It was not until months ago, when I bought this book home, that I discovered that I had already read it! It sometimes happens, darlings! So, I kept it, feeling it was good enough to re-read. Davud gave it a go, and loved it, and, as things came back to me, I realized what a wonderful novel it is.
The titular character, Molly Gray, is a cleaning maid in the Regency Grand Hotel, set in a fictitious version of Manhattan. For those who may get this reference, Molly is an adult version of the "Amelia Bedelia' character in the Peggy Parrish children's books. Read on, and one discovers that Molly is on the Spectrum, and not the cable line, darlings. She really takes things too literally and brings new meaning to the term "creature of habit," outdoing even me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Molly gets embroiled in intrigue at the hotel, and that is as far as I am going to go. Except she gets a lot of advice from memories of her deceased Gran, and the aid of friends she meets along the way.
Prose writes in a sprightly style, as though the whole thing were a Vincente Minelli movie, which it might have become, were he alive. I can only say for those who have not read "The Maid," this could be a wonderful start to the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No doggy downer, like Joan Didion, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do that too!!
ReplyDeleteIf enough time has passed its like reading it for the first time!!
Victoria,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it does. I wonder if this is related to aging?