The kind of weird horror I like. Won't be for everyone, I certainly considered DNFing it a few times, but then something weird would occur and it would suck me back in. 

Got me out of an audiobook slump, that's for sure!

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Libro.FM for ARC and ALC. 

Maddie, also called Maame by her mother, is a 25 year old who has spent the last eight years being the caretaker of the family even though she's the youngest. Her mother spends half of her time in Ghana - only calling Maddie when she needs money wired to her, her brother is doing who knows what in the same city Maddie lives in, and her father has advanced Parkinson's. 

As Maddie takes care of her father while juggling a PA job at a theatre company, she wants more. When her mom comes back from Ghana and suddenly decides Maddie needs to move out and be independent, Maddie must learn who she is without being a caretaker and catch up with what other women her age know about romantic relationships and friendships. 

Maddie makes a list of things she wants to tackle and sets out on her journey to find herself. 

I found Maame compelling and at times laugh out loud funny. Coming of age stories do not always work for me, but following Maddie's journey of finding her voice and confidence was refreshing. 

Hoping this one is still sitting in my top ten by the end of 2023. 

This is my first read from Dani Shapiro, and while I've heard great things on her other works, it may be the only one I pick up. 

Pulled right from the synopsis, I would like to examine the following, a "riveting, deeply felt novel that examines the ties that bind families together."

I do not think Shapiro was successful in sharing the how exactly the secrets from one night shattered lives and bound a families together. The idea and the writing had a lot of potential, but it all fell flat for me. 

Each story line and character felt unfinished and underdeveloped. There was no real examination of the ties that bound Ben, Theo, Mimi, and Sarah together, it was just jumbled timeline jumps.

We don't know what drove Theo to go off on his own or what drove Sarah in her actions in her marriage. We found out more about Waldo and his love for constellations and Waldo's dad than the all of the first characters we were introduced to. 

Nothing was riveting (completely engrossing; compelling.), nothing. While this was a quick read, there was nothing that made me feel engrossed in the plot or with the characters. Shapiro spent more time developing the Shenkman family and not enough time developing the Wilfs, whom we were supposed to be examining. 


Things that would've helped my reading experience:
- at least one chapter from Misty's POV 
- less time with Waldo, more time with Theo and Sarah 
-expansion on the why behind some actions from Theo, Sarah, and Ben
- more time spent with Mimi before her diagnosis

and who is Misty Zimmerman?

Well that's a secret Dani Shapiro will never tell. 

xoxo, you know you love me 
Mal