A review by romaniangurlzlovesoup
Maame by Jessica George

reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

Not sure why but this book just didn’t do it for me :( maybe because I went through almost an identical experience as the protagonist did and so none of the story felt shocking to me; if anything I think my own lived experience made me more critical of the book because I was like girlie what are you doing!! But I say that all with hindsight bias of course lol. I just think a lot of the resolutions in the book felt rushed and cheesy to me; like everything was bad and then suddenly everything fell into place perfectly which just didn’t feel realistic. I also saw the point of all the Googling, but it also just put me off. I was like damn Maddie go with your gut not everything needs to be Googled!! Learn from lived experience queen!! Again, I am being critical because this felt nearly biographical at some moments for me LOL so I’m curious what I would’ve thought if I hadn’t related to the experience so hard, but honestly props to the author for encapsulating something I did relate to so much. Maddie spoke to me in ways that I haven’t had many books do before; I saw a lot of myself in her. So all my eldest daughters of an immigrant family rise up woot woot 🗣️🗣️