Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - Maame

Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

deelightfulreads's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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khoala_tea's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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javafenn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I did not want to put this book down! My heart felt so much for Maddy, nicknamed Maame by her overbearing but well meaning mother. She is 25 navigating a very unsheltered world following her unsheltered life when an unexpected expected event occurs rocking her entire world. You feel all her curiosity and all of her grief. You can comprehend all her mid 20’s questions about life and how much she is unsure of herself. This book was so beautifully written and not focused on just the trauma of being a Black woman while also acknowledging life as a Black woman in todays age. I will definitely be buying the print version and reading again. Oh and the narrator was awesome!

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drraytay's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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katiejohns's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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nicmedia123's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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bookswithbront's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book manages to toe an incredibly difficult line: being both incredibly charming and completely gut wrenching. It tells the story of Maddie, a 25-year-old Ghanaian woman living in London, who's the primary caretaker for her father who has Parkinson's.

Maddie is an incredibly well-written, real-feeling character: at times to the point of being infuriating to read. Her naïveté is understandable — she's grown up incredibly sheltered and is just learning to make her own decisions for the first time at 25 — but can be frustrating as a reader, when you can see situations more clearly than she can and have to wait for her to realize she's being mistreated or taken advantage of. Because the book is written solely from Maddie's perspective, however, it did leave many of the other characters feeling one-dimensional. And when Maddie finally realizes at the end of the book that "my actions can affect other people," it feels like too little, too late.

When thinking about what I liked most about this book, I feel drawn to its two emotional extremes. On one hand, I appreciated the raw, realistic depiction of what grief can do to a person, especially when that grief is complicated with feelings of regret. On the other, I most enjoyed the lighthearted scenes when Maddie was experiencing things like flirting, dancing in a club, or getting high for the first time. The "in betweens" of these two ends of the spectrum — tended to drag on for me, but they also made the story feel incredibly true to life, so I understand their purpose.

All in all, this is a stunning debut from Jessica George. Even more than the story itself, I appreciated her voice, her humor, and her writing style, and I'll gladly read whatever she publishes next.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

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sgrizzle's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“I ask if you think you’re well-loved because it’s easy to conflate being well-liked with being well-loved. There’s often a misconception that to be well-loved, the love has to come from multiple sources, when truthfully, one or two people can love you with the strength of ten. Do you have people in your life who love you with the strength of many?”

I was thrilled to get an eARC of Maame from the publishers and Netgalley, and truly enjoyed reading this coming of age story. Maddie, a 25 year old British-Ghanaian woman, deals with family issues, grief, jobs, creativity, friendships, dating, and mental health, and not all well (mostly not). What really leapt out to me here was the strong characterization. By the end of the first chapter, you KNOW clearly who Maddie is. Her voice, and those of the secondary characters, especially her mother, are vibrant. It definitely deals with heavy topics in an intimate and careful way, and her moments of bravery felt really earned. To hear that this is Jessica George’s debut is exciting because she’s got a bright future in storytelling!

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