Oh my goodness!! You know how sometimes you read a book and you see yourself on the pages, this is exactly what reading Maame was for me; never mind the fact that I am a 45 year old, white, Jewish, American woman and Maddie is a 25 year old Ghanaian British woman. I saw myself from my early twenties loud and clear, and it was eye opening.
Maddie (her mother affectionately calls her Maame [Mah-meh], Ghanaian for woman) is the sole caretaker for her ailing Dad. While an aid does come in a few times a week, most of it falls to Maddie, and thus at 25, she is still living at home, working at a job she hates, and hasn’t been in a relationship. When her mother comes home for an extended period of time, Maddie moves out to start her life. As scary as it is, she figures out who she is amongst trials and tribulations. Watching the growth Maddie went through was truly spectacular. Jessica George had written a masterpiece of a book. She has left her heart (and probably some tears) on the paper, but she has created a character and story that nearly everyone can relate to in one way or another.
I knew this had a bunch of accolades going into this and I’m happy to say it definitely lives up to all the hype.