Customer Reviews

Confessions of a Deathmaiden

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This is a captivating and unique story, with a heroine who has a unique profession - that of deathmaiden, someone who eases the passage into the next world. You will believe that Frances Oliver and the Society of Deathmaidens actually exists (who knows? Maybe it does). Also unique is the author's strong voice and lyrical prose. I can't remember the last time I actually enjoyed reading descriptive passages, but Ruth Francisco can really make you feel like you can see, hear and smell the story as it unfolds. I can't speak too highly of this book! Not only is this an absorbing story, but finally it is a mystery that is actually about something, a novel of ideas and not just another whodunit or police procedural. I highly recommend this book.

I won't rehash the plot again, such as it was, as it has been done through several of the reviews. What I was impressed by was Ms. Francisco's "voice" - her writing style is absolutely amazing. It is very difficult to explain unless someone has read it, other than to say it is almost like reading a poem written as a novel, or having the book sung to you as in some ancient traditions of learning oral histories. Admittedly I can certainly agree that the main character spent way too much time running around the world and by the end of the book I wasn't exactly sure what, if anything, she had managed to accomplish; but reading the book was pleasurable just for the sheer beauty of its words, and in my opinion, that's plenty good enough for me.

It starts out as an interesting premise, but you can see this is a first time novel by the heavy-handed way in which the author feeds us the information about the duties of a deathmaiden and their supposed organization and philosophy. Add to that all the background on the Maya cannabilistic practices, and we lose sight of the characters, who are not really intriguing enough to sustain this book. A worthy first effort which could have used a great deal more editing.

I hope Ruth Francisco carries on her title character in more books. Francisco draws a compelling character in Frances Oliver, who has trained in the art of helping the dying into death within a hospice setting.

However, the book's plot gets away from this intriguing premise by setting the character in a rather workman-like plot, employing the age-old villains of big-business and shady medical experiments. I can just see Ashley Judd or Angelina Jolie
trooping through the Mexican mountains in designer duds after the "bad-guys" in the movie version of the book.

I'd love to see Francisco put her character in smaller, more intimate stories. Laura Lipmann and Carol O'Connell do this with their Tess Monaghan and Kathy Mallory characters.

Ms Francisco, please keep writing about Frances Oliver.

Tomas, a little boy, dies under the care of Frances Oliver, a deathmaiden. She is a member of the fictional Society of Deathmaidens, a hospice-like Dr. Kevorkian-esque group that acts as midwives to the dying, helping them transition with dignity. But Frances starts asking questions into Tomas' death. From the start, this unusual computer-and-TV-spurning heroine with friends such as the eccentric artist and deathmaiden would-have-been Pepper, gets tangled into an intriguing plot
that takes a long time to reach its conclusion and uncover the evidence, but offers twists and turns; there has to be some suspense in this mystery, after all, but it's Frances' soul reflections and inner struggle that drive the book, as well as an exploration of the meaning of medicine and the value of death.

I really enjoyed this book. It has some very improbable things happen, but that's the case with quite a few mysteries. I found it hard to put down. The story was very unique and compelling.

The premise is pretty intriguing: a boy is murdered for his organs and there in-lies a mystery to unravel. However I found the delivery weak. I also felt that the novel needed more editing. There are some parts that are contradicted only a few paragraphs down. I also found the medical talk to be distracting and boring. I did like the idea of Deathmaidens. The paranormal aspects of the Deathmaidens made it worth my time and effort to trudge through this novel. It seems that Ms. Francisco tried to jam-pack all of her ideas into this first novel. All the ideas, names, medical jargon, ancient Mayan culture, and the Deathmaiden dogma are just a bit too jumbled. All-in-all: a worthy effort by the author, but unfortunate editing.

I bought this book because I thought the title sounded interesting. I thought that it would be about a hospice worker who sits with dying people so they won't be alone when they pass on. But a few pages into it, I realized that the fictional deathmaidens have mystical powers and can tell when someone is ready to die and even sometimes heal them if they're not ready. So, okay, I like supernatural stories a lot, so I went with it.

But there's just nothing about this book that's believable, even if you can suspend disbelief while you read it. Ms. Oliver arrives for her assignment to help Tomas, realizes through her supernatural powers that he is not about to die and immediately leaves to go buy him some toys. When she returns, he's dead. I realize that she couldn't have known that would happen since she believed he'd live, but why was it so important to run right out and buy a bunch of toys for a comatose child? He needs to wake up before he can enjoy them, lady!

What follows as Ms. Oliver tries to find out the truth is a series of unbelievable adventures, some of which are very unpleasant (think torture chambers and sacrificed chickens). And just when you think maybe it's almost the end, as Ms. Oliver has done more detective work in one book than most other fictional sleuths have in a whole series of books, she announces, "But I had to find out more." Enough already. I love a good long book, but it should be obvious to most readers that this one has worn out its welcome way before it actually does end.

The most unbelievable thing of all, IMO, was that Ms. Oliver, who apparently has never done this kind of thing before, suddenly throws herself into being a detective with no hesitation, no qualms, nothing. Suddenly she is breaking into offices, masquerading as people she is not in order to trick information out of others, and trekking around in war-torn areas of Mexico like a pro.

As far as I can tell, the part about the Tarascans' immune systems and the discussions of mad cow disease are made up out of whole cloth. Not that I'm an expert, but the book kept referring to mad cow disease as a "virus." There was one brief reference to prions but not as a disease entity separate from viruses.

I admit it held my interest enough to keep me reading - I would have given up if I found it completely unreedemable - but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know personally because of the fairly graphic descriptions of torture.

Francis Oliver is a death maiden in LA. This is a person who helps the dying cross over into the next world. (It is a fictional.) After witnessing the death of a young boy with the subsequent dispersal of his organs to recipients, she begins to suspect foul play. Her investigation into the matter proves her correct and now she must figure out just who is responsible and why.
The premise of the story is quite clever. The creation of the death maiden works quite well within the context of the well paced plot. However, the author did not know when to pull in the reins and wrap it up thereby rendering the conclusion a bit too drawn out and complex. However, it is a well written debut worthy of a reader's time.

I thought this book would be a good choice for the bus ride to and from work. I was wrong. I liked the premise, and it started off pretty good, but lost its charm about 1/3 of the way through. I agree with the reviewer who described the writing style as 'heavy handed'. I also had issues with the general likeability of the characters. 'Pepper', the best friend, is described as some hottie, boy-magnet, but comes across with about as much charm as truck driver. And I gradually grew to dislike 'Frances' (the deathmaiden), finding her to be critical, self righteous and overly-dramatic. When, after an unsettling discovery, Frances strips and throws herself into the ocean, as though to cleanse the filth of what she has learned from her being, I had to put the book down. I spent the rest of the bus ride contently counting potholes.