I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I flew through this book. It’s a coming-of-age story about a young woman who’s coming of age at 25 because she’s spent her early adult years caring for her ailing father. How Maddie views herself is shaped by her responsibilities within her family and by her Ghanaian parents’ cultural background. Having grown up in London, Maddie straddles cultures. She now has an opportunity to figure out who she wants to be outside of her family home.

Maame tackles depression and grief as Maddie deals with loss.

Her romantic life is frustrating to read about because she’s so naïve in that arena, but it’s also understandable why she would be so innocent as that part of her life had been on hold since high school.

Maame is an engaging novel.

This started strong for me, faltered in the middle, and ended well. It had a lot of potential. I think it tried to address several important topics, but there wasn’t enough time to devote to them all.

This was a great debut. I loved Maddie. This book was about so many things but mostly it was about her grief. Maddie is Ghanian and her parents follow traditions and one of the expectations is that she not talk about her problems with strangers. Or anyone for that matter. Unless it's her mom. The problem is her mom checks out of her life. Her parents are still married but her father is sick with Parkinson's and her mom spends a year at a time in Ghana and even tho Maddie has a brother named James who is older and could easily help out he doesn't. So Maddie, or Maame, as her mother calls her which means woman, is left to be responsible for everything.

Her mother is returning and when she does Maddie is encouraged to finally move out of the house at age 25 and experience life. And she does. Fortunately she has a couple great friends but she's pretty naive about things. She moves into a flat with 2 girls and things don't mesh very well. I just feel for Maddie when something happens midway through that puts her over the edge. She's always just barely hanging on, she's sad and depressed and wrestles with it. Her mother was not very motherly and then when she shows up she expects Maddie to treat her like she's the best mother in the world. her mother is definitely not my favorite person in this novel. Maddie deals with dating and finding a job and speaking up for herself and getting a little self esteem and coming to terms with her grief.

The only disappointment with this story is everything just came together swiftly at the end boom boom boom and it felt rushed and took me out of the story. And there were parts that went on a little longer than they needed to but it's a debut so I have so much confidence that this writer will be creating wonderful stories in the future, or at least I hope.

i received an ARC of this book, and jumped straight into it without even looking at the description. i did not know what to expect. i was not left disappointed. This book is a 4.5 rating in my opinion. Amazing. left me speechless, very grateful to have been given the opportunity to read this early. Re-Read worthy. As a mixed person of colour this book creates a level of comfort and relatability to the character. The struggles of being the only person who isn’t white in a group, in a job, and in a school can cause many affect on how the person feels. Coming to terms what is considered racist and what isn’t as well as Maddie’s understanding that she isn’t less than anyone else just because of who she is makes this book ten times better.


Maddie is a 25 year-old black woman living in London taking care of her father who suffers of Parkinson’s. Her mother and father have a complicated relationship which leads to her mother living in Ghana a good majority of the time, returning back to London without explanation, Maddie takes the opportunity to branch out and explore life. A great tragedy occurs which causes Maddie to realise how life won’t stop moving for a single person.


CONTENT WARNING:
poc racism/fetishisation
mental health issues
death

Maddie is 25 years old and has been taking care of her ill father. Her mother has returned from Ghana and she is moving out. She realizes that her she is behind her peers in life experience and is eager to get started. Maddie has been to university but has a dead end job. She does google quite a bit to try to judge what is normal. Is this what young women do? Since I am not in my 20s it was very interesting to see what the dating world is like. Maddie is a highly relatable character who you will cheering on throughout the book.

I really enjoyed Maddie's journey in this book and I highly recommend it and look forward to more books by this author.

Thank you to #netgalley, #JessicaGeorge, and #Macmillan for an early copy of this book.

I could not stop reading Maame. A beautifully moving novel about a young Black woman in her mid twenties, Maddie is trying to find herself (aren't we all at that age?). The book begins with her stepping away from the role she has held for so long: taking care of her father, who suffers from Parkinson's. She moves out of their home and into a flat with roommates, and she also begins job hunting when she is fired from her job. When tragedy strikes, she navigates grief while still being very lost with who she is, and watching her explore the grieving process and the living process simultaneously is both beautiful and so hard. Author Jessica George has created a gorgeous novel exploring that age old question: who am I, alone and with others? Who do I want to be? I LOVED this one.

Maame is coming to terms with a harsh past, and an unknown future at the same time she is struggling with her father’s failing health, and cultural clashes between her Nigerian family and her life in London. She manages with humor, making some mistakes, along with sincere introspection. At times it came close, but was never depressing for the reader; Maame learned to ask for help, and came to gain some maturity through her experiences. The family dynamics between cultures depicted some universal truths, too! This 70 year old grandma enjoyed this lively read.

This debut novel is so beautifully written, it is hard to believe it's her first! I loved the storyline, loved the characters and loved how the author wove it all together. Jessica George has a very bright future ahead of her.

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a diverse, BIPOC, coming-of-age story, I highly recommend this quick read by Jessica George. The protagonist, who has become the default caregiver for her father (suffering from Parkinson's Disease) , suffers from mid-twenties malaise. Her tethers are many. Those around her who should be stable (a tear-prone boss), an irresponsible older brother, a mostly-absent mother) are self-indulgent and undependable. Maabe discovers opportunity for independence by moving into an apartment with flatmates. This is a novel that generously traces an emerging spirit. Maabe learns uncomfortable lessons about the subtleties of racism, but ultimately the success of the novel is in the growth of all (well, most) of the characters. I will happily add it to "free choice" reading opportunities for students.

I went into this book blind and I’m so glad I did. I loved it!!! Everything was done so well. I absolutely looooved the writing style!!!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an advanced opportunity to read Maame by Jessica George. I felt such empathy for Maame. This book would be good for a health or psychology class to help open discussion about mental health, neurological diseases, or even the risk of STDS. I wished the main character had been more careful, her sexual encounters were dangerous both for her physical health, but her mental health as well.

I almost want to mark this down to 3 stars bc it made me so uncomfortable at times. This was not the book to read with a dad having health problems. But that is what books are for - connecting about commonalities.

I appreciated the references to 4c hair without making it a primer for white people. You don't have to explain something that is second nature to you. White people need to catch up.

This is one of the few books that makes me wish I was in a book club because I would love to talk to someone about this one!!

I started this book lateish on a Saturday night — and devoured it in one sitting. We’re slowly introduced to Maddie, the routines she has carefully laid out to get through caring for her seriously ill father when she should be enjoying her youth. The more successes build her up and failures tear her down, the more Maddie learns about herself, who she wants to be, and the more we can learn to address our own lives, to ask for what we want.

This is a gem of a debut novel, a lovely blend of tough life lessons, and sheer twee joy of 20-something life in the big city. I will be recommending this a lot to a wide variety of readers.

Made me cry, made me laugh, made me ever so wistful! Maddie, can we be friends!? I've been stuck in a reading rut for weeks on end and Maame drew me in as soon as I saw the cover and read the first page. This is a heartwarming coming of age immigrant story set in London. It is relatable and charming and something you need to experience for yourself. Thank you, St Martin's Press for the eARC! Just brillant. I also think this book would be a great film!

This book was a mixed bag for me. The most compelling parts involved how Maddie navigated both grief and her mother's abandonment, having to grow up too soon and care for her ailing father alone. These sections were deeply felt, expressed, and lived-in. George's choice for the title, Maame, illustrates this, as Maddie's feelings about what the nickname meant to her and how that changed over time paralleled her journey and growth throughout the book. George understands family--how you can love someone completely yet hold deep reserves of anger for the choices they made. In the end, Maddie showed both grace and compassion for her imperfect parents whom, like many of us, she didn't see fully as their own people with lives and secrets until tragedy allowed her to confront them.

Where the book faltered for me was its depictions of Maddie outside her family home, mainly her love life. These parts seemed much more juvenile--how quickly the virginal Maddie had men fall head-over-heels gaga for her. All of her dates and conversations with men seemed a little too perfect and scripted, even if the relationships did not end in a fairy tale match. George's device of having Maddie constantly Google things--some things no twenty five year-old should rely on a search engine for ("Can I date my flatmate's ex-boyfriend?"), made the book seem more like YA than adult fiction. I also wonder why, in at least three instances, George has Maddie refer to the reader, as if she was consciously writing a book of her story. SPOILER ALERT- At the end, we DO discover Maddie is writing a book about her father, but it's not implied that the book we're reading is THE book, as the scope of the story then presumably wouldn't involve Maddie's roommates, love life, work life, etc.

There's certainly some good here, but the book was just okay for me.

Maame- I really enjoyed this book! It was charming and beautiful. I loved watching Maddie’s growth and finding her own way, but also loved her devotion to her family. This was such a captivating read. I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for this arc!

Wow! I loved this book for so many reasons. The main character, Maddie, I had such a liking for. I found I was constantly cheering her on. I was upset how poorly she was treated, used and manipulated by her mother and brother. I was sad for her also that she didn't realize her self worth and frustrated for her in her work situation. The premise of the story I had a personal connection to. I am one of three siblings, yet all responsibility fell to me caring for my mom when she got cancer. I experienced the same guilt and overall brokenness that Maddie felt. In so many instances, I could've been Maddie. I loved hearing her talk to herself. The ending was absolutely perfect! I recommend this book to everyone! I will read whatever this author writes. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read this advance book.

This is the story of Maddie, a naive woman with a LOT of responsibility. It's a coming of age story where Maddie learns a lot about who she is and who she wants to be. She steps out of her comfort zone and tries new things, experiences heartache and loss, and battles with herself.

Maame started off much slower than I prefer. It took a while to get into the story and to see some growth from Maddie. However, the slower beginning also allows the reader to see just how much responsibility is thrown on Maddie and how she's handling it all.

Overall, I found Maddie overly naive and permissive. Her mum is downright selfish and really irritated me. They were both pretty extreme in those characteristics.

I appreciated the Ghanaian culture throughout the book and the depth of the characters. I rated it 3 stars because although it's a decent coming of age story that tugs at your heartstrings, it wasn't my favorite and was a bit slow.

What a lovely book! The complete and utter devotion of a daughter, yet trying to liver her life a bit as well was just so beautifully portrayed in this book. I enjoyed every page of this book!

This is a charming coming-of-age (albeit a little later in life) story. Maddie, the main character, had such a relatable voice. While Maddie's Ghanain culture might not be something with which everyone can personally identify (I really struggled with her mother and brother), her self-doubt and questioning of how she fits into the larger picture is something I think most women find themselves wondering at certain points in their life. It felt a little like if Bridget Jones' Diary and Transcendent Kingdom were blended together.