3.5 stars! I had no idea what to expect with this novel and my views on it evolved dramatically while listening to it. It had a very slow start but, after a slew of abandoned audiobooks (I had a tough time with this format this month), I forced myself to stick with it. Our narrator Maddie is a very naive young woman in her mid-20s faced with some tough circumstances and making (or not making) some questionable decisions. Until about the last 20% of this novel, I felt very medium about it…not wholly engaged, but interested just enough to see where it was going. And I’m glad I stuck with it, as I really appreciated the final stretch of character development and found the conclusion quite satisfying (somewhat tidy, but satisfyingly so!).

Thanks to @macmillanaudio and @netgalley for the advanced reader copy of the audiobook!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Heather Agyepong was such an awesome narrator. Through Heather's beautiful voice, you are able to feel Maddie's struggle. Maddie is definitely torn between wanting to fulfill her family duties of caring for her father who has advanced Parkinson's Disease and finding herself. You can tell she's unhappy and uncertain with what she wants to do in life. Her mother splits her time between Ghana and London, and is very critical of Maddie. Her brother is only interested in himself.
This audiobook was emotional, moving, and insightful into Maddie's life and the cultural expectations.
Highly recommend this amazing audiobook! You won't want to stop listening!

I wanted to give this book a try although I wasn't necessarily in a place for a literary fiction novel. I found the main character's daily life a bit too strained to continue past the 15% mark.

Sometimes you read a book at just the right time in your life, and it's a perfect reading experience. "Maame" came at just the right time for me but I know I'd love it any time, any day. Maddy is a character I deeply relate to as the daughter of an African immigrant, living in predominantly white spaces. She grapples with the feeling of being in a culture without belonging to it. I loved reading about her navigating her Ghanian identity and cultural customs, while growing up as a Black Brit.

Without getting too much into the plot, Maddy is an introvert and late bloomer, someone whose familial responsibilities kept her from living the carefree life many of her peers did in their early twenties. I love coming-of-age stories set in your late twenties, an age where you think you're supposed to have it all figured out when in reality almost no one does (and if they do, they're lucky or they're better at faking it than you are). This book tackles grief, struggling with mental health, navigating the workplace, dating, and friendship in a way that felt authentic to real life. I really loved this book. I'll be surprised if it's not one of my best reads of the year.

Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the audiobook review copy.

This story is just as vibrant, unique and complex as its gorgeous cover.

“Maame” means “woman” in Twi and Maddie Wright, at 25 years old, is wearing this title very early in life. Londoner Maddie lives at home and has taken care of her father who has Parkinson’s for the last eight years. Now her mother has returned from Ghana and Maddie can move out and take a break from her responsibilities and being “Maame.”

Maddie is now exploring who she is, relationships, friendships, dating, sex, roommates, jobs, her ethnicity and race, her role in her family and mental health. Her self-discovery has a modern Bridget Jones twist to it, she has a list of goals and a frequent Google search history to find all the answers of life’s questions.

This is such a beautiful and compelling coming-of-age story. It’s heart-breaking and really, really raw at times. The audio is incredible. Singular and expert narration including multiple African/Ghanaian and British accents, pronunciations, nuances and pacing. There’s also a tremendous amount of emotion evoked in the narration.

Thank you to Macmillan audio for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Maame is such a beautifully written story (with a great narrator), and the way it described grief hit me right in my core. Maame is just trying to find her place in the world, but her family certainly isn't making that easy. Being the oldest daughter myself, I related to the expectations placed on Maame. She sacrifices so much to take care of her father - works at a job she doesn't like, has a limited social life, and still lives at home. Meanwhile her brother and mother are off doing whatever they want. So Maame is finally getting a chance to break free from that life and carve her own path, but life gets in the way. It is rare for me to find a book that so relatedly discusses grief, a beautiful yet complex relationship between a father and daughter and finding ones way in the world. The mother and daughter relationship also was really nice, though the mother was quite a frustrating character but I loved the way we got to know her better and I liked that ending. So there was a relationship in the book that I didn't like - Maame and the boys. This part is where I really struggled, it made me deeply uncomfortable and I had to really skim through parts of this (for my own sake, not because of the writing).

Overall though I loved this book! I don't think I've stopped raving about it. I loved learning about the Ghanian traditions and culture, the intersection between British and Ghanian cultures, and the way that Maddie struggled with the name Maame as a way to describe her struggles with the two parts of herself. It so beautifully discusses the experience of so many children of immigration. I definitely recommend you pick this one up!

I loved reading about Maddie’s life as a Ghanaian woman in London navigating the nuances of belonging to both and neither culture simultaneously. She cares for her father with Parkinson’s and I found that storyline very compelling. The story dragged on a bit at times (lots of google searches which were a little weird read aloud) but was overall very enjoyable.

This was my first audiobook, so that could have influenced my enjoyment of the story. However, I thought the narrator was wonderful. Her voice was smooth and soothing throughout.

Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Our protagonist Maddie, a 20-something British girl with Ghanaian parents, struggles to find her place in the world. She’s treated differently among her peers because she’s black, but she also doesn’t feel as connected to her parents’ culture and language as they (specifically her mom) think she should. When Maddie’s mom comes back to London after her half-year in Ghana, Maddie moves out for the first time in her life. On her own, Maddie grapples with loss, grief, friendships, and love.

This was a beautiful, real, sad, and often funny story of identity and self discovery. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC, I loved it!

Absolutely adored this novel! Maame is a wonderful coming of age story about a young woman of 25, who is Ghanaian and lives in London. Maddie is just trying to find her way in the world. Her family life is complicated, (Mom is in Ghana almost all the time, her dad has Parkinson's and her brother is no help.) Maame is a word in Ghanaian that has many meanings but mostly, woman. It's a nickname her Maddie's mother has bestowed upon her but it seems hard to live up to; especially when she is the one taking care of everything. You will fall in love with Maddie and root for her. Also would like to add that the narrator is stellar and her accent is completely charming.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this e-arc.*

what a wonderful and powerful story about grief, family, love and growth!

this book was just as funny as it was heartbreaking. i could see pieces of myself in maddie and her relationships with her family, friends and lovers. i saw myself in her hardships but also in her moments of happiness.

it was wonderful to see her journey, a journey that was beautifully written, of acceptance and self-love.

this was a very special book and i can’t recommend it enough!

thank you to macmillan audio and netgalley for providing me of an audiobook arc in exchange for a honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ARC! Such a beautiful novel about grief, family dynamics, mental health and finding yourself. The narration was excellent and our MC is so engaging. Many times I laughed out loud at the humor and also felt pangs of sadness or anger. This is an incredible novel and I can’t recommend it enough.

Maddie is the primary caregiver for her father, who has Parkinson’s. Her mother is in Ghana, her brother doing his own thing. Yet all she wants is to experience things any normal 25-year-old in London does.

Her mother returns and she gets her chance. Then tragedy hits and she’s forced to deal with her suppressed feelings and pain.

I loved Maddie. Her grief and mental health struggles were raw, and I was cheering for her. This book is told in a stream of consciousness manner, so if you don’t enjoy that, give this a pass.

Maame by Jessica George is a coming of age story about 25 year old Maggie living in London, who has the weight of the world on her shoulders. Even though she is the youngest in her family, she is the sole caregiver of her father who is suffering with Parkinson's. Her mother is in Ghana where she spends alternating years and her brother enjoys the comfort of friends more than his family. Maggie's nickname, Maame (pronounced ma-meh, meaning woman) puts a label on her filled with responsibility and expectations.

Told in first person through Maggie's experiences with grief, heartache, moving out and making friends. Maame is an emotion read about finding one's way through life.

While I really enjoyed Maame as a whole, there is always something about coming of age stories that makes me feel like I want something more. This was a short read, but it is slow at times. This is why I am so thankful to have had the audiobook. Heather Agyepong does a wonderful job with the narration and really brings the story to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have trouble with first-person narrators because they often see other characters as one-dimensional. The narrator of Maame, being in her mid-twenties, is understandably prone to this behavior. I say this to be upfront: I am biased against first-person narration.
I have nothing to add to the summaries of this book, or the praise, which feel accurate. I wonder if, as a child of immigrants (albeit in a very different situation), this book feels "too real" to be interesting to me. Maybe for some readers, the feeling of realness can propel fiction. But to quote a friend, "Reality isn't good enough for fiction."

Maame is a beautiful book about the relationship between Maddie and her father, her grief over his death and her coming to terms with who she is and who she wants to be. Maddie had taken care of her father for the last ten years and when she finally decides to move out and experience life, her father passes away. She is filled with guilt and anger at her mother and brother. This is a wonderful coming of age story, I especially appreciated the courage that it took for Maddie to speak truthfully to her family and begin therapy.

This was a heartfelt and emotional coming of age story featuring a 25 year old British-Ghanian woman trying to figure out life, love and her career. Tasked with caring for her ailing father, who has Parkinson's, Maddie's love life has taken a back-burner. But when her father dies suddenly she tries to prioritize herself more, finding that things are harder than she thought, both in the love and job departments.

I really liked the focus on mental health (Maddie is diagnosed with depression and sees a therapist). I also found her journey very relatable - struggles finding love online dating and finding a meaningful career that doesn't just pay the bills or have her filling some diversity hire quota. Her relationship with her mother is also very complicated and I thought was well done.

Great on audio voiced by new to me narrator, Heather Agyepong. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review. I'd recommend this book for fans of Dolly Alderton's Ghosts or Candice Carty-Williams's Queenie.

Maddie is arriving late to an independent adulthood. She has spent much of her life taking care of her family - financially, physically in the case of her dad, and emotionally. When her mom returns from Ghana to care for dad, Maddie has an opportunity to move out and start her life.

This was Maddie's introduction to life as her own person, beyond her childhood home. All at once she's learning how to live with new roommates, learning to date, and discovering that some people in her workplace aren't who she believed them to be. This is compounded when her father's health abruptly fails and Maddie's mental health is challenged.

These characters are fully brought to life. Some of the relationships are just so deeply flawed. I loved the passages with Maddie's relationship with her mother. The mental health issues were so genuine and I loved the counseling and guidance Maddie receives.

Heather Agyepong was hands down exquisite as the narrator.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very compelling and evocative debut novel from Jessica George. Through 25-year-old Maddie Wright, or “Maame” (woman), the author explores a coming-of-age journey from being her father’s long-time caretaker to living on her own for the first time.

I really liked Maddie’s voice and character. She comes across as incredibly genuine and compassionate, as we see her grappling with her identity throughout the novel. Maddie is Ghanian-born and works through cultural influences and expectations that are placed on her while navigating the modern London scene: work, romantic relationships, friends and her complicated family. Maddie’s first-person perspective shares her experiences of subtle racism through forms of microaggression, as well as how her conditions growing up and subsequent grief led to some very real mental health struggles that she eventually confronts.

Be prepared for a slower-burn novel with this one. It’s a very poignant, humorous and difficult ride with Maddie developing into the “maame” she’s meant to be. I really liked the writing and was invested in Maddie’s character by the end. I absolutely loved the narrator – she completely brought Maddie’s character to life and was SO enjoyable to listen to.

I was left with some mixed feelings on this one overall, but very much appreciated the voice and this point of view being shared. I hope this story will be shared with a wide audience. I think this book will go over particularly well for people that enjoy the slower-paced, character-driven novels. 4/5 Stars.

Jessica George's writing is sneaky heavy. Readable and approachable, it deals with topics like grief, the unequal emotional labor and burdens placed on women in families and relationships, and what it feels like to be a woman in your mid-twenties and to feel like you're falling behind in life. I could related to all of it.

What George really got right was the minutiae of parental loss and the accompanying grief. What most people either don't realize (or fail to mention) about the grieving process is that you still have to go on with your regularly scheduled life in the middle of it. Like, cool, here's me, buying eggs at Trader Joe's on a Sunday morning because I have this humiliating need to feed myself, and I'm surrounded by the forty other people who also decided to come to this Trader Joe's on a Sunday morning, and none of them have any clue the absolute turmoil going on inside my brain. They just see a person buying eggs. It's the loneliest feeling. George was able to render that experience through our main character, Maddie, with great nuance, and I really appreciated it.

4.5⭐️: Maddie is struggling – to say the least. At the age of 25, she is living in London with her father who has Parkinson’s, has a horrible boss who never appreciates, is usually the only Black person in her workplace, and has a nonexistent dating life. Maddie’s parents are immigrants from Ghana and her mom, who is almost always in Ghana managing family business, criticizes everything she does. Maddie feels stuck so when her mom offers to take over the caretaking of her husband, Maddie jumps at the opportunity to leave home. Tragedy follows and Maddie starts questioning everything in her life.
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I loved this book so much. It touches on so many issues about gender, race, societal norms, family expectations, business, grief, being an immigrant, friendship, relationships. It is about a young and insecure woman growing up and learning to be confident and brave. It is about stopping to be a people pleaser and focusing on one’s own pleasures instead.
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Maddie is an extremely loveable character. So many times, throughout the book, I just wanted to give her a big hug. I especially enjoyed reading about Maddie’s relationship (or lack thereof) with her mother and the tension that creates in her everyday life such that whenever something big happens she immediately thinks “what would mom say?”. And the title of the book is so spot on. Maddie’s mother calls her “Maame” which, in their native Twi, means woman, the responsible one, which really defines who she is to her family.
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Yes, the book touches on so many issues, one might even think too many, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming at all. I can already say that for me, this will be a contender for one of the best books of 2023 and I will be recommending it a lot. Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for providing me with the ALC. Full review up in my blog.