Maame

Maame by Jessica George presents an interesting twist to the ubiquitous twenty-something woman trying to find herself in the world. Maddie’s been raised religiously and conservatively by her Ghanaian mother and father, and family responsibilities have kept her home taking care of her sick father for years. But with her mother’s return to London Maddie finally moves out to pursue a life, and readers follow along with her attempts to find friends, love, and success at work. Maame is an enjoyable spin on the coming-of-age trope with excellent writing and interesting takes on race, gender, and sexuality.

This is an emotionally moving coming of age novel about Maddie Wright, a twenty-five-year-old woman of Ghanaian descent living in London. She is taking care of her father who has Parkinson’s disease and has always been expected to bear the burden of responsibility beyond her years. Her mother is largely absent, frequently traveling back to Ghana, and her brother is absorbed in his own life. Maddie is insecure and naïve – she is what is normally called “a late bloomer” with respect to relationships. We follow Maddie’s life as she deals with professional discord, depression, family dysfunctions, grief, racism, sex, guilt, online dating, and quarrels with her flat mates. Maddie is a people pleaser, and she tries hard to keep her show more problems and emotions bottled up. When she finally finds an outlet, her personal growth is evident. I found it easy to root for Maddie and to empathize with her struggles. The other characters are also very well formed and believable. This is a slice of life novel that focuses on the interior lives of the characters. It is not for anyone looking for plot or action. show less

Maddie has a lot on her shoulders; absent mother, distant brother, caretaker of her ailing father, dead end job with a horrific boss, very few friends. When her mother returns, she jumps at the chance to move out and start living. But, fate steps in. She must face harsh reality and cruel lessons.

Beautifully written book that touches on so many hard hitting subjects; racism, dating in a modern world, friendships, family obligations and growing up In an ethnic family, mental illness. To see Maddie grow and find her voice is done beautifully. Such a wonderful debut novel by an author I look forward to reading again! May be a little slow at the beginning, but before you know it you are immersed in Maddie’s life. Don’t let the hard show more subjects turn you off, the author handles these with wisdom and some wit. You’ll find yourself tearing up and cheering Maddie on. This book is so different than my normal reads, but so glad I read it. It will stay with me for a while.

Thanks to Ms. George, NetGalley, Edelweiss, St. Martins Press for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone show less

Maame is a heartbreaking yet lovely read. It’s full of pain, sorrow and missed chances yet offers hope and opportunity. I couldn’t wait to read to crack open this novel each day and read, read, read.

Maame is a Twi word meaning woman to Maddie and it’s what her mother calls her. Maddie hates it. She’s at home looking after her father in between working while her mother spends most of her time in Ghana and her brother is off being part of an entourage. It’s Maddie who has to deal with the bills, looking after the household while she works to make ends meet. But then she has an opportunity to leave home and she takes it. Suddenly, a new home, workplace and a boyfriend all beckon. Then tragedy strikes and Maddie is left show more questioning her choices from one night. Can she forgive herself and attempt to rebuild her life?

There is a lot of pain in Maddie’s life. She has been deserted by both her mother and brother, and although she loves her father deeply, their relationship has been distant. She’s also unfairly dismissed from her job for not being able to fix the unfixable and treated badly by what she thought was her first real boyfriend. One of her new friends turns out to bear a grudge and money is a constant problem as others ask for it. She’s been treated incorrectly by a lot of people and when she first starts to fight back, she’s put on the back foot by some cruel characters. It’s hard to read at times as Maddie suffers setback after setback, but there are also good times and some humour sprinkled in between. The novel ends on a tone of possibility and hope. I hope that Maddie’s life became brighter after the last page. She was a likeable, flawed character and she certainly deserved it.

Jessica George certainly knows how to write rawness and grief. There were times that I felt frustrated with the way others were treating Maddie and others where I rejoiced at one of her wins. The emotions jumped off the pages and I really didn’t want to leave the book to do ordinary life things. Maddie’s coming of age is complicated by grief, racism and nasty people. I loved how she would often Google her problems, giving the story a millennial edge and also showing her naivety. The words flow easily and it’s easy to get lost in the story as the chapters fly by. A highly recommended debut novel.

Thank you to Hachette for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less

When you’ve been given undue responsibility your entire life, being called ‘Maame’ goes from a term of endearment to a yolk around your neck awfully quick. Maddie’s quest to find herself amidst depression, a dysfunctional family and the death of her father proves to be a bit difficult. Through the many challenges she faces, learning not to people please in order to obtain love, standing up for herself and acknowledging racial awareness or lack thereof, Maddie may just come out of it alright. George’s writing is smooth and witty. Maddie and the supporting cast of characters, Shu being my favorite, have their own personalities which resonate with the story and lend to Maddie’s journey beautifully. Honestly I thought this one show more was slow to start but about a quarter of the way in it picked up and took off, and I’m so glad I continued. Some heavy topics are dredged up in Maame, but done in an entertaining and intelligent way, and you find yourself rooting for Maddie the whole way. A great first novel for 2023, I highly recommend!
*I received an arc from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review show less

This is a beautiful, powerful but heavy story. It's about family expectation and how that can shape who we become. It's about grief and loss but also about growing up and finding your own way. Maddie is a powerful character because she is stable, quiet and comfortable. She is the one in the family that is the foundation. She's taking care of her father, continuing to put her life on hold as she lives at home and commutes to work. She is fixing meals and spoon feeding her father. Even though she has back pain, she is lifting him in to bed at night.

It isn't until thing start to unravel - the job, the family, her father - that Maddie begins the see the cracks in her life. She's not happy, why isn't she happy? Why can't she just continue show more to smile through it all? It's only through the love of friends, the work through guilt and the forgiveness and accpetance of family that Maddie finally starts to dig through it all to see who she is. It's raw and real and so moving to read. And every time she said "okay?" to her dad, I couldn't help but smile. This one was so good!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. show less

I absolutely loved this book. I should have known it would when it broke my heart in a scene and then made me snort with laughter in another. And that was within the first 3 chapters!! I enjoyed seeing Maame grow; loved Shu and Nia (I love female friendships that are portrayed so realistically and beautifully); loved how there are truly no 100% villains. Minus the old job bosses. LOL.

I don't quite know how to say it but this could have been a much more depressing read but while it was deep, it was filled with lightness. Highly recommend! Already know will be one of my top reads of the year.