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A review by okiecozyreader
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I *STILL* need to read The Silent Patient, but I was glad my local bookclub chose The Maidens so I could try something by Alex Michaelides.
I listened to this book on a quick Father’s Day trip to the lake to see my dad and I enjoyed the audio. The British narrator and occasional voice by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith was so well done, and maybe even made the story better for me.
I loved mythology in junior high but I haven’t really kept it up until recently. I love the refresher courses in fiction books; this one, Persephone (also featured in Every Summer After, which I was reading at the same time, and loved that connection).
Mariana Andros gets a call from her niece Zoe, that there has been a murder on her campus. Mariana is a group therapist who lost her husband years before, but she has never healed. She also has difficult connections to her own father. She goes back to Cambridge to “help” the investigation and zeros in on a teacher named Edward Fosca, who has a group of wealthy female students, called The Maidens (one of whom was the girl who was murdered).
I did think there were red herrings that were too much of a focus, and we never got to know other important people… but it was a great listen on my trip (and maybe it’s good I haven’t read The Silent Patient yet).
Quotes —
“Not for the first time, Mariana’s empathy prevailed over her common sense.” Ch 5
“The temple was dedicated to Demeter, goddess of the harvest, goddess of life, and to her daughter Persephone, goddess of death. The two goddesses were often worshiped together; two sides of the same coin, mother and daughter; life and death. In Greek, Persephone was known simply as Kore, meaning Maiden.” Ch 11
“Mariana knew the best approach was simply to be present and patient and let Zoey unburden herself in her own time.” ch 14
“My argument with so much of psychoanalysis, is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness, when in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know have come out of people's suffering.” Arthur Miller, part 2
“A noble maiden must be sacrificed to the daughter of Demeter, to Persephone.” Track 29
“Being here, in this lovely restaurant, drinking champagne, it allowed them to pretend for a while, to escape the murder and the unpleasantness, and to exist happily in a little bubble of the present moment.” Track 30
“This is what those old Greek plays are about. What it means to be human. What it means to be alive…If you're not aware of the transcendent, if you're not 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 well not be alive.” Track 32
“…the way she sat there reminded Mariana of a little perching bird watching everything but saying nothing.” Track 34
I listened to this book on a quick Father’s Day trip to the lake to see my dad and I enjoyed the audio. The British narrator and occasional voice by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith was so well done, and maybe even made the story better for me.
I loved mythology in junior high but I haven’t really kept it up until recently. I love the refresher courses in fiction books; this one, Persephone (also featured in Every Summer After, which I was reading at the same time, and loved that connection).
Mariana Andros gets a call from her niece Zoe, that there has been a murder on her campus. Mariana is a group therapist who lost her husband years before, but she has never healed. She also has difficult connections to her own father. She goes back to Cambridge to “help” the investigation and zeros in on a teacher named Edward Fosca, who has a group of wealthy female students, called The Maidens (one of whom was the girl who was murdered).
I did think there were red herrings that were too much of a focus, and we never got to know other important people… but it was a great listen on my trip (and maybe it’s good I haven’t read The Silent Patient yet).
Quotes —
“Not for the first time, Mariana’s empathy prevailed over her common sense.” Ch 5
“The temple was dedicated to Demeter, goddess of the harvest, goddess of life, and to her daughter Persephone, goddess of death. The two goddesses were often worshiped together; two sides of the same coin, mother and daughter; life and death. In Greek, Persephone was known simply as Kore, meaning Maiden.” Ch 11
“Mariana knew the best approach was simply to be present and patient and let Zoey unburden herself in her own time.” ch 14
“My argument with so much of psychoanalysis, is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness, when in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know have come out of people's suffering.” Arthur Miller, part 2
“A noble maiden must be sacrificed to the daughter of Demeter, to Persephone.” Track 29
“Being here, in this lovely restaurant, drinking champagne, it allowed them to pretend for a while, to escape the murder and the unpleasantness, and to exist happily in a little bubble of the present moment.” Track 30
“This is what those old Greek plays are about. What it means to be human. What it means to be alive…If you're not aware of the transcendent, if you're not 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 well not be alive.” Track 32
“…the way she sat there reminded Mariana of a little perching bird watching everything but saying nothing.” Track 34
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Moderate: Drug use