Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Maame by Jessica George

33 reviews

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

This book is a coming of age story of a young Ghanaian woman in her 20s living in London. Throughout the story she tackles work related race stressors, relationships, grief, family, moving out for the first time and finding a voice. 

I can hardly believe this is Jessica George’s debut novel. The way she was able to capture grief had me in tears (and I do not cry easy). After reading her forward I realized her dad is no longer with us. Which totally explains how she was able to have Maddie tap into that grief. 

I loved how she was able to explain complex topics like love and culture. It was very relatable and her characters felt so real. 

If you are looking for a realistic black woman version of a coming of age story, this is it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Drug use

martapsalvado's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Took me more than a month to read and several in-between books because it's so sad and intense and I'm not in the right headspace 🥲 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Medical content, Death, Racism, Death of parent, Sexual content, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Minor: Drug use, Suicide, and Alcohol

jourdanicus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

While not a perfect five-star read for me, this book still touched on a lot of my "catnip" topics and I really enjoyed it.

Maddie as a character is naive in a way that toed the line of believability for me sometimes, esp cially for a gen Z/millennial with the lived experience of being Black in a colonial country. However, the way the themes of racism, misogyny, and sexuality were included is perfect for readers who might be newer to those topics and interested in diversifying their reading.

I did find Maddie relatable in a lot of ways too. The characters and the story were sweet without being saccharine. The plot was a little slow to build, but the second half/third was worth it.

For better or worse, the real life experiences of the author really came through in the story, and I think this book is a well-executed answer to the prompt of "write what you know."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Medical content, Misogyny, Suicide, Drug use, Racism, Alcohol, Biphobia, and Eating disorder

hjb_128's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Racism, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, and Alcohol

yulecogs's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Drug use

kristenbynoe's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Racism, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Death of parent, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infidelity

dejah_sowells's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Suicide, Classism, and Sexual content

enlamont's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Xenophobia, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Mental illness

beetandbaguette's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Alcohol, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Medical content

kimveach's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book started slowly, but it was worth reading until the end.  Watching Maddie come into her own was tremendous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Racism, Bullying, Medical content, Sexual content, Alcohol, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death of parent, Misogyny, Vomit, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Grief, and Death