Maid: Why was this psychological thriller so successful?
Do you feel as if that eye looks through the keyhole as you enter the bookstore? May your friends, family and even work colleagues ask you if you have read the housekeeper And it seems like they’re looking for someone with whom they can talk about it? You are not alone. And this is completely normal when we know that this novel by Frieda McFadden, whose French translation is available from 2023, has sold 603,000 copies. a volume that provides space best selling book of year 2024And it’s not going to stop when we know that the filming of the film adaptation started in early 2025.
However, reading the back cover is nothing more or less than most other psychological thrillers. We follow a young woman named Millie, a former prisoner in rehab, who cleans for the Winchesters, a wealthy New York family. Everything could have been fine if his boss had not been so unstable and manipulative. Millie then finds herself at the forefront of a family mystery from her tiny bedroom in the attic, in which she may soon have a role. But what makes this story a resounding success ,
Psychological thriller, an effective genre
Through this novel, Frieda McFadden explores the psychological thriller genre in many dimensions. Control, “madness”, manipulation, power games… the main character, like the reader, spends much of the novel trying to understand What’s at stake in this luxurious houseexcept that the reader has information from the introduction that serves as prolepsis, or Flash ForwardAnd what the narrator doesn’t have: there will be a death. Psychiatrist Marine Collomb says there are several mechanisms behind this type of story that appeal to people. She recalls, “It is the act of entering into the intimate, to which we do not have access: the way of thinking.” In thriller there is always a game of understanding the psyche of people like a game of cat and mouse. ,
In the housekeeperWe have just as much information as Millie, but we have the distance and foresight needed to try to uncover the Winchesters’ potential secrets. In addition to investigative work to guess the identity of the criminal and the corpse, it is also a psychological analysis of what lies in the mystery “We want to understand the interaction between modes of thought and discover the secrets of the human psyche, explains Marine Collomb. That the workings of the minds of others and the reasons that lead some people to do things that are not possible for others are mysteries that arouse people’s interest.
Image of the cleaning lady: a symbol of class struggle?
just like servants marriage of figaro Or the maids in Jean Genet’s play of the same name, the housekeeper This gives rise to the same desire for revenge in the reader, who is a helpless witness to the dynamics of power. “Apart from the psychological issue, there is also a social and societal issue. These are different social classes that co-exist, but live in different worlds by the rules of money,” the psychiatrist believes.
In this new life, Milly, a cleaning lady, a former prisoner who has difficulty reconnecting after a long imprisonment, is standing in front of a wall and has no choice but to accept her situation. Despite the class violence and psychological violence she faces should continue their workIt is then impossible for the reader not to consider the means that might be adopted to reverse this trend, to take revenge or to regain some power. It is then the expectation of one’s liberation or social upliftment that attracts throughout the reading.
Snowball effect of trends
It must be admitted, when every bookstore stall offers this same mysterious cover and those who have read it seem eager to share their impressions with their peers, the desire to join the bandwagon can be strong. Can. Marine Collomb recalls, “This is something that Jung recognized, it’s what he calls the collective unconscious.” Emotions and main thoughts do not remain within the individual, they are transmitted from one person to another. ,
And it is this “emotional and intellectual contamination” that manages to tickle our desire to be a part of those who read it. She believes, “It gives us a reassuring framework to tell ourselves that we think like others and that we have feelings just like others.” There is some comfort in knowing that others do the same as we do, that we feel the same as others. how is it fashion is madeOn the corner of a bookstore, on your TikTok feed, or during a discussion around the coffee machine, you’re not done hearing about it. the housekeeperAnd maybe you talk about it yourself.