Madeleine - or Maame, meaning in the Twi dialect, ´the ´responsible one´ - wants a fresh start, where instead of being the one in charge with her family, she can enjoy her own life. Mid-20s, she set up a list of things she is looking forward to, among which, leaving her family house, having a relationship and trying those things that young people all over the world would love to try at least once.
Set in London, with characters representing the Ghanaian community, Maame the bestseller debut novel of Jessica George, herself of Ghanaian origin, is considered one of the hottest debuts of 2023. As I love to be trend follower sometimes, I wanted to give it a try and although I am proud of resisting until the end of the book, it was only for laziness. I was too lazy to give up the book and continue with something different, although felt not only the this book is not for me, but it´s rather a draft than a finished book.
A bookish person, aiming at a career in publishing, she is obsessively searching on all the possible and impossible Google topics - ´Does a third date mean sex?´ - from real life she happens to stumble upon. A kind of optimist person, she is nevertheless reacting in very clumsy and emotionless ways in situations that may require a kind of human reaction, like when she discovers the love story of her mother who shortly after her father died is looking for solace in the arms of the man that she always loved.
Maame belongs to the recent category of women characters assigned awkward social skills, cartoonish represented but fully unreletable as it may be impossible to survive in real life more than few minutes.
She is made of fragments of fancy glass pieces - like her love for publishing, and books, and woman-in-the making - that may be appealing separately, but once glued together they may simply look like a hectic mosaique of unfulfilled motives.
I wish I love this much appreciated sold for seven figures book, but unfortunately it haven´t made into my list of favorites.
Rating: 2.5 stars
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