A charming, captivating read!

Maddie is a 25 year old living at home, helping care for her father with Parkinsons'. Her mother lives part time, okay most of the time in Ghana, and her brother seems to be more concerned with his own life. Even though her mother pays for someone to help care for her father, Maddie feels a sense of duty to stay at home.

Soon she gets news that her mother is coming home for a year, and she finally considers moving out on her own. The story follows Maddie as she learns who she really is and who she wants to be, how she wants to move through the world.

Jessica George does a great job of making Maddie feel relatable. I love seeing the world through Maddie's eyes, and being reminded of what it's like to feel young and lost and looking to find my way.

Maddie’s mom has always called her Maame. In Twi, it is a term of endearment that means woman.
As a young girl, Maddie loved being called Maame especially by her mother. But as she started to grow up and realize the actual work and responsibilities that a lot of times fell onto SOME women, she wasn’t so sure about the name anymore.
Sometimes we are thrust into situations where we have no choice but to do what needs to be done because we know that if we don’t, no one else will. The amount of stress that comes from knowing that you don’t have a choice can be extremely overwhelming, especially when you know there are people out there that COULD and SHOULD be helping you but they are not. Regardless of their reasons and how justified they think they are, no one deserves to be constantly piled on.
At 25 years old, Maddie is a virgin that still lives at home with her terminally ill father. Her mother splits her time between their home in the UK and Ghana where she runs her father’s hostel. Maddie has an older brother, but he moved out and rarely comes home to visit or help. As you can imagine, Maddie is stressed, unhappy, and at her wits end.

Maame was a very enjoyable read. As an only daughter with a brother, I definitely understood what Maddie was feeling. Sometimes there’s this expectation that families place on the girls and women that aren’t placed on the boys and men. Not only are we expected to carry on these responsibilities that are strictly based on gender, we are expected to carry them regardless of the other things we have or don’t have going on in our lives.
Maddie is overwhelmed. She’s 25 and is still trying to figure out her life. There is so much she doesn’t know about herself and she honestly doesn’t have the time to find out. In this story, George takes us on a journey of self discovery with Maddie. It starts off with a lot of funny and awkward moments, but then it gets VERY heavy and very real. There are moments where you will laugh and moments where you will cry. There are even moments that will make you want to scream.
Beautifully written with great character development! I cannot wait to read more by Jessica George.

I really enjoyed this book because it so REAL. Growing up in an immigrant family, and being the first born Canadian, I could relate to a lot of the story.

The story is about Madeleine (Maddie) who leads a very quiet and sheltered life, due to her circumstances & Ghanian upbringing. Her dad has been sick for years and she's been his primary carer, with her brother James not really being around much and her mother spending alternating years in Ghana. She's 25 and her mother is coming back for the next year, so she decides it's a good time to move out and start living life. She experiences many firsts and finally starts to find herself on her own terms.

I personally loved how raw this story is. It can very isolating living in a 1st world culture with parents set on their mother land's traditions. This story really brings Maddie's reality to life. I would encourage everyone to read it if only to see other's realities through a different lens.

#indigoemployee

I just reviewed Maame by Jessica George. #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published February 7, 2023.

I liked Maddie from the start. Her commitment to her sick dad is admirable, especially given that her mother and brother are pretty useless. She is struggling to find out where she fits in the career world. She is also a self-proclaimed late bloomer who is experimenting with Internet dating. All three aspects of her life kind of collide and make her people-pleasing tendencies.

I don’t know if this is a true spoiler but it was pure coincidence that in the book her dad passes away from Parkinson’s on the anniversary of my dad’s passing 15 years ago. So that struck me a bit harder than it would most people. She regrets not being there for him in the final hours but luckily I don’t have that guilt on my shoulders.

But what I really appreciated is how Maddie grew up and developed a voice so she could stand up for herself with her family, her job, and with the men she is meeting. She finds true friends in Nia and Shu.

Maame kept me on a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish. From Maddie’s grief to her excitement of dating, I felt it all.

Maddie was forced to care for her sick dad from an early age. She was 25 before she had the chance to go out and find herself. And that, she did. I cheered for Maddie along the way and I finished the book with a smile on my face.

Maame is a heartfelt novel about a young woman taking her first steps end of the world on her own. The daughter of Ghanaian immigrants to the UK Maame leaves home for the first time to live on her own. She deals with career struggles and racial inequality, while also taking her first real steps into the dating world. Things do not go easily though, through the course of the novel she will deal with first heartbreaks and the biggest heartbreak of her life, the loss of her beloved father to Parkinson’s disease. Maame’s life goes through a lot of changes in a very brief span of time, and will never quite be the same again As she discovers what many of us discover in adulthood, that sometimes you can’t go home again you can only move forward.

This book was a real winner for me! Thanks to Net Galley and St Martin's Press for the chance to review it.
This is the story of Maddie, who lives in the UK , born to immigrants from Ghana. Her family is unconventional at best and Maddie is definitely the good girl, holding the family together.
This is a wonderful coming of age novel - Maddie is coping with family, work and relationship (friendship and romantic) issues. Challenges come fast and furious on all these fronts. Through it all I was struck by Maddie's grace. Powerful issues are dealt with here. Most impressive to me was Maddie's struggle with situational depression. There are also racial, immigrant and generational tensions. Chronic illness is also sensitively dealt with. I felt the gamut of strong emotions reading this book- tears, laughter and hopefulness.
The writing is fresh and brilliant.
The characters are alive. A mark of a good book is making the reader believe the characters are real and if they are sure they are not then wishing that they were real. I do hope this is a memoir of sorts.
I think the title (Maddie's family nickname ) is quite clever.
Overall this is one of the best books I have read this year and I believe it will be a big success. Expected publication date is 2/7/2023.

Whatever I write here won’t do this book justice. It’s so good. Amazing Ghanaian representation. I think anyone in their 20s-30s can find a piece of themselves in Maddie as she deals with grief, finding herself, and mental health. So good.

Publisher Synopsis:

It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.

When her mum returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie leaps at the chance to get out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts”: She finds a flat share, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But it's not long before tragedy strikes, forcing Maddie to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils––and rewards––of putting her heart on the line.

Review: Oh wow, I loved this book. Maddie's character was charming and endearing and I loved her from the beginning. Love the diversity, love the talk about Ghana and her family and traditions. I thought it was so poignant and her family values were really well represented. I felt for this character so much through finding herself in her mid-twenties and through trying to navigate complex family relationships and dynamics, her career, her life. Loved it all - 5/5 stars.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for my free digital copy.

I deeply enjoyed this coming-of-age story about Maddie, a 25-year old Londoner who breaks out of her shell and finds herself.

At the beginning of the story, Maddie is her father’s caretaker, an introvert, and concerned about her own mental health. However, through difficult times she’s finds her strength and her self.

This story was uplifting and I imagine will ring true for many of its readers. I know it did for me. I also really appreciated the way the author discussed mental health and the way we think about it as humans and a society. Our main character is one you’ll quickly fall in love with and be cheering for!

Huge thanks to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for this arc! This book releases Feb. 6th, 2023 so be sure to check it out.

Maame by Jessica George. I didn’t finish this book because the story didn’t grab me and didn’t hold my interest. Thank you for allowing me to review this book.

Maame is a very well-written, engaging, emotional ride of a book. Maddie’s anxieties and struggles to find her way out from under the weight of familial obligations and expectations was extremely relatable. I liked the conceit of the google searches for getting outside input when Maddie was feeing isolated. She was an easy character to root for! I would have liked to see a bit more of the evolution of her relationship with Sam - really I just feel like I could have stayed in Maddie’s world longer and wasn’t ready for the book to end!

Maame tells the story of a young woman’s struggle to find her way amidst family expectations that have weighed on her for her entire life. Twenty-five year old Maddie is bright and thoughtful, but her job in London is not what she has hoped for, and her social life is virtually non-existent. Maddie is the caretaker for her father with Parkinson’s while her mother spends most of her time in Ghana and her older brother chases his dream career. Maddie feels weighed down by responsibility but guilty about wanting an escape.

Maame is a very relatable story that is both thought provoking and enjoyable. My only very small critique is that I felt that Maddie comes into her own rather suddenly quite late in the book. I wish we had seen more of her growth before the end of her story.

Thanks to NetGalley for sharing this digital reviewer copy in exchange for an honest review.

Maddie (Maame) Wright’s family is not conventional. Her mother lives in Ghana and visits her family in London every other year, while Maddie acts as the primary caregiver for her father, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Maddie’s duties have prevented her from spreading her wings, but when her mother announces her return to London, she sees an opening to leave her parents’ home and start living her own life. She moves out and rents an apartment with a couple of roommates, starts a new job, and sets out to seek new experiences. Soon after, tragedy touches her life, and Maddie starts to struggle with feelings of guilt and regret. As she grapples with pain and disappointment, Maddie discovers that there are no rules when it comes to perceiving or manifesting feelings of love and grief. Her journey will lead her to find the strength to have her voice heard and ask for what she wants in both her professional and personal relationships. As she embraces her new reality, she slowly develops an understanding of herself and of how people affect each other.

Deeply emotional, funny, and authentic, the story presents us with a well-developed, relatable character that deals with issues of duty to family, cultural identity, coming of age, love, mental health, tradition, race, and finding your voice. The plot is honest and engaging, and the pace is more than adequate. In addition, we get an interesting glimpse into some aspects of the Ghanaian culture. Overall, an excellent read that will leave you with a smile.

Thanks to NetGalley and to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a free digital copy to review this book prior to its release.

Maame means woman or mother in Ghana. Our title character, Maddie, also called Maame by her family, is forced to grow up too soon and to put her young life on hold because of her's father's Parkinson's and the refusal of her mother and brother to do their share. When we first meet 25-year old Maddie, she is way behind her peer group in learning about herself, her likes, her dreams, men, and dating. She is also well-educated but in a dead-end job and incredibly unhappy and unfulfilled. Throughout the book, we watch Maddie begin to make changes, take risks, and try new things, some of which work out, many of which do not. The biggest joy is watching Maddie learn about herself and begin to move beyond people pleasing and peel back the layers separating her inner and outer selves. I like Maddie and rooted for her all the way. However, it bothered me that she relied on Google so much to be her close-confidant and main information-source. This seemed impersonal and an easy way for the author to increase the word count.. I also thought the ending wrapped things up too tidily. Even with some flaws, this is a well-written, engaging book about a spunky young woman who teaches us that it's never too late to learn. ( I would give it a 3.5 if I had that option.)

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from St. Martin's Press and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

It's rare that one can express emotion at this level through prose. Jessica George nailed it. You'll be felling all your feels and then some.

I really enjoyed this debut novel. Loved the characters and the setting, Look forward to more books by this author.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book. I really enjoyed it and it was nice to see Maddie find her way after being adultified well before her 18th birthday. I would recommend this book.

I sincerely haven’t been this emotionally affected by a book in ages. It is remarkable that this is Jessica George’s first novel, and it is obvious how personal Maddie’s story is to her.

Maddie’s life mirrors much of my past, which is rare for me to find. I may not be 25 years old or British Ghanaian, and I’m thankfully out of admin hell, but I was a caretaker from age 16-30 for my mother and stepfather who both had the same advanced chronic neurological disorder. I was similarly held back from fully living life and experiencing intimacy.

Reading about Maddie’s routines with her father who had Parkinson’s as well as the tremendous guilt for daring to do anything new or fun was tremendously cathartic. I cried while reading about her tentative experiences with men. I wanted to be there for her, much like her true friends Nia and Shu. It was lovely to see her have support. I was also pleased to see that Maddie’s awkwardness didn’t ostracize her as is the case in many books lately. Her googling as a way to fumble through what is “normal” in life was so relatable and funny.

Maame focuses a great deal on family and Ghana tradition as well as the racism Maddie regularly experiences. I found the culture and family dynamics fascinating. However, Maddie’s mother was beyond frustrating and I had a very hard time finding any sympathy for her. She took Maddie for granted and expected her to make so many sacrifices at such a young age. It was upsetting, so I was thrilled to see Maddie have opportunities come her way. 25 is sometimes referred to as the “quarter life crisis,” and she truly needed to begin finding herself. She needed to break free of all her burdens and self-doubt, much of which was caused by family.

Maame brought me much closure to my past. Never have I found an author who understands the strange isolation of being a young caretaker. I feel spoiled and honored that this is my first ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

There's a slight possibility that I finished this book in a day and cried at 2am.

Maame is such a powerful story about culture, identity, regrets, grief and starting over. The book follows Maddie who, at the age of 25, has become her father's caretaker while her mother spends the majority of her time in Ghana. She has a brother who doesn't help at all, some emotional turmoil that her mother constantly dismisses and a job where she feels absolutely stuck. While Maddie and I come from different cultures, there were so many things I found relatable about her journey. Having also grown up as a sheltered teenager I had to Google the majority of my questions because there are just some topics too taboo to even mention. I also highly related to her struggles with faith and her complicated relationship with her mother.

I've seen some reviewers mention how Maddie is completely naïve and how overbearing her mother is, which makes me wonder if they paid close attention to the cultural aspect of this story. What might seem overbearing for some cultures is completely normal for others (albeit not necessarily healthy).

I genuinely believe that Maame by Jessica George is a beautiful character study and shows that, no matter how old a person might be, it's never too late to try new things.