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chaifanatic18's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
richardrbecker's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Who is Maud Dixon? is a crazy ride, but not the kind of ride that I had hoped. It's the story of a morally bankrupt hack who attempts to assume the identity of her employer — a wildly famous novelist who uses a pseudonym to protect her anonymity. While the plot might be promising, the protagonist is not.
Florence Darrow is a clueless, uncreative bore, and she earns no sympathy along her journey just because the story's antagonist is also morally bankrupt. Even when the author attempts to make Florence clever, she only doubles down on the fact that we're mostly watching a sociopath and psychopath attempt to outmaneuver each other, with Florence being the more pathetic and gullible of the two.
Trapped within a cage of her own inabilities and envious, entitled rants about fairness and equity, Florence embodies everything wrong with those who think luck and misdirection are more important than persistence in changing one's life. We learn this very quickly about Florence when she tries to blackmail her boss into publishing a collection of not-ready-for-primetime stories, never considering that maybe people are telling her the truth — they aren't ready for prime time.
The early stunt gets her canned, and she is desperate to take the next gig, which sounds almost too good to be true. News flash: It's too good to be true. She is hired on as an author's assistant after being sworn to secrecy, promising never to divulge the real person behind the pseudonym. The real person behind the name seems to channel Kathy Bates' portrayal of Margaret "Molly" Brown in the film Titanic by coming across as a vulgar, conservative, and salt-of-the-earth writer — the kind who would likely be snubbed at literary events and thus reluctant to appear in the public eye. Of course, there is a little more to the story than that.
Although the twists are telegraphed early in the novel, the first eighty percent are entertaining despite having to see the world through the eyes of an annoying whiner. It's the back twenty percent that lost me, with our antiheroine flipping the switch from being amazingly naive and stupid to utterly ruthless and faux worldly. Still, plenty of people seem ready to relate to and embrace the protagonist. It will be interesting to see where she might pop up next, maybe a movie.
Florence Darrow is a clueless, uncreative bore, and she earns no sympathy along her journey just because the story's antagonist is also morally bankrupt. Even when the author attempts to make Florence clever, she only doubles down on the fact that we're mostly watching a sociopath and psychopath attempt to outmaneuver each other, with Florence being the more pathetic and gullible of the two.
Trapped within a cage of her own inabilities and envious, entitled rants about fairness and equity, Florence embodies everything wrong with those who think luck and misdirection are more important than persistence in changing one's life. We learn this very quickly about Florence when she tries to blackmail her boss into publishing a collection of not-ready-for-primetime stories, never considering that maybe people are telling her the truth — they aren't ready for prime time.
The early stunt gets her canned, and she is desperate to take the next gig, which sounds almost too good to be true. News flash: It's too good to be true. She is hired on as an author's assistant after being sworn to secrecy, promising never to divulge the real person behind the pseudonym. The real person behind the name seems to channel Kathy Bates' portrayal of Margaret "Molly" Brown in the film Titanic by coming across as a vulgar, conservative, and salt-of-the-earth writer — the kind who would likely be snubbed at literary events and thus reluctant to appear in the public eye. Of course, there is a little more to the story than that.
Although the twists are telegraphed early in the novel, the first eighty percent are entertaining despite having to see the world through the eyes of an annoying whiner. It's the back twenty percent that lost me, with our antiheroine flipping the switch from being amazingly naive and stupid to utterly ruthless and faux worldly. Still, plenty of people seem ready to relate to and embrace the protagonist. It will be interesting to see where she might pop up next, maybe a movie.
mariepie's review against another edition
challenging
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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mgreer56's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
marybeth494's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.5
miamia1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Excellent read, really kept me engaged throughout. Would recommend
clobio's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
librarian_erinn's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
charleslim's review against another edition
1.0
The main character is abhorrently unlikeable, not to mention the boring, implausible plot. God, I need to stop taking recommendations from Booktubers.
clougreen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was your basic thriller with a literary twist. It met all of my expectations, but it didn’t really exceed them. I didn’t feel really invested in the main character… I didn’t really care what happened to her. She made choices I don’t think I would have made or connected to so that took me out of the story. I was intrigued by the various twists and turns that were thrown at the readers, but they were also expected in a way. In the grande scheme of things it was a good book.