Maame

This book was a pitch-perfect first generation BIPOC girl's experience in a nutshell complete with conservative religious family, parentification and resulting trauma. Yet, the tone was upbeat and fresh with excellent twists of dry humor throughout.

Innocent Maddie was so realistic and relatable as she struggled with familial love, romantic love and self-identity in modern London. The parade of racist micro-aggressions and unconscious bias also had me livid but also rooting for Maddie to stand up for herself and break free.

Beautifully written novel.

I enjoyed this book. Maddie is an earnest, funny narrator (we're not supposed to quote from ARCs, but there are many examples I could cite - you'll know what I mean if you read it!). She struck me as both younger and older than 25 at different moments during the story: she's fairly guileless and naive, but shouldering some serious responsibility.

While she loves her dad, who is sick with Parkinson's, she's increasingly tired of being the only one living at home and contributing to his care.

Many of Maddie's early actions are (IMO) frustratingly passive to the point that they strained credulity, but Maame is a story of her growth and evolution. While I do think this book is predictable, I don't think that's necessarily the point - to paraphrase a cliche, it's all about the journey, not so much the destination.

Overall, I think this is a solid debut, and I look forward to reading more by Jessica George.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my ARC.

i can definitely see why this book is so popular this year and i think a lot of people will resonate or empathize with our main character's story heavily. i personally did not feel very emotionally impacted by this story and have other books that cover similar themes that impacted me more but i think this is a overall solid read. 

A story about growing up fast in a complicated family and discovering the ways of the world only to stumble onto some unpleasant experiences. This is a story of love, loss, regret, guilt, freedom, friendship, discovering oneself, standing up for oneself. A very raw story and if you have grown up in complicated family dynamics or if you have had someone close to you fall sick, you could relate. It is an inspirational story about finding yourself and your family while dealing with loss and regret. The little insights into why her family behaved the way they did at the end, sounded just like something out of real life. This book tackles some difficult themes with compassion, and I found myself in tears while reading this on a train. This is a perfect book for me, I think I might go back to this story once in a while.

This book was our February Book Club read. I didn't get to finish it until March, and after my dad died. That made this book hit quite a bit differently from when I started reading it, to when I finished it. I adored Maddie, as did the women in my book club. Although I missed the gathering, my dear friend Kelly gave me the group's thoughts on the story. We loved her journey and all that she encountered, her devastating lows and her well earned triumphs. Great debut novel. Highly recommend.

Maame tells the story of a girl that has to take care of her father inflicted with Alzheimer while trying to deal with a shitty job, an absent mother and an unreliable brother. Throughout the book we're following Maame slowly evolving and affirming herself while growing up, sometimes in the hardest way.

This book is really well writen and the POV of the main character is truly interesting. I related a lot on how Maame deals with anxiety and depression, while also getting to understand a lot more about what it means to grow up and evolve in this world as a black woman. This book made me feel so many emotions and I highlighted so many parts, I'm truly happy that I read it.

“Some things you’re not meant to be saved from,” Nia says. “Some things have to be lessons.”

Just finished this today and am still processing it, but there was so much to love. March is the anniversary of my dad's birth and death, so this was really thematically resonant with me, and George is so incisive about grief, how family can support and abandon, workplace inanity, microaggressions, the perils of googling, friendship, and bad sex. Not all parts were successful: the texts between the protagonist and her mother were very funny and also painful, whereas the perils of googling could have been more succinctly pointed to in just one example of a google search, not many. George's beautiful acknowledgments at the end make explicitly clear what I felt the whole way through: this novel is a love letter to family, chosen and otherwise.

Maame is a beautifully-written novel about Maddie Wright, a Ghanaian-British woman who is finally having her “coming-of-age” moment at age 25.

Maddie has always lived quite a sheltered life, with few friends, no real romantic relationships, a job she hates, and acting as the primary caregiver for her father, who has late-stage Parkinson's Disease. With all this weighing on her shoulders, Maddie has never truly lived for herself. When she gets fired from her job, and her mother returns to London from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie finally has the opportunity to experience everything she has been missing out on: a new job in her chosen field of study, romantic relationships, and - most importantly - independence. While things do not go quite as smoothly as she hopes they would, she begins to find her own voice and personal worth while on her journey of growth and self-discovery.

I loved this book so much. Maddie is such a lovable character that you really just want to see her succeed in life, love, everything. As a 1st-gen American-born child of immigrants myself, I really enjoyed how the story explored that feeling of disconnection from two cultures, with no real experience in how to be 100% one or the other. I also appreciated how the story deals with mental health and depression, and how that may impact our daily existence without being something that we even have the capacity to identify within ourselves and acknowledge.

Overall, this was such a fantastic story, with an MC you fall in love with and want the best for. The only reason it was not a 5-star for me was that, as a member of Gen Z, Maddie's naivete sometimes felt a bit forced. But that was my only hangup and it was a teeny, tiny one at that.

This is the second book I've read this year (2024) that beautifully tackles the subject of grief and how to embrace life even in the face of loss. This book tells the story of Maddie, a young woman in her twenties, who has spent most of her youth caring for her sick father alone with no help from her mother or brother. When her mother finally comes home to take care of her father, Maddie moves out and begins the difficult task of figuring out how to live a life that will bring her joy and fulfillment instead of drowning in self-imposed guilt.

Maddie, who is also called Maame, struggles with many aspects of adulthood including career, friendships, romantic relationships, and family responsibilities. She also experiences depression that has gone untreated for years. Her character development is compelling.

This debut novel is well-written and engaging and explores important topics. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience reading it and would definitely recommend it to general fiction fans.

hey pretty much everyone in Maddie's life...come here, I just want to talk (ง •̀_•́)ง

I loved Maddie's voice and going through her frustrating & empowering journey with her!!

I did think everything maybe wrapped up a little toooooo neatly in the end but you know what? I wanted that for her. She deserved it!!!

I just finished Maame by Jessica George and here is my review

Maddie is no ordinary 25 year old. Still living at home with her sick father and working a job she doesn't care for, she spends her time avoiding her life rather than living it. When her mother returns from Ghana, Maddie has the chance to finally move out and discover who she really is.

Looking to make her life the way she wants is exactly what she needs right now but will things turn out the way she hopes?

This is the kind of debut that weaves its spell around your heart and takes you on the most beautiful journey through love, devastating loss, responsibility and finding yourself then wraps it all up with a warm hug.

I couldn't be more obsessed with this book. I found myself wanting to hold Maddie's hand and shield her from all the bad things away from her. Such a gentle person who never sees herself for who she is but is looking to be loved. It was so heartfelt and witty and I loved the format of the book. Narrated from Maddie's POV and including text messaging was a fun way to inject some humor and fun into a book that tackles a lot of harder to read topics. I [particularly enjoyed how the author humanized depression and parkinsons as well. It was very clever and the writing was beyond excellent. If I didn't know it was a debut I wouldn't have believed it after reading it.

The ending was brilliant and so realistic. I am glad that some things worked out for Maddie, it was amazing that the author showed such depth in the rollercoaster that Maddie had to go through just to get to a place where things didn't completely suck.

5 stars. I don't even feel that is enough. This book had amazing character development and showed real skill!

Thank you to @stmartinspress for my review copy and @jessicageorge for bringing Maddie into my world!

I'm not sure how to even put into words how much I love this book. I held this book up to some high standards since bookstagram was going crazy about it, and I was definitely influenced to buying it right away. I'm so happy I gave it a chance because everyone was so right. 

I haven't related so deeply with a book in a very long time. From Maddie having trouble with accepting her sadness is depression to navigating the world of online dating. Maame just hit the spot for me. 

Maame is definitely a top 5 book for me this year. 

This review is going to be short because I think Maame is just something you have to read and resonate with on your own, trust me. 

Meet Maddie Wright, a 25-year-old Londoner whose childhood nickname “Maame” means woman. She's been the responsible one in her family for as long as she can remember, and now is the caretaker for her dad, who suffers from Parkinson's. You'd think her job in theatre might be glamorous but it's nothing but a slog, and her love life is nothing to write home about either. And don't get her started on the racism she's subject to at work, where she's often the only Black person in the room. So when her mother returns from Ghana, Maddie sees her chance to break free and moves into a flat with two roommates. Life's looking up until tragedy forces Maddie to reimagine her path going forward and think long and hard about what truly matters in life.

This is a stunning debut by Jessica George. Her lovable and very relatable protagonist Maddie is a young girl who embodies not only the naivete of youth but the often serious responsibility placed on children to care for their family members. Its by turns heartwarming and humorous, sad and yet strikingly realistic and emotive. Highly recommended must-read for anyone who enjoys a poignant and moving portrayal of a young girl's coming-of-age.

My thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC for early review

Excuse me while I wipe the tears so I can see what I'm writing ... whew

For some, this may not hit that close to home or be relatable, but for others it will. How many of us feel isolated and alone even when we supposedly have people who love us and care about us? Or feel like we have to do it all and make sure everyone else is happy first? I bet there are quite a few who feel this way. For a long time I was one of them ...

Man my heart...Maddie (Maame) is such a great character. Her innocence, strength, determination and quietness are showcased so well and the fact that she is introverted and doesn't like to speak up had my soul hurting. I FELT all of that. I cried a lot during this one.

There is a lot that I could relate to with Maddie and her thoughts. Even the parts that I haven't had to deal with yet left a mark. All around good read, while at the same time sad. Definitely recommend for those that want a solid and serious read that tugs at the heartstrings.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.