Reviews

Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby

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celiapowell's review against another edition

5.0

Do you long to read about a former-Buddhist-monk-turned-butler solve a mystery in a very calm and level-headed way with her friends who are also butlers, while she forces some very unenthusiastic students to take flower arranging and dance courses to discover their inner truths? Yes of course you do! Because it's very wonderful, and the only thing I didn't like about it is that I couldn't immediately pick up a sequel.

genexis's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ra042312's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

toadfairy's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

*for context, listened to the audiobook*

I feel compelled to mention before I dive into my thoughts that I read this out of obligation, this is not at all the type of book I would pick up on my own accord, so it's unsurprising that I did not like it.

I'll start off with what I did like: I did pick up a few mindfulness tricks which is always appreciated. But I probably could have just read a book about mindfulness and Buddhism if I wanted information about mindfulness and Buddhism (and not learned it from a white woman). The writing was definitely beautiful, the descriptions and character building were very immersive. One might even say too immersive - which leads me to my first negative opinion. The way this book would spend a full ten minutes describing dishware made me want to drive my car into the ditch. Many of the characters were described in unbelievable detail, and yet I still hated a many of them. There was a point halfway through the book where we meet Edna's death club, and I thought the day was going to be saved by the two Mary's (them and the characters in the death group were my favourite part of the entire book honestly), but no. We were deprived of the lovable and quirky potential of nun-Mary and non-nun-Mary. A tragedy honestly.

I was still left with a lot of unanswered questions by the end, it felt like there was a lot missing & plot holes still. But TLDR: this was the most boring book I have ever read, I'd probably rather read a history textbook. I was *this close* to breaking my never-DNFing-a-book rule. Wow.