📚Book Review: Maame by Jessica George

I LOVED THIS BOOK! ❤️ I really love books that open your eyes to another culture in an authentic and well researched way and Maame does exactly that. The lead character Maddie is Ghanaian (her traditional Ghanaian name is Maame hence the title of the book) and the story follows her in her mid twenties, living in London on her own for the first time after a long time spent caring for her dad who has Parkinson’s. Maddie’s mum is very absent as she spends 6 months of the year back in Ghana and her brother James doesn’t help out at all so Maddie has a lot of responsibility and not very much support. On top of everything with her family, she’s struggling to hold down a job or find a job that she really enjoys and she is starting to explore the world of online dating and quickly learning that not everyone is as perfect as they may initially seem.

This book explores some really difficult themes really well and overlays it all with the religious and cultural lens of being a black, Ghanaian woman trying to find her place in the world. I was very lucky to receive an early copy of this book via NetGalley but would encourage you to grab a copy and give it a read as soon as it is released in Feb 23! I will definitely be recommending it to everyone!

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Absolutely brilliant! A fantastic debut. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

A wonderful debut, that made me laugh and cry. It broke my heart and put it back together. A touching, honest look at grief and dealing with all the things that come with it and a captivating coming of age story. I spent most of the book wanting to protect Maddie, while fiercely rooting for her throughout. Putting everyone above herself and isolating herself until she realises she deserves more, with help and guidance from her closest friends and the occasional Google search.
4.5 out of 5.
Thank you NetGalley for providing the advanced copy.

This book was enjoyable but overall felt very much like a debut - the writing was somewhat unsophisticated, and several of the characters felt flat and underbaked. That said, it was clearly very heartfelt and I’m sure that it would resonate for the right reader - Maddie is easy to root for. On my end, I didn’t love it but will definitely keep an eye on this author.

Maame, George’s debut novel, tells the story of Maddie (called ‘Maame’ by her family for as long as she can remember), a British Ghanaian woman in her mid-twenties, as she juggles caring for her father, cultural influences, family pressures friendship, love, loss and above all her own high self-expectations.

Maame, a Twi word meaning woman, even sounds a bit like ‘mammy’ (ma-meh), and all her life, that’s what Maddie Wright has been named, an apparent term of endearment from her mother, which holds weighty power over Maddie.

Maddie, to her Ghanaian parents, is the one who steps up and takes care of the family, shouldering responsibilities beyond her years while her brother is off gallivanting and living an exuberant lifestyle. Her mum's stand-in while she’s off in Ghana for most of the year. She is the primary carer for her father, who has Parkinson's and needs more and more care as the disease progresses. The one who keeps the peace - and the family secrets.

After much coaxing from her few friends and permission from her mother, Maddie finally gets the chance to leave home. This ‘new’ independent Maddie is determined to become the kind of woman she wants to be - not who she feels forced to be at home.

This foray into the world of adulthood through flat shares, awkward dating, and micro-aggressive workplaces is not without incident. Instead of opening up, Maddie becomes even more introverted and socially isolated - Googling her life choices rather than having actual conversations with her friends who evidently do care about her.

Maddie’s voice is vividly descriptive, funny in a profoundly raw way, wise yet nieve; she will capture your heart - sure, don’t we all know a ‘Maddie’?

“’Maame’ has many meanings, but in my case, it means woman,” the blurb reads. “How do you become the woman you’re meant to be?” This is Maddie's story of coming of age and self-discovery. Will she find her voice?

Maame is a story about navigating relationships and how difficult this can be, especially whilst trying to live up to cultural expectations and familial obligations. We follow Maddie, a British-Ghanaian young woman who has always put herself second. She looks after her dad and provides financial support for her family, but yearns to be her own woman. Finally, she decides enough is enough and takes steps towards moving out of her family home, kickstarting her career in publishing, and stepping into the world of dating.

Maame is essentially a coming-of-age story, albeit one in which the protagonist is a late bloomer dealing with the trials and tribulations of adulthood. Along the way, Jessica George explores complex themes in a sensitive yet accessible way. Maddie's journey is both touching and relatable, and sure to resonate with many readers.

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a Digital Review Copy.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author, for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows the story of 25 year old Maddie, who is the sole caretaker of her Dad who is suffering from Parkinsons, while her mother is away in Ghana and her brother has moved out. She is pretty sure that she suffers from depression, but her mother always shuts her down telling her all she needs is God and that anything such is private matter and it should never be spoken out loud to strangers. Oweing to her conservative religious upbringing and her somehow always being responsible for her family's mental and physical well being, Maddie has never really had a childhood or an adolescence. She yearns to move out and live her life on her own terms and find her own identity. When all this finally comes together, with her mother coming back to London to take care of her father allowing her to move out, make friends and try dating, life happens, and one after the other everthing starts falling apart.

Maame (a common ghanain petname for daughters that means woman) is heartrending story of a second generation immigrant woman of colour getting through the world she is yet to understand. This is not a story with an amazing plot twist or villains or any such. This is a simple story that does not in anyway shy away from the struggles of a painful childhood, of breaking out of the mould setout for you by your parents, immigrant life, losing touch with your roots, claiming your place, standing up for yourselves against your family, drawing boundaries, microaggressions, understanding and loving your body, dealing with loss, grief and emotional abuse and manipulation. In summary this is the story of a woman of colour trying to find her place in the complicated world. I loved how Maddie's relationship with being referred to as Maame by her mother was discussed in depth, I was scared at some points in the book that this conversation won't really lead anywhere. But it did and the book provides you with a WIP HEA conclusion that will warm your heart.

This book will be perfect for fans of Queenie and Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine.

TW: Death, Loss, Grief. Deprresion, Anxiety, Panic attacks, Racism, Micro/Macro agressions, Infidelity, emotional Manipulation

[Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing a proof copy, in exchange for an honest review]

This was a gorgeous book which touches on a lot of really difficult or "contentious" (in inverted commas, because it's generally only bigots who find these issues contentious) issues such as: Ghanaian naming customs; unreliable parents or families; the difficult dating as a bisexual person (loved this but wanted more!); sexual attraction more generally; grief; stigma around mental health; sexism; racism (and tokenism)... The list goes on. But it never feels like you're being lectured to; it feels like you are experiencing the moments with Maddie, and feeling what she feels.

Part of me would have liked to have seen the ending slightly more open, but I did like how it ended for her.

I think my favourite parts were when Maddie was able to start opening up to her friends and to her therapist, and starts realising she is not alone in the world!

I will definitely be recommending this one!

'Maame', just like its eponymous protagonist, does so much with so little.
The novel follows 25-year-old Maddie (or Maame as she is called by her family) who has not lived her life to the fullest, having been held back by the heavy responsibility of caring for her dad suffering from Parkinson's. She decides to finally move out and experience new things (bucket list writing is involved), and experience new things she does. This results in excitement, heartbreak, miscommunications, panic attacks, financial instability, navigating family and flat dynamics as well as growing into herself as a daughter, friend, employee, and woman.

I had expected this to be a narrative of mishaps and growing pains; maybe this would end up being one of many such new adult novels which are great reads because of their relatability and specks of hope in between the often anxiety-inducing misadventures of the protagonists. 'Maame' ended up being so much more.

'Maame' was altogether a difficult read due to the subject matter permeating its pages and Maddie's life - her sick father and the grief she experiences because of the nature of the sickness. I found myself having to force myself to keep reading at times and push through the heaviness.

I also felt at times like 'Maame' is trying to do too much which resulted in the narrative feeling a little unfocused. Having finished it, I think it was warranted by how neatly and interdependently the separate crises of Maddie's life came to their respective resolutions. This is a book about how when you struggle in one area of life, it seeps into others; this is a book about how your environment and your daily small struggles can amount to a mental health crisis even if you think "others have it worse." 'Maame' is about the giant leap of faith in yourself and others when you start accepting help little by little and about how it changes you. 'Maame' is also about how actually living means unavoidable missteps and lessons. And most importantly, despite being heavy - especially so if it hits close to home to the reader - 'Maame' still manages to deliver a hope-filled and relieving lesson that many will appreciate.

Confession time: My name is Kevin and I suffer from FOMO(OW) - fear of missing out (on widgets).

For someone with a logical and scientific mind, I have a unshakeable fear of not taking up the offer of free, soon to be released books. I am not sure if its the belief that if I don't take up the offer, I will be put on some sort of widget blacklist or whether I am aware of the immense privilege of being given the opportunity to read ARCs that isn't available to everyone that makes me accept all offers.

An unintended consequence of such poor logic is that often I accept a book and it then sits on my TBR list with me looking at it from time to time but never truly getting excited about it. Maame was one of those books for me, a novel about a young black Ghanian woman who struggles to establish herself and emerge from her difficult family situation. As a white male, it didn't necessarily strike me as a book for me, but yet again I accepted.....

And boy am I glad I did. I am not sure as a reader if there is anything more pleasurable than a book where your expectations are generally quite low but which blows you away. The first thing I need to say is that Jessica George is hilarious, like laugh out loud funny. She writes with my exact sense of humour in mind (and in my world she has written just for me), that observational, real life behaviour which you immediately recognise in either yourself or a close friend. Maddie's constantly googling of 'What do you wear on a third date' etc. will resonate with many.

Maddie's attempts to move away from her traditional role as being the woman of the house (with her narcissistic mother never around) to become a 'normal' young woman is an amazing journey that I was privileged to join her on. I recommend that every joins her too in this fantastic novel. Definitely a contender for my favourite book of the year.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautiful book. This is the most touching story I’ve read in a long time. Maddie is twenty five, single and still living at home. Originally from Ghana her parents emigrated before she was born and so her brother and herself, although English born are considered Ghanaian by her mother.
Trying to navigate her way through life Maddie struggles to work through her own insecurities and relies on Google to guide her through it.
This book is in equal measure sad, funny, and thought provoking. A wonderful debut novel, I look forward to the next story from this author.
Many thanks to #NetGalley and to publishers Hodder and Stoughton for this wonderful book. For me it’s a definite 5 ⭐️

What a joy this novel is. The story of Maddie, in her early twenties and caught between how her family want and need her to be, and who she really is, I found the novel incredibly moving. It’s exploration of grief and depression are so well captured and Maddie’s finding her way in the world was both authentic and hopeful.

Although Maddie (the protagonist) is an adult I can't help feeling this is a coming of age novel. It, at least as that feel as Maddie discovers herself throughout the novel and learns what it is to belong. Growing up black in England, with an absent mum and a dad who needs full time care. Maddie is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Full of familial love, forgiveness and empathy the novel is slow paced, which totally suits the story. Poor Maddie, you will be rooting for her and cheering her on, you got this Maddie!

Thank you to Netgalley and HodderBooks for providing me with an e-arc of this book!

In this book we follow the twenty-five years old Maddie Wright as she navigates her life while actually trying to discover what she wants her life to look like all the while trying to keep her father's life as joyful and pain-free as possible, since he's suffering from Parkinson's. Grocery lists turn into bucket lists, bad dreams into reality and fathers into distant memories.
I appreciated this book for dealing with questions not necessarily with answers, but with experiences, choices, emotions and acceptance. Addressing micro-aggressions, racism -especially- in the workplace and how difficult dating life is for a black woman,persons- it truly hit me when Maddie said how tiring it is to be constantly second-guessing motives and analyzing words, sentences, feeling like you might be reading into it too much or too little, when spending your time with a friend, partner etc... I never thought of it. I'm white, I never had to. And now I very much want to because I don't think it's being talked about enough, how conditional love from a white person must feel when its shape, its foundation is so...white? I hope that makes sense. How exchausting it must be to be constantly walking on eggshells around a person that supposedly welcomed you -the whole being of you- to walk down that very path?
The queer representation was solid. I'm incredibly grateful to the author for allowing Maddie to learn, and letting Alex's voice be heard when discussing the phenomenon of bi-erasure. In my own little queer humble opinion, it was well done.
I've never related to a character as much as I relate with Maddie and it's great the writer allowed us to read the whole of her, her subconscious.
How much grief changes you, or rather brings out another version of yourself, sprinkled with ghosts of your past presence and decorated with some expectations of your own.
I love how grief here is a constant, a part. Not a brief passing visitor who only left some luggage and not everything the travel contained.
I cherish how the author represents religion; as sometimes religion, a place you must feel content in makes you feel unsafe, where you must run to...are now running away from. Where you must feel carefree and protected, you're burdened and prisoned. How sometimes religion is a must and despite, and not shall and regardless. How its "healing" can become trauma.
You'll only read that I loved, cherished and appreciated from this book, not necessarily because it did everything right. But because it did everything authentically and that is the most admirable quality of this book and for me, of every book.

At the end, I would say it's a story about learning to survive and then choosing to live

A funny, moving and insightful story about family, grief and obligation, and learning to be your own person. Maddie is a young Londoner, the heart of her Ghanaian family, her mother who spends most of her time working back in Ghana, her brother James who works in music and rarely pulls his weight, her father whose advanced Parkinson's means that Maddie has stayed at home to be his carer. Maddie is old beyond her years, the rock that her family leans on without thinking about what this costs her. "Maame" is what they call her, it means many things in Twi, including "woman" and Maddie and learning what it means to them and to her, is a key theme.

Maddie always puts everyone else first, her family, her employers. She has never been to university, never lived away from home, never been in a real relationship and she feels lost, weary and ready to discover herself with a flatshare and a determination to find herself and find an occasion to wear a yellow suit that symbolises her new confidence and her new approach to life. But Maddie has had to grow up very quickly and as she seeks the adult experiences she's missed out on she also has to come to terms with the sacrifices she has had to make. She works through grief, resentment and depression and confronts racism in her work and her private life. It's a beautiful portrait of a perfectly realised young woman whose growth is a joy to share. Jessics George makes Maddie a compelling character who is close to my heart. Her inner monologue (and her constant googling) are by turn hilarious and heartbreaking and she is brilliantly relatable.

I fell in love with the character of Maddie, she was such a kind, intelligent, innocent young woman. My heart broke for her and I was often reading through floods of tears at her predicament. Jessica George gives such a vivid and realistic depiction of grief and the complicated emotions that you feel. This is such an impressive debute novel, I can't stop thinking about it days after finishing reading it.

Maame deals with really complicated issues of mother daughter relationships, grief, being a carer, people pleasing, culture and finding your place in the world. A right of passage novel for the modern age. This is a book I will be buying for friends and recommending whenever I can. A superb read!

What a debut! Such a moving story and I especially loved it because there was so much I could relate to as a (youngish) Black-British woman living in South London.

I requested both the e-book and audio for this story. The narration for this is excellent! It felt real and honest and Maame was really brought to life. For the e-book, I really like interactive way that Google searches and text messages are formated - adds another dimension to the reading experience.

I'm excited for this book to be released and hope it receives all the hype and recognition I believe it deserves.

Thank you so much to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy of Maame.

I absolutely adored this book, it was a slice-of-life novel, telling the story of a young woman who has spent her teenage years and early twenties taking care of her sick father and putting herself on the back burner. After a turn of events, she begins to take care of herself and prioritise what she wants.

She changes jobs. She begins to date. And she learns about herself.

It's not an easy road but it was such an enjoyable read.

What a darling novel. A wonderful debut. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this novel.

Sweet, charming and funny – and utterly heartbreaking too. A wonderful insight into bereavement and family dynamics. An excellent debut.