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A review by sdevine
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I originally gave this 2 stars because I didn’t hate the first few parts HOWEVER, the more I thought about it the more I realized that I actually think I hated it a little bit.
The ending was dumb, the characters were dumb and hollow and felt so ridiculously unrealistic (and maybe that’s because I’m an American and maybe things are just different in an English university settings but I highly doubt that and it felt like these people were crossing so many boundaries), the fact that this book was split into parts where nothing that deserving it’s own section of a book actually happened was dumb, the side plot with a character from the beginning of the book didn’t make any sense and didn’t contribute to the overall story in any way (it wasn’t even a good red herring) and therefore I’m saying that was dumb, the motive was dumb, the epilogue was dumb, the way Michaelides just casually sprinkled in some trauma (pedophilia, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse) and then a rather large trauma bomb at the end to provide fodder for a motive that still didn’t seem believable without further explanation was dumb, all the women were stupid and the men were “creepy” and “unsettling” which again, was dumb. I did not like this book.
I liked that it was short. That’s about all I can say at this point. Don’t read it, instead read literally any other 300 page book.
The ending was dumb, the characters were dumb and hollow and felt so ridiculously unrealistic (and maybe that’s because I’m an American and maybe things are just different in an English university settings but I highly doubt that and it felt like these people were crossing so many boundaries), the fact that this book was split into parts where nothing that deserving it’s own section of a book actually happened was dumb, the side plot with a character from the beginning of the book didn’t make any sense and didn’t contribute to the overall story in any way (it wasn’t even a good red herring) and therefore I’m saying that was dumb, the motive was dumb, the epilogue was dumb, the way Michaelides just casually sprinkled in some trauma (pedophilia, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse) and then a rather large trauma bomb at the end to provide fodder for a motive that still didn’t seem believable without further explanation was dumb, all the women were stupid and the men were “creepy” and “unsettling” which again, was dumb. I did not like this book.
I liked that it was short. That’s about all I can say at this point. Don’t read it, instead read literally any other 300 page book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia