Shakespeare’s Juliet famously contemplated, “What’s in a name?” and though she might have concluded that names fail to mirror any intrinsic qualities of an individual, the protagonist of Jessica George’s compassionate debut novel, Maame, is aware of higher. Dubbed “Maame” by her mom as a child, Madeline Wright has struggled with the burden of her nickname her total life. The seemingly innocuous five-letter Twi phrase is heavy with a number of meanings: “the responsible one,” “the mother,” “the woman.”
Now in her 20s, Maddie believes that her life in London has effectively and really stalled. In order to maintain her household afloat, she works as a private assistant, performing soul-crushing drudge work in workplaces the place she is usually the one Black individual. When she’s not at work, she cares for her father, who has Parkinson’s illness, as a result of her mom spends most of the yr again in Ghana, solely checking in to ask for cash or hound Maddie about when she plans on getting married. Maddie’s older brother isn’t round and infrequently takes her calls. So on the tender age of 25, Maddie has by no means had intercourse, nonetheless lives at dwelling and finds herself questioning if her mom’s pet identify was meant as a time period of endearment or a curse.
When her mom unexpectedly returns to England, Maddie takes the prospect to stretch her wings, fly the nest and reinvent herself. With lots of rising pains alongside the best way, Maddie navigates flat-sharing, new friendships, on-line relationship and intercourse, racism, profession modifications and grief. Slowly, she transforms from a sheltered woman who had maturity prematurely thrust upon her into a lady of her personal making.
Masterfully balancing comedy, tragedy and tenderness, Maame is a nuanced and highly effective coming-of-age story. George candidly captures the false begins, heartbreak and awkwardness of early maturity with empathy and a crucial dose of humor. Maddie simply joins the best ranks of memorable and lovable “hot mess” characters. Like Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones, Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie Jenkins and Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant earlier than her, Maddie is an effective reminder that by means of all of life’s hardships, we might be the authors of our personal comfortable endings, and it’s by no means too late to turn out to be who you may need been.
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