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Confessions of a Deathmaiden
The death under mysterious circumstances of TomÂas Gomez, a terminally ill boy left in her charge, draws hospice worker Frances Oliver into an ominous quest that leads her to Mexico to uncover the truth about the boy's untimely death.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2003
About the author
Ruth Francisco
20 books27 followersI tend to write novels that are a little controversial. I don't intend to, but a question grabs hold of my mind--Do we have a right to say no to medical technology? What would it be like to be Jackie Kennedy? Where is Islamic extremism taking us?--and it won't let go. I have to explore it, I have to write about it.
Since my interests are varied, my books are varied, perhaps too much so. But whatever the theme, I always explore identity, trying to reconcile the physical and spiritual worlds. My characters respond sensually to the world as I do, they question and doubt. It would be easier to be a different kind of writer maybe. I hope you get something out of my little efforts.
Since my interests are varied, my books are varied, perhaps too much so. But whatever the theme, I always explore identity, trying to reconcile the physical and spiritual worlds. My characters respond sensually to the world as I do, they question and doubt. It would be easier to be a different kind of writer maybe. I hope you get something out of my little efforts.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 10, 2020
I just couldn't get past how racist, ableist, and fatphobic the main character was and there was a whole lot of stereotyping of the characters she didn't like based on those views. And nothing ever happened that challenged this. I found her unbearable and she, plus all of the stereotyping, really ruined the story for me so I ended up DNFing it.
November 30, 2019
This story was really interesting. I enjoyed and learned a handful of new words. I love the way Ruth Francisco writes and I've already picked up another one of her books. I hope her other books are just as good.
November 30, 2021
Confessions of a Deathmaiden is one of those books where the premise is interesting, but the execution is, well, not as engaging.
Francis is a Deathmaiden, someone who guides a person in the process of dying and helps them make the transition to death. She is not a hospice worker, but the difference is not clearly explained. After the suspicious death of a young South American boy in her care, Francis gets involved in a noir-style mystery involving the exploitation of indigenous people, all while she contemplates her opinions on death and how humanity struggles to allow people to die naturally.
I felt the ideas Francisco is exploring here are ones you don't see very often. Her protagonist is highly critical of modern medicine, specifically organ transplants and any of the ethical or moral questions that arise. More appropriately, Francis believes we shouldn't perform organ transplants, but rather allow people to die naturally despite having the technology to avoid an early death.
While I was interested in seeing this topic from an alternate perspective, I found it to be a little to righteous and lacking in empathy. Is there a conspiracy to allow healthy, marginalized people die a preventable death so we can harvest their organs to save the more affluent? I don't know, but making blanket statements that organ transplant is not ethical or natural and should not be done at all didn't sit well with me. I didn't get the feeling reading this book that Francis was a protagonist open to alternate opinions or nuance. If you were dying from kidney, heart, or organ failure, well tough luck, life is unlucky and there's nothing we should do about that. Seems easy enough to say when you are a healthy woman who has not had to live through such an experience.
My main complaints about Confessions of a Deathmaiden is that Francisco writes a clichéd and self-righteous protagonist who comes across as a self-insert for the author. Francis always has a quick comeback, always has a stoic control over her emotions. She skinny-dips on public beaches, has passionate affairs, knows how to talk-the-talk to sketchy art dealers, she travels alone to war-torn parts of South America wearing a cotton yellow sundress (?), she endures torture with defiant grace. She is, for lack of a better word, unbelievable.
I didn't hate this book, I felt Francisco had a lot of interesting ideas about death and the process of dying, and about how different people from different demographics handle death differently during each stage of their life. She also is clearly attempting to write an opinionated and capable lead character, which is admirable, but I just felt she went too far with the capableness.
Francis is a Deathmaiden, someone who guides a person in the process of dying and helps them make the transition to death. She is not a hospice worker, but the difference is not clearly explained. After the suspicious death of a young South American boy in her care, Francis gets involved in a noir-style mystery involving the exploitation of indigenous people, all while she contemplates her opinions on death and how humanity struggles to allow people to die naturally.
I felt the ideas Francisco is exploring here are ones you don't see very often. Her protagonist is highly critical of modern medicine, specifically organ transplants and any of the ethical or moral questions that arise. More appropriately, Francis believes we shouldn't perform organ transplants, but rather allow people to die naturally despite having the technology to avoid an early death.
While I was interested in seeing this topic from an alternate perspective, I found it to be a little to righteous and lacking in empathy. Is there a conspiracy to allow healthy, marginalized people die a preventable death so we can harvest their organs to save the more affluent? I don't know, but making blanket statements that organ transplant is not ethical or natural and should not be done at all didn't sit well with me. I didn't get the feeling reading this book that Francis was a protagonist open to alternate opinions or nuance. If you were dying from kidney, heart, or organ failure, well tough luck, life is unlucky and there's nothing we should do about that. Seems easy enough to say when you are a healthy woman who has not had to live through such an experience.
My main complaints about Confessions of a Deathmaiden is that Francisco writes a clichéd and self-righteous protagonist who comes across as a self-insert for the author. Francis always has a quick comeback, always has a stoic control over her emotions. She skinny-dips on public beaches, has passionate affairs, knows how to talk-the-talk to sketchy art dealers, she travels alone to war-torn parts of South America wearing a cotton yellow sundress (?), she endures torture with defiant grace. She is, for lack of a better word, unbelievable.
I didn't hate this book, I felt Francisco had a lot of interesting ideas about death and the process of dying, and about how different people from different demographics handle death differently during each stage of their life. She also is clearly attempting to write an opinionated and capable lead character, which is admirable, but I just felt she went too far with the capableness.
December 13, 2023
It was a fast moving thriller about a hospice type person who uncovers a sinister doctor that kidnaps Mexican children Very disturbing story but lots of twist and turns. Takes us deep into Southern mist Mexico.
March 24, 2021
The epilogue was kind of lame but a pretty twisty sort of mystery.
January 19, 2014
If you are looking for something out of the ordinary to read, this might be a good place to start. The first thing you will notice is how beautifully written, almost poetic, the prose style is. The author's voice will sweep you easily into the story. There are some clunky moments, but you will probably forgive them, and they aren't too jarring.
The story itself is somewhat supernatural, and it is a book of ideas, almost, more than about plot. "Deathmaidens" are basically midwives, except they attend to the dying. The protagonist of our story has an ability to tell when someone is dying by touching them. She knows when they are ready to die, and assists them in it. While such an idea is abhorrent, or objectionable to many, that isn't really the point of the book as much as to ponder what it means to hold on, or let go, when death is imminent.
Frances Oliver, the Deathmaiden, goes to assist at the bedside of a boy in a coma. When she touches him, she realizes it is not his time, and leaves briefly. When she returns, he is dead. Oliver plunges herself into the thick of the mystery of the boy's death.
This book could easily have been informed by political agendas, but it doesn't feel that way. An interesting read, good for reading on quiet rainy days.
The story itself is somewhat supernatural, and it is a book of ideas, almost, more than about plot. "Deathmaidens" are basically midwives, except they attend to the dying. The protagonist of our story has an ability to tell when someone is dying by touching them. She knows when they are ready to die, and assists them in it. While such an idea is abhorrent, or objectionable to many, that isn't really the point of the book as much as to ponder what it means to hold on, or let go, when death is imminent.
Frances Oliver, the Deathmaiden, goes to assist at the bedside of a boy in a coma. When she touches him, she realizes it is not his time, and leaves briefly. When she returns, he is dead. Oliver plunges herself into the thick of the mystery of the boy's death.
This book could easily have been informed by political agendas, but it doesn't feel that way. An interesting read, good for reading on quiet rainy days.
January 4, 2016
Oh, wow!! Where to begin: sort of a mystery (altho' that's pigeon holing it too far), very much a mystical story (but not a fantasy), there's violence and brutality in places (but it's not a "noir" or adventure tale), there's fascinating travel (but it's not a travelogue), there's plenty of social commentary (but it's a story, not a treatise), and so on...
Frances Oliver is a deathmaiden (Society of Deathmaidens, sort of like midwives for the other end of life) who assists people in making that final voyage. She's called in to attend adolescent Tomás Perez, who's in a persistent coma...but when she touches him, she can sense that he's not dying, he's just afraid to regain consciousness. Why, she wonders. In an unfortunate momentary lapse of attention, he is suddenly dead and whisked off to a hospital where his body parts are collected for donation. Frances is sure he was killed for the very purpose, and feeling herself culpable for allowing that to happen, she determines to find the truth. The truth quickly spirals into something far larger, darker, and more dangerous than ever she could have imagined!
A minor hiccup or two from a first time author, but a wonderful read and a book I can heartily recommend to all.
June 15, 2011
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 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.
April 10, 2012
This was a really good mystery. While there were times when I was thinking to myself "yeah right, any normal sane person would not do that" I thought the story line mainly believable. My only "fault" that I found with this novel was the ending. She knew they were carrying on doing "business" like usual and because she felt she rested one boys soul she could go on? It didn't make sense with the "not until I am finished" attitude she had throughout the rest of the book.
I also see a possible sequel being made.
I also see a possible sequel being made.
December 16, 2012
"There comes a time when a Santa Ana wind howls hot off the desert, gathering dust and toxic gases in her arms, when she slams into a cold north current over the Santa Ynez Mountains and spills her load against the horizon. At twilight, as the red sky darkens to vermilion, and as luminous white cicatrices streak across the heavens, you have, for a moment, the sense of being in a living, breathing organ."
Read our review on MostlyFiction.com:
http://mostlyfiction.com/mystery/fran...
Read our review on MostlyFiction.com:
http://mostlyfiction.com/mystery/fran...
September 19, 2008
I picked this book up on a whim at the library, and am so glad I did. It's completely different than anything I've read before. The story is unique, as is the concept of the deathmaiden. There's good archaeology, good love/sex with a twist. But, the best thing about this book is the way the author puts words together. Her descriptions are spot on, and she makes you look at things in a different way.
July 22, 2009
Deathmaidens are to death what midwifes are to birth. And when one of Frances clients dies when she has stepped for only a half hour a client she was sure was going to live she must know why.
Very nice suspense thriller. Some adult situations I skipped over.
Very nice suspense thriller. Some adult situations I skipped over.
July 30, 2009
Very interesting. It sucked me in immediately. I wasn't expecting the slight fantastical edge that the Deathmaidens have. It's very similar to what people claim to already to, but just a little more so.
March 5, 2010
Currently reading this book...so far it kind of blows my mind...is being a deathmaiden for real? I mean is physician/nurse - assisted suicide legal??? Sounds like murder to me....As I continue to read I will let you know what I think further.
September 19, 2015
Very slow, with a main character who was so incredibly self-righteous that it was extremely off-putting. The author goes into so much unneeded detail that it bogs an already slow novel down to such a crawl that it was a real struggle to finish.
September 21, 2008
Very mesmerizing book. A fictional account of a deathmaiden, one who helps people pass on to their deaths. It is beautifully written.
March 21, 2011
An excellent book for Hospice nurses to read--it is on the kindle.
February 7, 2012
I am intrigued by the plot but because I had to do something similar I wanted to explore, I will see.
January 18, 2016
What a wonderful premise! Death maidens would be a wonderful asset. Especially such caring ones as Francis as she explores an untimely death. Loved it.
November 30, 2015
I liked this book - couldn't put it down actually - but was a little disappointed in the ending. Everything was wrapped up neatly; no loose ends to keep me thinking.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews