Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Maid by Nita Prose

32 reviews

emma_sky's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Cancer, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

npkrensky's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this “mystery” from the perspective of a neurodivergent person. It was heartwarming and make me reflect on how society treats people who are a little different.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

drnaynay's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, and Deportation

madamenovelist's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Physical abuse

The heroine has overt autistic traits (and possibly OCD traits? it’s unclear what the author’s intent was) but the manner in which her neurodivergence is handled was vaguely… flat. Like a caricature rather than a real person. I’m not sure if the author had a sensitivity reader/discussed what it’s like to be autistic with actual autistic people. Fantastic premise that would have made 5 stars if neurodivergence was handled with better care.

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.

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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

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. 

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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

chaotically_katie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Deportation

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Fine a bit — the main characters being somewhat strange and therefor similar. I liked that the narrator was morally grey, because she was a bit different than other people. I also found her naivety to be quite refreshing if not a bit unbelievable. All in all, a quick read that is interesting and well-written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

alba_marie's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

This one wasn't for me. So much hype surrounded this book; I'm generally a bit suspicious of hyped-up books, and they rarely meet my expectations. This one was no different. I truly do not get why so many people wanted to read it. 

The book is a "murder mystery" in a hotel in which a maid becomes implicated. The entire time though the mystery felt like it took the backseat, and a detailed account of Molly the Maid's life was the main story. 

I really struggled to connect with Molly the maid throughout the whole book. This made it hard to enjoy the novel, as it was a largely character-based story rather than a proper murder mystery. Though never explicitly said, Molly is on the spectrum somewhere – probably on the higher end of the spectrum. She’s obsessed with cleanliness. She has very limited social skills – to the point of exhibiting a child-like innocence at times – doesn't do well with change, and can't read social situations or facial expressions. Sarcasm is lost on her, and she struggles to grasp the gravity of certain situations. I'm sorry to say it but her life is very simple and very boring. 

She was a tough character to connect with, and spending hours upon hours in her mind was exasperating for me. I was exhausted by the end (well before the end, actually) of the book, and delighted to be out of her life. Her world is very constricted and offers little in terms of stimulation or interest. I think it'd be hard to find anyone that cares that much about cleaning! 

The story itself was simple and the murder wasn't hard to work out. There was no cat and mouse chase, no hunting down the clues, no working towards understanding the victim's or suspects' secret lives, no red herrings or secret agendas or exciting chases or nail-biting moments. The detectives were 2-D, flat characters. The baddies were so obviously baddies to everyone but Molly. The end took far too long to materialise, and then the murderer was caught and there was still 1 hour left and I was like, noooo! 

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it. It was not well written, it was pretty boring, there was nothing unique or interesting or fun about it, and I just couldn't engage with Molly or her world. When I finished listening (on double speed just to get there....), it was with an enormous sigh of relief. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

Minor: Emotional abuse, Classism, and Deportation