Maame

Have you ever written a heartfelt review only to find that when it’s time to share it, it’s been swallowed into the abyss? Yeah, that’s what’s happened here. Funnily enough, it couldn’t have happened with a more fitting book. Maame is a beautiful, messy debut illustrating what happens when life doesn’t go exactly as planned. (*Boom.* Cosmic intervention for myself and my review that took me an hour to write. I’m going to roll with it, my friends.)

Twenty-five year old Maddie is ready for her life to begin. As much as she loves her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s disease, and feels the need to be his primary caregiver (as no other family member is around,) she can’t help but want more out of her twenties. When her mother comes home from her biannual trip to Ghana, she releases Maddie of her caregiving duties. She resolves to be a new Maddie: to say yes to new experiences and after a life of having to be the dutiful daughter, finally throw some caution to the wind. She finds an apartment, dolls herself up, goes out for drinks, and starts dating. It doesn’t take long, however, for the new life she built to come tumbling down. Just as it seems things are seamlessly falling into place, tragedy steps in and knocks her back into a harsh reality.  Maddie’s rose-colored lenses shatter after a series of tumultuous events unfold and she is forced to navigate complicated emotions surrounding a toxic family dynamic, workplace discrimination, racism,the taboo subject of female pleasure,  and a decision threatening to haunt her for the rest of her life.  

Maame is raw and vulnerable; chaotic and beautiful. Based on her own experiences, Jessica George's debut novel is a fresh take on the brilliant highs and harsh lows that accompany stepping into adulthood and learning who you are as a person. I loved how MESSY Maddie’s story is because that’s real. Maddie must learn to trust herself over any Google search, worry less about what she “should” be doing and live by her own moral compass.  

I wanted to hug Maddie and also scream into the abyss with her. I know countless young women will be able to relate to and learn from the experiences of this protagonist.

Growing up is a series of learning and unlearning, beautifully encapsulated in Maame in a humorous and heartwarming way that will keep you transfixed from start to finish.