Review of Maidservant

[Vivian Stones]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Maidservant" by Chidi Ezeobi.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Maidservant by Chidi Ezeobi is a fictional novel that describes how orphans are easily exploited. The protagonist's life is depicted from when she was a child to when she became an adult. The story describes the emotional and challenging life that she had. This book sadly portrayed how the family she worked for exploited her. Characters in the novel used art and paintings as a form of coping mechanism. The themes of abuse of power and exploitation seem to be the undertone of the book.

The book begins with Ngozi in foster care. A foster family took her in, but sadly tragedy struck, and she had to return to the care. She was then taken in by another family that made her their maidservant. She is maltreated, and the family constantly abuses her. She then discovers her talent. Her talent got better as time went on. Did she survive her ordeal as a maidservant?

The negative aspects of this book are not difficult to find. The setting of the book was not well explained. It seemed like it was set in Africa due to the characters' names and the use of adages, which were mentioned a lot in the novel. The setting was eventually given in the latter part of the novel. The timeframe for the novel's beginning was confusing; it was not clear. The book was slow at the beginning of the novel. The action that was depicted at the beginning of the story was somewhat repetitive, giving it a slow build-up. The progression of time was also not defined in the novel. It seemed like years went by in the story, yet it was not indicated with dates. It made the book confusing to read.

This book had its positive aspects. The first positive aspect of this book can be seen in the character, Ngozi. The book was enlightening because it showed some of the predicaments that orphans go through. Also, this book revealed the level of abuse maidservants go through while working for people. The book describes the unhealthy work environments some of them work in. The book also showed how patience and perseverance are advantageous. This can be seen in the case of Ngozi. Art in the novel is explained as a medium by which emotions are expressed and how it is used as a form of escape. The use of adages also added to the reading experience in the novel, although some of them were ambiguous.

I give this book two out of four stars. While the book was informative about the issues that orphans have, the book was riddled with errors. The book was not professionally edited. Therefore, I was compelled to deduct one star from my rating. The other star was removed because the book was not engaging, not minding it becoming somewhat fascinating towards the end.

I recommend this novel to people who work in the foster care system. This will enable them to see some of the problems in the system and make room for a better investigation into people who are given children from foster care.

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Maidservant
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[Beambeam]

Really want to know if she survive her ordeal as a maidservant. Nice review.

[Aisha Yakub]

The negative aspects of this book would make me skeptical about reading it. Thank you for the feedback

[Edit_or]

Despite the flaws of the book, I still think I would like to read . Thanks for the review.