, and Animal cruelty