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A review by seashelfs
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
1.0
(1.75)
I liked the premise for this book. A suspicious Greek tragedy professor, a group of select girls being targeted, university setting, atmospheric writing. Sounds exactly what I wanted to read. Too bad I hated it.
It's so bad it's funny. The pages flew by so fast.
The main character, Mariana, is an idiot. She's a therapist so you would think she makes intelligent decisions but no. Her niece only told her of a suspicious professor on campus and she's made it her life's mission to prove he's the killer. Yes, the professor is a terrible person, but that's a different point.
There's no reason to be involved in the investigation in the first place. Thus we follow Mariana messing up crime scene after crime scene being entirely insufferable. She proceeds to interview a couple of people regarding the murders claiming to be a therapist hired by the dean or the investigation, which can easily fall apart with one brief conversation with the detectives of the case. Everyone's an idiot.
Did I mention Mariana's complete lack of personality? Her whole personality is that her husband is dead. That's it. Did I mention the fact that "I'm so ugly. If I was beautiful it was because my husband made me beautiful." despite the fact that every single male in the book immediately falls obsessively in love upon seeing eyes with her.
Everything in this book is so contrived. You can see the author's hands all over it. There's nothing natural from the plot flow, to the dialogue, and motivations.
There were a few things I liked about this book, like the atmospheric descriptions, the Silent Patient connection, and the emphasis that Zoe was a victim too.
I liked the premise for this book. A suspicious Greek tragedy professor, a group of select girls being targeted, university setting, atmospheric writing. Sounds exactly what I wanted to read. Too bad I hated it.
It's so bad it's funny. The pages flew by so fast.
The main character, Mariana, is an idiot. She's a therapist so you would think she makes intelligent decisions but no. Her niece only told her of a suspicious professor on campus and she's made it her life's mission to prove he's the killer. Yes, the professor is a terrible person, but that's a different point.
There's no reason to be involved in the investigation in the first place. Thus we follow Mariana messing up crime scene after crime scene being entirely insufferable. She proceeds to interview a couple of people regarding the murders claiming to be a therapist hired by the dean or the investigation, which can easily fall apart with one brief conversation with the detectives of the case. Everyone's an idiot.
Did I mention Mariana's complete lack of personality? Her whole personality is that her husband is dead. That's it. Did I mention the fact that "I'm so ugly. If I was beautiful it was because my husband made me beautiful." despite the fact that every single male in the book immediately falls obsessively in love upon seeing eyes with her.
Everything in this book is so contrived. You can see the author's hands all over it. There's nothing natural from the plot flow, to the dialogue, and motivations.
There were a few things I liked about this book, like the atmospheric descriptions, the Silent Patient connection, and the emphasis that Zoe was a victim too.