The Maid by Nita Prose
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Thank you to the publisher, Ballantine Books, for providing me with an ARC of The Maid in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Gist
The Maid came to my attention through a Goodreads article, outlining 7 great books hitting the shelves the first week of January 2022.
Canadian debut author. The book promises to be a sort of whodunnit mystery with a different type of protagonist. Sign me up!
The Details
As the reader finds out in the book blurb, the protagonist has difficulty reading social cues and is constantly faced with challenges of figuring out her environment and interacting with other people.
I don’t think I have ever come across such a character in any book thus far. So, while reading The Maid I became instantly enchanted with Molly.
I feel for her and get angry every time she is taken advantage of. She tries her best and that makes her so sweet.
Her dedication and willingness to work on herself to become a better member of her community is so inspiring. And I just love her sense of right and wrong; her quirky way that is so generous.
In contrast, some of the secondary characters are the exact opposite of Molly and makes one think about the social labels of “normal”, “socially challenged” or “a little different” that are easily handed out.
I have difficulty categorizing this story. It’s part murder mystery; part coming-of-age; part contemporary fiction.
The plot is very straight forward and makes for a quick and interesting read. In fact, at the conclusion of The Maid I looked up a little disappointed, because I wanted to read more. I couldn’t believe the story was already over.
The writing is excellent. It’s consistent throughout the entire story, without any slow or boring sections or any parts that seem less thought out or well constructed.
The writing is vivid and makes it easy to picture the scene.
The Verdict
Overall, The Maid is a quick, easy and sweet read that I hoped would have lasted longer.
I am so glad I had the chance to read such a story this early on in the year, which really helped with my months-long book slump.
I would definitely recommend it.
