Maame

Maame is a beautifully-written novel about Maddie Wright, a Ghanaian-British woman who is finally having her “coming-of-age” moment at age 25.

Maddie has always lived quite a sheltered life, with few friends, no real romantic relationships, a job she hates, and acting as the primary caregiver for her father, who has late-stage Parkinson's Disease. With all this weighing on her shoulders, Maddie has never truly lived for herself. When she gets fired from her job, and her mother returns to London from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie finally has the opportunity to experience everything she has been missing out on: a new job in her chosen field of study, romantic relationships, and - most importantly - independence. While things do not go quite as smoothly as she hopes they would, she begins to find her own voice and personal worth while on her journey of growth and self-discovery.

I loved this book so much. Maddie is such a lovable character that you really just want to see her succeed in life, love, everything. As a 1st-gen American-born child of immigrants myself, I really enjoyed how the story explored that feeling of disconnection from two cultures, with no real experience in how to be 100% one or the other. I also appreciated how the story deals with mental health and depression, and how that may impact our daily existence without being something that we even have the capacity to identify within ourselves and acknowledge.

Overall, this was such a fantastic story, with an MC you fall in love with and want the best for. The only reason it was not a 5-star for me was that, as a member of Gen Z, Maddie's naivete sometimes felt a bit forced. But that was my only hangup and it was a teeny, tiny one at that.