Why do all the reviews I’ve read for THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides praise this book? I kept reading it after the first 100 pages of boredom only because I did not want to miss whatever won over so many other readers. I have now finished reading it, and I still have not found an answer to my question.
Right from the start the reader is made aware that the main character has decided that Edward Fosca is a murderer. But as I read more and more of the novel, I wasn’t so sure.
Mariana, a widow and a practicing psychotherapist, has a niece, Zoe, she dearly loves who is going to school at Cambridge University. When Zoe calls Mariana because she is distressed that her friend was murdered, Mariana leaves the next day for Cambridge to console her. But her plan to spend just one night there changes when Zoe tells her something that makes her suspect Fosca. Now she has to play Nancy Drew, and one night becomes more.
Another murder, then another occur at Cambridge, and Mariana is equally sure that Fosca is guilty of these. And so the novel continues with her insistence of Fosca’s guilt. She drives people crazy, including the police. But this is not why I disliked the book.
THE MAIDENS is slow, s-o s-l-o-w. Between the few things that happen is so much of Mariana's thinking and remembering and repeating and repeating.
Don't be fooled by the gorgeous cover.
I do applaud Michaelides' insertion of so many other possible murderers into the story. Even though I suspected early on that Fosca was not guilty, several characters seemed like they might be. So I never did decide who the true culprit was until the end of the story.
Right from the start the reader is made aware that the main character has decided that Edward Fosca is a murderer. But as I read more and more of the novel, I wasn’t so sure.
Mariana, a widow and a practicing psychotherapist, has a niece, Zoe, she dearly loves who is going to school at Cambridge University. When Zoe calls Mariana because she is distressed that her friend was murdered, Mariana leaves the next day for Cambridge to console her. But her plan to spend just one night there changes when Zoe tells her something that makes her suspect Fosca. Now she has to play Nancy Drew, and one night becomes more.
Another murder, then another occur at Cambridge, and Mariana is equally sure that Fosca is guilty of these. And so the novel continues with her insistence of Fosca’s guilt. She drives people crazy, including the police. But this is not why I disliked the book.
THE MAIDENS is slow, s-o s-l-o-w. Between the few things that happen is so much of Mariana's thinking and remembering and repeating and repeating.
Don't be fooled by the gorgeous cover.
I do applaud Michaelides' insertion of so many other possible murderers into the story. Even though I suspected early on that Fosca was not guilty, several characters seemed like they might be. So I never did decide who the true culprit was until the end of the story.