A review by abbie_
Maame by Jessica George

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Thanks to Libro.fm for my free ALC of Maame! I loved Maddie and this audiobook had such a perfect narrator (Heather Agyepong - I’m gutted she hasn’t narrated anything else yet?!) that I felt so sad to finish it! Both the narration and style of writing made Maame feel like talking with a close friend. Maddie’s experiences with depression closely mirrored my own at times, which was both a gut wrench and a comfort. We both google the most inane things that a lot of people would just grasp through intuition, so I loved that as well. I loved watching Maddie grow as a woman throughout the book, come into herself and stand up for what she deserves.

I wish we had seen more from the side characters, especially her two best friends as they had potential to be incredible but more felt like they were just there to prop Maddie up at times. But at the end of the day, it is Maddie’s story. This book delves into Ghanaian culture & family dynamics, and I loved that towards the end Maddie started to lean more into learning Twi and exploring her heritage. I’m not a religious person at all, but I even appreciated Maddie’s evolving relationship with God. Oh, and I didn’t even mention her work yet - Maame encompasses so much, but to me it never felt forced.

Overall just a bloody good book tackling depression, grief, complicated family relationships, micro-aggressions experienced by Black women in the publishing industry, sex, faith, and so much more. Maddie is very much muddling through her 20s, and it was comforting to be along for the ride!
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