The Stats
- 304 pages
- Published 2024
- Literary Fiction, Humor
- Pregnancy
- Substance Abuse
Margo’s Got money Troubles SYNOPSIS
In Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Margo is a nineteen-year-old college student when her English professor takes a special interest in her. Unlike anything she’s ever felt before, his attention is rare and personal. Although she loves her parents, her father’s popped in and out of her life more times than a whack-a-mole–married to another woman and with a whole other family, he’s had no choice; and Margo’s mother has relied entirely on her body and inconsistent relationships to support the home. So, Margo’s first real relationship feels normal to her. Sure, she realizes that her English professor is already married and he’s probably not going to leave his wife…and she knows the ten-year age gap is a little much, but a girl can hope, right?
After six short weeks, Margo is pregnant and her affair with her English professor is suddenly over. He wants nothing to do with her or her child. But a small piece of her hopes, what if this is her chance? What if this is the price she pays for unconditional love? for family, once and for all? Margo finds herself going through with the pregnancy, giving birth to her baby boy, and then turning to work on a cam site to support herself once she realizes how hard parenting really is, because frankly, well…Margo’s got Money Troubles. But even when her retired pro-wrestler dad shows up at her front door, and her strange little family seems to be on the cusp of everything she’d hoped to build for herself, Margo learns that no human love is unconditional–she’ll have to learn how to love herself first.
REVIEW
This is my first Rufi Thorpe book, and it’s clear to see why she is a PEN/Faulkner finalist. Beyond the actual content of this book, one of the techniques that I have to point out here is that Thorpe switches POV often, sometimes throughout chapters and targeting the reader by breaking the fourth wall. Here’s a good blog post explaining what breaking the fourth wall means if you’re not familiar with the term. Margo addresses the reader directly, which both pulls the reader into the story, but it also gives the reader a sense of empathy for her. As the story’s written in past tense, the reader feels a certain comradery in the things we’ve all gone through in our early twenties when we were young and dumb and didn’t realize how difficult the world was. Using this device throughout the novel really gives Thorpe (and Margo) an edge that helps readers connect with the character and makes Margo more dynamic as she grows and changes.
I also really appreciated how realistically the book looked at real-life issues. Margo struggles with some serious things that she would deal with if she were, you know, not fictional. A huge issue she goes through at the beginning of the story is dealing with childcare. She struggles with finding someone to watch her son, Bodhi, so that she can work to pay her bills–but she’s nursing, which complicates things, and she works at a bar at night, when daycares aren’t open. Plus, when she can find childcare, it’s so expensive in California that she can’t pay her rent–which is why she ends up turning to a particular cam site. Which, let’s be real, even without a kid, we’ve probably all thought about at some point or another.
There’s, of course, an ethical dilemma about posting photos of yourself online, which the book explores, and I think Thorpe navigated Margo’s journey through her attachment difficulties with her mom splendidly. There’s also a substantial amount of substance abuse mentioned throughout the novel, and it’s clear that the author has some experience about the epidemic of pain pills turning to abuse, told through Jinx’s character. It was written beautifully and educationally in a way that I hope will inform readers who aren’t aware of how problematic the American medical system can be.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So, what brings me to the half-star loss? Because, realistically, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a five-star read. It is an EXCELLENT book, and I do highly recommend it especially to those that that are going through that crunchy time in their lives where rotting on the couch happens more than we’d like to admit (and let’s be real, sometimes we just need to).
I think an issue for me was the ending. Margo and JB’s relationship was a little clean for my taste. While I won’t get into too many details here for the sake of spoilers, I do think that the relationship likely would have been characterized by more of her attachment issues in real life, especially given what we know about her relationship with her parents. There’s no WAY that she casually lets messages slide for days between answering, she’s definitely going to be anxiously attached. I also think that we needed more reasoning for why she decided to leave the relationship the way she did with JB (again, no spoilers right here) as I didn’t feel this was characteristic for her.
I did like that Margo had some kind of resolutions towards the end–whether her ending was realistic or not, I feel like she deserved that upswing. And honestly, I’ve heard of OF creators making twenty times what she was making, so maybe it’s not unrealistic after all. Though, I am curious whether other readers feel she would continue to work on the site in conjunction with future endeavors, or whether as her child gets older, she would quit the platform and build another career for herself. If you’ve read the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this below.
Want to read more? Check out these recommendations!
The September House by Carissa Orlando
Whispers of Doom by John Gwynne
A House with Good Bones by T Kingfisher