Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Maame

This was one of book of the month picks that I ended up doing via audio and I really liked it!

The coming of age story at 25 was really interesting and well done. I loved how she Googled almost everything, cause same. The family dynamics also felt realistic for her family, and I was glad she took that step to move out of her parents house.

Be warned though, you might cry

Spice: 2

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tina94's review against another edition

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sad slow-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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alyssamg8's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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ooohgoshtara's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman.
A coming of age story featuring twenty something Maame. Her family refers to her as Maame but her name is Maddie. She's the main caretaker for her father who has parkinsons. She's responsible for maining her entire household financially since her mother lives mostly abroad and her older brother is rarely available to help. So they selfishly leave all of the responsibility on Maame. When her mom comes home from living abroad Maame jumps at the chance to move out and have a life of her own free from responsibilities that have been smothering her. This story explores chronic disease, death of a parent, grief, identity, mental health, childhood trauma, etc. I did enjoy some aspects of the novel. I did root for Maame but had a hard time staying connected with her character. I do get that she led a very sheltered life and people deal with trauma in many ways. She had very real responsibility caring for her family and household. But that responsibility also stunted her to the point of being written very unrealistically to me. She becomes even more lost when the responsibility of her father is permanently taken from her. There were a lot of internal monologues paired with the constant consulting of google for very basic information. As a woman in her mid twenties she was written as being very naive more like a YA character. I found her sexual encounters disturbing. I liked that the ending was not perfectly tied up. I was happy that Maame finally started getting professional help from a therapist. She stood up to her family, spoke up for herself at work and finally had a normal dating situation. She was making strides towards becoming Maddie and no longer just Maame. Although I have mixed feelings about this book as a whole I would recommend to a twenty something.

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lindsayerin's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.75

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annreadsabook's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny 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

4.25

I loved that this book examined the pressures of being a twenty-something that are compounded by the weighty and often unrealistic expectations of family, particularly when your family expects you do to all the heavy lifting with virtually zero support. Maddie (referred to as Maame, or “woman,” by her Ghanaian parents) juggles caring for her father and providing financial assistance to her family with the daily struggles of being a Black British woman in her mid-twenties.

One of the more stand-out aspects of the book was its exploration of how Black immigrant communities view mental health; I loved seeing Maddie becoming more aware of the ways in which she was taught to make herself smaller. Over the course of the book, we watch Maddie grow into a more self-assured woman who understands that she is more than her family’s limited definitions of who she is in the world.

My one gripe, however, is that Maddie’s naïveté about life steadily shifted from endearing to grating. While at first her frequent Googling was silly yet relatable (e.g., “jobs with the happiest employees,” “back pain in your mid-twenties”), as the book progressed some of her unawareness struck me as incredible. Maddie seemed unbelievably infantile in her engagement with the world even though she was effectively the sole family member charged with her father’s care and her family’s financial wellbeing. And, at one point, a confused Maddie is lectured by her friends about how someone can be racist even if they don’t appear to outwardly hate Black people…this struck me as bizarre.

With all that being said, though, I greatly enjoyed Maame and think this is a great book for folks in their early- and mid-twenties who are just breaking into themselves, especially Black women. Personally, I know I would’ve loved having this book after graduating from undergrad.

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purplepenning's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.25

This is an exceptionally written character-driven book (with a couple of plot-driven gut punches) that captures the current moment in a way that reminds me of Such a Fun Age. For some reason, I didn't realize the depth of the grief and loss that would be explored, so definitely check those content notes. It also explores racism in the workplace and relationships, pressures of first gen immigrants, modern dating, Google as parent/mentor/friend, loneliness, sexual pressure and pleasure for women, found family, mental health, and more. It's all packed into a deceptively simple story about a daughter with an overly developed sense of responsibility and an underdeveloped support system.

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