Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Maame

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Maame by Jessica George

137 reviews

aksmith92's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

I laughed! I cried! I loved it!

The setup: This book follows Maddie Wright, also known as Maame, to her Ghanaian mother. We meet Maddie when she is living with and taking care of her father, who unfortunately was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's. He needs full-time care, and Maddie seems to be the only one stepping up to help. Even though her parents are technically married, Maddie's mother is off in Ghana helping her family's business, and her brother lives a somewhat lavish lifestyle in the music industry. Maddie is working at a local theater that is very uninspiring and is taking care of her dad. Because of this, she realized she had forgotten to grow up. So, when her mother makes her way back to London for her usual visits, Maddie decides that it is time to reinvent herself and become the 25-year-old woman that she actually is. She moves out and tries to make a life for herself.

We witness Maddie navigate a career, friendships, relationships, grief, and mental illness. The story follows her in an almost coming-of-age story, even though she is already "grown up." She spends a lot of time Googling things and trying to be something she is not, which we can all relate to as we grow up. Maame intertwines family ties, dating, and meeting new people, all while threading it to her father's illness and what it means to be maame (woman).

What I loved: Everything! This novel showcased storytelling at its finest. Maddie seems to be a soft, fragile character, but we learn just how resilient she could be. I loved learning about Maddie and then watching her go through the stages of life quite quickly. Maame just hits with fantastic character development. I felt like I was standing by Maddie's side, watching her go through happiness, adventures, and grief. As someone who most certainly didn't come from a Ghanaian family, I also thoroughly enjoyed learning a bit about the culture and understanding some of the nuances of family in Ghana. Her unique situation and complicated relationship with her family members were incredible to read about. I just really loved how we watched Maddie go from sad to happy to depressed to not sure. It was highly relatable yet still nuanced. I also loved her friendships with Nia and Shu and messy conversations with her mother.

Anything not so good? Nothing for me. I loved this for the storytelling, learning about a culture, and someone's unique situation. I would imagine that some folks might think this errs on the side of YA because we are watching a 25-year-old live her life for the first time, but I think that whole "coming of age" thing was done well. I've also seen some folks say that they didn't love all the Google searches in the narrative, but I loved them and found them funny and quirky. I laughed out loud at some of them and then Maddie's response to the responses. However, to each their own.

Overall, I just had such a good time with this book; it made me feel all the feels. Getting to know Maddie, her friends, and her family along the way was an absolute delight. I'm looking forward to reading more from Jessica George.

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dejah_sowells's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

hollymecher's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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? No

4.75

This book made me laugh out loud and cry real tears. Written by a British-Ghanaian first time author. A book she thought wasn’t going anywhere earned her over $1M and a new TV series. PLUS: the audiobook is a banger.

I love a good coming of age story. This book follows the story of Maddie Wright, a 25 year old girl living in London born to Ghanaian immigrants and she goes though the motions of 20-something life.

Bonus: It reads like a memoir. 👏👏👏

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ida_ree's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

I don't put stars on my reviews for reasons.

George bestows a terrific voice on her main character, Maddie Wright, a 25-year-old Londoner who still lives with her dad because she has become his main caretaker since his Parkinson's diagnosis. Maddie's mother spends months at a time in Ghana, purportedly helping with a family business. And Maddie's brother James is just too busy. In fact, Maddie has always taken care of everyone else, a tendency indicated by her nickname-since-childhood of "Maame", which means woman, bestowed because she's so responsible.

When the chance finally arises for Maddie to move out on her own, she has a lot of lost time to make up for. She's an extremely relatable character, and her struggles, adventures, and misadventures resonate, as she tries finally to discover who she really is and sets out to experience everything she's missed - dating, for instance.

Somehow the story manages to be funny, heartbreaking, and hopeful all in one package. The ending felt the tiniest bit too tidy for me, but only by a smidge.

Content Warnings