I saw multiple reviews and blog posts before I got to reading this book. I would not claim that any of them affected me as such since I read this book much after a lot of people read it.
I appreciated this book best for the new point of view I got - That of the responsible sister, one who takes on the load (both emotional and financial) of the household just because she never refuses.
Maddie is currently caring for her father, someone she was not really close to prior to his disease affecting him. Her brother is always busy with his own plans, and her mother leads half her life in one country and another back in Ghana. Maddie has had enough by the time her mother announces that she plans to come back for a longer stint. Her friends (the two she has) have been trying to get her to commit to living her own life, but she feels compelled to help out at home.
This is the story of her finding her way to being more self-aware and, in a positive way - more selfish.
Maame is a work that focuses on how the name pigeonholes Maddie into the role, the way her mother's previous instructions continue to be a part of her psyche even after she has accepted that her parents may not have made the best moves.
The only thing I did not particularly gel with was the romance angle. The final way things ended made sense in the bigger picture, but it felt like another box that the original character fit into, not the new person she was supposed to be. I would like to read another book by the author and recommend this to readers who enjoy reading books by people with different family backgrounds.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

This book deserves all its hype! A sweet look at Maame's life - gorgeously written, and the sort of book you want to press into all of your girlfriends' hands.

This is a really special book. So deep, emotive and moving. I fell in Love with Maddie and related to her feelings of isolation. Navigating womanhood is tough and adding to that feeling 'other' and dealing with grief and mental health issues makes things seem insurmountable. Maddie is a ray of sunshine and her story is profound.

This book had a very similar feel to other novels written about young Black women (Yinka, Where is Your Huzband and Queenie, as examples) and with a story that felt very personal to the author.

There's a lot that's immediately familar here - distant or overbearing parents that don't quite get it, a young woman struggling to find herself when she hasn't had the opportunity to do so before (and making plenty of mistakes along the way), as well as some of the ignorance and (unconscious?) stereotyping shown by some men and white people in general.

Maddie is caught between her duties as a daughter, and loyalty to her father, and her own need to explore her independence. When she has the opportunity to do this by moving out and unexpectedly changing jobs, we see her not only exploring her own freedom, but testing the boundaries of this.

When tragedy strikes her family, Maddie lashes out - her behavious becoming more extreme and totally different to the "Maame" or mature woman that she has always been. She's then torn between rejecting the family and culture she has struggled with all her life, or learning to embrace them on her own terms.

This book isn't necessarily original in its story, but perhaps that's an indication of how many Black women have had similar experiences and are telling similar stories in their own way. That means that if you've ready similar Black, New Adult, Coming of Age stories then you might find some elements repetitive, or feel as though they've been included in order to meet the requirements of the genre, but the experiences are still there to include.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“I don’t know why you’re offended. Gold diggers are our nation’s hardest grafters; do you know much effort goes into pretending to give a shit about some guy for his money? A lot. Hoes are Britain’s unsung heroes”.

TW: Loss of a parent, racism.

Maame follows Maddie, affectionately nicknamed Maame - the Twi word for Mother - who is the unofficial carer of her father's debilitating illness and the rock that every family member relies on. Only in her early twenties, the story follows Maame's first steps into adulthood where she grapples with low-level admin jobs, moving out for the first time with the ensuing freedom and the pursuit of losing her virginity. Expect a lot of laughs, love and heart-wrenching tears.

“How many men is too many men when you factor in my moth, G-d’s wrath and my reluctance to contract an STI?”

The portrayal of Maame's relationship with her father is delivered in a way that pulls at the readers heart strings, as it juxtapositions the absence of her mother and the weakness of their marriage against her overly present care and self-sacrifice in order to ensure her father isn't forgotten left to fester. Additionally, the story successfully delivers discussion and insight into serious matters such as the double standards of dating in the UK when elements such as race and wealth are at play and there are significant power imbalances which enable one partner to dictate how things go.

“I don’t think you turn thirty and become immune to mistake-making or lesson-learning. You grow wiser (supposedly) but never omniscient. There’s always something you need to be taught, and so you keep learning and you keep growing up - until you’re dead”.

This coming of age tale delivers. It will hit you right in the heart with grief and loss, but build you back up by the end as the pieces slowly come back together in a healing, new reality. Truly a beautiful read, I couldn't recommend enough.

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc.

I really didn't know what to expect from this book - was it going to be all style and (for me) no substance like Sally Rooney or was it going to be a real 'millennial' read all about things I'm too old to relate to....
It was neither - it was a beautiful tale of one (late blooming) girl's attempts to find her place in the world as a Ghanaian woman in London.
I sobbed my way through parts of the book and just wanted to give Maddie a big hug.

As well as being a moving, fun read it was also an insight into the world of informal carers and the pressures that this causes within the family and throughout a person's whole life.

One of my new favorites, Maame is an absolute masterpiece and I am so honored to have had the opportunity in reading this. You will fall in love with Maame and her journey. This book will live in my mind rent free for quite a while.

I'm not sure this was what i was expecting. BUT it was better than i was expecting too.
It's such a powerful story and all follows so well that it is so easy to read and connect with.

One of my books of 2023.

Maame is a stunning novel about discovering who you are, familial expectations, grief and guilt.

Jessica George manages to find the nuance within life, balancing heartbreak and tension with humour and light.

I genuinely didn’t want this novel to end. I could spend much more time with Maddie.

I enjoyed reading this book and getting to know Maddie, the titular character. It was well written and you just wanted to give her hug at times. A very moving book.

Maddie is a messy and realistic character. I loved how mental health was explored in this book. Her relationship with her mother and brother felt very realistic. The experience of a black person working in publishing felt very comforting to read about. I didn’t like how she navigated her relationship with Ben.

Maddie a 26 year old black girl lives with her Father in London, she is his carer as he suffers from Parkinsons. She works for a publishing company, the only black girl in the office, her boss has had a breakdown and sacks her unfairly.
Maddie's mum returns from Nigeria and stays with her Dad, Maddie takes this opportunity to move in to a flat and start a new life. She has never had a boyfriend, so used Google as a source of information on how to behave, this is an amusing part of the book, as the answers she receives are contradictory and sometimes hilarious.
She finds a new job which makes her question racist attitudes, also a boyfriend. Her Father dies suddenly on his birthday, this leaves Maddie distraught and leads to her falling out with her flatmate.
After breaking up with her boyfriend, Maddie suffers from depression, this is difficult to read about as she has panic attacks and no self esteem, her friends help her cope. She confronts her Mother and Brother about their behaviour and finally meets a caring man.
This book was so well written and involving, it starts off lightly but soon gets more involved, making one question attitudes towards racism also a good portrayal of mental health struggles.
Thank you jessica, look forward to reading more of your work. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

An emotional story, made me squirm more than it made me laugh, but her mum provides some comic relief. Maddie is so loveable, I was rooting for her and had to stay up very late one night to see her through some of the very bumpy bits! I was delighted to get an ARC just before publication day.

Oh my goodness I absolutely adored this book. Maddie aka Maame is a delight and clearly Jessica George is an extremely talented writer. This book has everything - it is hilarious, perceptive, engaging and very moving. I loved everything about it - the characters, the story, the setting - just wonderful. Five stars from me and I will be telling everyone about how brilliant it is. Very highly recommended.

A coming of age book for a late bloomer. The writing style was perfect and I couldn’t put it down. Extremely heartwarming and I was rooting for maddie from the start.

Thanks for the chance to read Maame, I really enjoyed Maddie's journey into discovering who she was and what she wanted out of life, rather than devoting herself to looking after everyone else and putting herself last. There were some lovely scenes and insights into a world that felt very real. Well written and easy to read, there's a bright future ahead for Jessica George!

I received this book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

Please take a look at the blurb elsewhere, here are my thoughts and opinions only, thank you.

Absolutely brilliant debut novel by Jessica George. I felt all the emotions, I didn’t want to put the book down. So relatable and raw, heartfelt and real.

Maddie is a first generation British Ghanaian twenty something year old girl trap between two cultures and two parents who in different ways abandoned her, she’s so strong willed and committed to do the right thing, that she forgets herself, so obviously she’s depressed and she doesn’t know it, till later.

Her story resonated so much with me, not her background, as I’m not British or Ghanaian, but her raw emotions, and her dissociation from herself, her sadness, and her innocence, I could see myself and some of my friends in her constant inner dialogs, her anxiety and loneliness felt oh so real to me. I was there once, Hope never to be ever again. I cried and laugh with her. Really wanted to hug her, and talk to her, and in the strangest of things, I actually dream we had a conversation I knew it was Maame when I was dreaming. That’s how much this book had affected me.

Jessica George has an amazing talent for story telling, all the characters were complex and very human, the racism she portrays here and there allows you to enter her world, to see from her perspective, all the small details that people of colour (and perhaps other minorities) have to consider when going to a job interview, or on a date, or even just walking down the street.

Love that she touches on subjects I’m always interested in such as family dynamics, language barriers, cultural discrepancies, contradictory parents, lack of emotional communication, mental health, racism…

I can’t recommend this book enough.

I felt so sorry for Maddie - for all she goes through and how guilty she feels for all of it, but perhaps especially for always having to turn to Google for advice! She's such a sweetheart, strangely nerdy and naive in ways I recognized in a younger version of myself (e.g. the worst name she can think to call the guy who dumped her is a "blackguard"). And Shu is a terrific wingman; her conversations with Maddie always made me laugh.

It seems like this is highly autobiographical for Jessica George and she's done a good job of portraying Ghanaian family/cultural expectations, grief and mental health in a serious and realistic way. I could relate to some of the numbness and loss of time that go along with the early days after a bereavement. And it's good that Maddie eventually realizes when she needs help and gets it: friends who are there for her, and a therapist provided by work.

Overall, this is a gentle and fairly lovely book despite the heavy issues it tackles, though I kept having questions/misgivings, some of which were never fully addressed. The blanket answer may just be: because that's how George wrote/lived it. There were also a few too many fairy tale-type moments where Maddie's work life and writing project seemed to coalesce perfectly for her. Again, maybe it's simply because that's how George wanted it, to karmically make up to Maddie for all she's endured.

The writing is capable and sometimes witty, but also sometimes juvenile, like a school essay trying too hard and missing the mark ("of which" is used incorrectly three times; on p. 365 part of a message chain is attributed to someone they're talking about; "Why should I feel threatened when I don't see myself having someone to shelter against the harsh vicissitudes that is other female beauty?" - huh?) In the end, though, I fell hard for Maddie as a character and narrator, and that was enough.

Though both are readalikes, this is more Yinka than Luster. You could also think of Maddie as a more innocent Queenie.

Please note: this review is based on reading the ARC c/o St. Martin’s Press & Jessica George.

This is such a heartwarming, coming of age tale. A no-brainer as to why this quickly became a New York Times Bestseller; Jessica George is truly deserving of that accolade after having read this stunning debut.

Maame is a term of endearment and a shackle of responsibility of a nickname given to the protagonist, Maddie (short for Madeleine) Wright. Many young Black (from the African diaspora) female readers will resonate with her sense of duty, and the weight that bears down on her identity. She became the sole carer of her critically ill Father, who suffers from Parkinson’s. Her mother lives and work bi-coastal between Ghana and the UK, while her brother is in hot pursuit of an entertainment career that sees him prioritise anything and everyone else over and above his family.

The story really begins when Maddie is given an out; an avenue to finally discover who she is and wants to be in the world. What she doesn’t foresee is that once that crack of light seeps through, the world which she knew will be shattered to let more light in.

A story rooted in grief, but cultivated with community, compassion, culture, love and hope. There are so many laugh-out-loud moments, that compete with the heart-wrenching empathy we feel for the characters. Just utterly brilliant.

I have to be really honest. I feel like I missed something with this book. I was so excited to read it, and have seen so many amazing reviews for it. But to me, it just felt so mundane. I do understand that the point of the novel is to follow the main character, Maddie, through every element of her life, and every emotion that she experiences, but to me this resulted in far too much plodding along, through boring events that didn't really grip me at all. There were elements that I enjoyed, but I don't think it's anything special.
Also, parts of it were so unbelievable that I found myself getting annoyed. For example, the fact that Maddie, with no publishing experience, is able to land an interview and job offer at a publishing house in London within hours of deciding to pursue this job path. As someone who has been trying - unsuccessfully - for years to find a way into publishing, the artistic license taken here is pushed a bit too far for me to accept. The way her relationship with Sam comes to be also just feels a little bit forced - despite the mundanity of her everyday experiences, things like her job path and this relationship are all just tied up too neatly, and don't feel real - which is what I think the author is trying to achieve.
I have given this 3 stars, because I don't think there's anything particularly bad, or offensive, about it. I didn't actively not enjoy it. I just wasn't enamoured at any point, and found it all a bit... boring.