Maame by Jessica George is a buy novel for a reason-- warm, evocative, hopeful and immersive. I loved being inside the world created by George, even more so because of the pitch perfect narration by Heather Agyepong. Don't miss this one on audiobook as the narrator takes you right into the immigrant Ghanian community of in London and brings the subtleties to life. Just a lovely story told with grace.

A magnificent debut, Maame is breathtaking, thought-provoking, raw and real. The author did a good job evoking emotion and has a unique, exquisite writing style. Maddie Wright is the epitome of courage and strength.

Narrator Heather Agyepong is stellar...her voice touched me in the most beautiful way.

#NetGalley

I loved Maddie! This is a great coming of age with family drama, cultural dynamics, mental health, grief and humor. We follow our MC through the trials and tribulations of caring for her aging father, tense relationships with her mother and brother, dating antics, and friendships. This book felt very honest.

My favorite part was the google searches. They had me laughing quite a bit 😂

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

Pub Date: 1/31/23 Available Now!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story touches on so many aspects of being in your 20s through a unique lens. A loves me main character you are truly rooting for the entire novel. Lessons on friendship, reciprocity, tradition and karma are all present. I didn’t fly through this book because it brought up a lot of feelings, but it was a solid read.

I wish I had read this before Someday, Maybe. While overall similar in feel, Maame edges it out in raw emotional feeling. Call it what you will. The next gen immigrant experience tends to feel the same in any culture. The guilt? The anxiety? I've felt all of that and more. The familial bits spoke to me. The dating bits. The career bits. Don't be fooled by the beautiful cover. The story actually matches for once.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

A beautiful coming-of-age filled with wit, heartache, and vulnerability.

Maddie is transitioning into adulthood while balancing everything that is happening in her life. Her mother primarily lives in Ghana, so it is up to Maddie to be the main caretaker of her father who suffers from Parkinson's. She is having a hard time at work and is dying to get out of her shell and experience life. Her chance finally arises when her mother travels back to London and gives Maddie the opportunity to live on her own.

It is hard not to empathize with Maddie as she starts to embark on her journey through adulthood. Her story is incredibly relatable, down to earth, and heartfelt. The author did a phenomenal tackling these tough topic while sprinkling bits of humor and awkward moments that we can all relate to.

I listened to the audiobook and cannot recommend it enough!

Top notch narration! This is a well written book. I felt for Maddy, but I had a very hard time relating. Her meekness early on is just so foreign to me. Obviously I have no idea what it is like being a black woman in London and I suppose that's why I felt very disconnected throughout. 25 year old virgin? Definitely couldn't wrap my brain around it.

I would recommend to young women who are struggling with the loss of a parent.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Maame is a young woman trying to be an adult and find love in London. She has a family that depends on her for everything, including the care of her father who has Parkinson’s. She has a group of friends that love her and are quite honest with her about what she needs to change in order to find happiness. Maame is convinced it’s going to be in the form of a boyfriend-but in reality her greatest happiness will come from finding her own inner voice and learning to love herself.

Thank you to NetGalley and McMillan audio.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook. This one was a dud for me; it was underwhelming and boring. The author tried to throw a whole bunch of topics (racism, grief, depression, bisexuality, family struggles, online dating....) in the book, but each one was mostly just mentioned for a chapter or two and then never discussed again. The book felt like it consisted of the main character googling everything or talking to herself. Not for me; do not recommend.

I received an audio copy of Maame from the publisher through NetGalley. I’ve seen the hype of this book on social media and it peaked my interest. Maddy aka Maame is a wonderful daughter, sister and personal assistant tu he doesn’t have a life of her own. I will recommend this book to family nd friends.

3.5 rounded up

I am really glad this story exists and I think this book will be meaningful for someone who is their family's doormat and is always expected to put their family before themselves. I loved Maddie and felt for her, but her family made it really hard for me to fully enjoy the story. I just had a hard time relating to the characters and Maddie's mom made me want to throw the book across the room multiple times.

Overall the pacing was just really slow for me and this book took me forever to finish. At points I didn't have the desire to pick it back up and even started another book while trying to finish this one. I will say the ending did redeem it for me somewhat and I was happy to see Maddie's character development.

The audiobook narrator did a fantastic job and made the listening experience enjoyable!

I absolutely loved Maame! It is one of the best books I have received through NetGalley. Maame grabbed my attention from the beginning. I was rooting for Maddie as she grappled with very relatable issues that 20 somethings face.

The audio was very engaging and easy to listen to. I never got lost or found my mind drifting.

I would read anything that Jessica George writes in the future.

I was sure Jessica George was writing about my life when she wrote Maame. Granted, I am not living in London, nor am I of Ghanaian (not that I know of anyway. Thanks transatlantic slave trade). I don’t have a dad diagnosed with Parkinsons, nor do I have a mom who splits her time between here and Ghana.

But for all the differences in my life, I really connected to Maddie’s story. I felt connected to the expectations of the eldest daughter. We are so often the glue of families, taking care of everyone and holding things together. Who are we if we are not taking care of others? What could our lives look like if we lived for ourselves?

These are the questions Maddie is discovering for herself throughout the novel. Grief and guilt complicated these answers, but she remains on this journey to find herself. Maame translates to woman in Twi, but the connotation is maternal, a figure to take care of others. Maddie was given this nickname as a young child, having to carry this burden since then. And this I really connected to.

Maddie’s character development was exceptional. I loved how she was able to grow throughout the story. And the way George demonstrates this growth was so creative, from the incessant googling Maddie implements and her little cartoon lizzie mcguire that’s in her head. This is a great coming of age story for a 20-something and explores everything from dating and sex to navigating independence from family.

Something else I really connected to was the conversation about dating and sex. I definitely felt similar when I was in college and all my friends were talking about sex and relationships and I felt like a late bloomer. I felt immense pressure to just get sex out of the way so I could be like everyone else. In an effort not to spoil anything, when Maddie does have sex for the first time, it creates nuance around what consent actually is.

I could have done without the subtle education on microaggressions for white people. I feel like some amazing books I have read have this to appeal to white readers (like The Other Black Girl and Such a Fun Age). I am taken out of the story because it’s clear that a situation I understand as my lived experience is explained away. It feels a lot like someone explaining a joke. And there’s nothing inherently wrong about using your platform to educate white people about racism/unconscious bias/microaggressions, but it can be irritating like having someone asking a bunch of questions during a movie.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story! Definitely a 5-star read for me. I recommend to any [Black] first-born daughters, or daughters who are there to take care of everyone else!

I loved this story! Definitely my favourite book of the year. This adult coming of age book is a story of Madeline, Maame, and her journey into independence while navigating a world that accentuates her cultural differences.

Maame opened my eyes into the struggles faced by those who care for family members with disabilities and the challenges they face when wanting to have a "normal" life. I was taken for an emotional ride, and celebrated all of Maame's triumphs after crying with her during her times of sadness.

The audiobook is one of the best I've listened to in all time. The narrator really nailed the different characters and their emotions.

Highly recommend the audiobook as it really brought this story to life.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan audio for the opportunity to experience the wonderful story.

Maame tells the story of Maddie, nicknamed Maame, and the trials that come with trying to find out who you are and where you belong. I listened to this on audio, and I thought it was deeply moving. Maddie was always putting someone else first -- her dad, her family, her friends, and her job. This story had so much depth and feeling, and, as the reader, I really felt for Maddie and wanted more than anything for her to succeed and know how worthy she was. The narrator for this book was amazing, as she really made you feel what Maddie was going through, her sadness, her anger, her hurt. Overall, this was a fantastic book and one that I am so glad I read.

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for the audiobook ARC in exchange for a review.

I just finished reading one of my favorite books of February, and it has taken me this long to really gather my thoughts together on how much I loved it!

I both read the physical book and listened to the audiobook, and thought the narrator was a fantastic choice to unpack this emotional story and bring all the emotion to the surface. I was completely immersed in this older coming-of-age story that tackles such heavy themes but told with light humor and heart,

Maame was such a beautiful, powerful story that tackles themes of self discovery and handling grief, and I really connected to the main character Maddie because I too recently struggled with grief after losing my Father.

*many thanks to Macmillan Audio and St Martins Press/netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Goodness gracious, this one was a tear-jerker. The sadness and overall light-hearted nature of the relationships at play within Maame had me sobbing uncontrollably from page to page. I am overjoyed that Macmillan audio took a chance on me with this audiobook, for it was a blessing to read and review and experience.

Stunned by this debut, I loved this coming-of-age story and the discussion of Maddie's family dynamics and grief. The writing was vibrant and engaging and the audiobook of it was great.

🌺𝐌𝐀𝐀𝐌𝐄🌺

I am desperately behind on book reviews so bear with me while a post like a madman this week. First up: MAAME. Brilliant novel and completely both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Loved it.

"Meeting Maame feels like falling in love for the first time: warm, awkward, joyous, a little bit heartbreaking and, most of all, unforgettable." ―Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Contemporary fiction
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞: coming of age
𝐏𝐮𝐛. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: January 31st, 2023
𝐌𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4.28 stars

“Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman.

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.”

Thank you so much @stmartinspress for sending me a copy!

My favorite part of this beautifully-penned novel was how the author discussed mental illness, grief, and personal acceptance. Have you read this one yet?

There is so much to unpack in this beautiful coming-of-age story of a Ghana woman struggling to find her own identity. Maddy is the primary caretaker of her ailing father who suffers from Parkinson's disease. While her mother travels back and forth to Ghana, she attempts to keep her family together. When circumstances finally change, she is permitted to move out and finally experience life. Along the way she encounters love, friendship, betrayal, and career conflicts. Additional themes include those of race, class, mental health, and sexuality, but the one that really stands out is her complicated relationship with her mother. Their convoluted dynamic is intriguing.
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The digital audiobook is stellar. Narrated with a Twi dialect, I was immediately sucked into the story. I'm looking forward to other books by this author.