Warning: Dissenting opinion ahead! If you loved The Housemaid and don’t want to listen to me talk about how much I didn’t like it, you might want to skip this review .
Summary
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.
I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.
I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.
But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.
They don’t know what I’m capable of…
My Review
First, I just want to take a moment to look at the Goodreads reviews for The Housemaid. I gave the book 2 stars, which means I’m in the 1% of readers:
This honestly completely blew my mind. How is it possible that I book I disliked so much is so loved across the board?
Anyway, this book was super hyped, so I went into it with high expectations. It’s not one I would have normally picked up, but it’s my book club’s pick for January. So, I looked forward to giving it a go.
Now, there were even some comments in my book club’s Facebook group about how much this book was loved. Cue up alllll the excitement and expectations for me.
Guys. I hated this book . I apologize in advance, but here comes my rant.
First of all, can we just acknowledge the fact that the cover basically gives away what’s going to happen? And then you spend the ENTIRE first half of the book leading up to it. I almost DNF’ed multiple times in the first half, but this book was for book club and I knew SOMETHING eventually had to happen. Something that wasn’t just lead-up to said thing.
Also, Millie is the most ridiculous parolee. She should have learned some sort of “watch your back” skills in there, right? Yet she ignores repeated, hit-you-over-the-head warnings…like when the gardener straight up says “you’re in danger.” Okay, I don’t care how badly you need the money…this is a matter of self preservation. And she just ignores it like an idiot. I swear if this were a horror film, she’d die first.
Then, she puts up with the most ridiculous stuff I’ve ever seen from Nina, and just rolls with the dang punches. Because why? Because she feels bad for her mental status and thinks her husband is hot. The woman is doing things that are absolutely psychotic, Millie is being told she’s in danger, and she just keeps doing everything she’s doing, staying on with the family. I’m at a loss with this one, guys.
Finally, the stuff you know is coming starts to happen. You are completely unsurprised. Were there a few twists at this time? Sure. Did it make up for the awful first half of the book? No.
The ending…okay fine, it was good. I liked the way it ended. But I kind of hated the whole book that I had to read to get there.
That’s it, that’s all I have to say. Hopefully someone out there agrees with me.
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