By: Rufi Thorpe
Narrator: Elle Fanning
HarperAudio
ISBN: 9780063356580
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 06/11/2024
Format: Other
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
“An audacious, wildly funny, completely unpredictable novel by a writer so singular that it’s hard to compare her to anyone else . . . absolutely brilliant.” —Kevin Wilson
A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman’s attempt to navigate adulthood, new motherhood, and her meager bank account in our increasingly online world—from the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of The Knockout Queen.
As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet's always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.
Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?
Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.
My Review
Rufi Thorpe dazzles readers with her latest, MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES, in this witty, heartwarming, yet honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your narrative.
This is an empowering coming-of-age portrait of a young working-class mother struggling financially, broke, and pregnant, with little assistance from others, doing what she must to survive. The author cleverly brings heart, soul, and humor as the main character (highly relatable) and supporting characters come alive on the page.
Read before watching: book to screen!
About...
Margo is raised by a single mother who works at Bloomingdales and, prior to this, at Hooters. She is in college and has an affair with her (married English professor Mark) with children for six weeks and becomes pregnant. He wants nothing to do with the baby and informs her to get an abortion, as well as her mother.
Her mother is of little help. She is too interested in some preacher guy and wants nothing to do with a pregnant daughter and grandson.
Margo decides to keep the baby. She has a baby boy, Bodhi, and tries to bring him home to a house full of teen roommates. With the baby crying, they cannot study, and all leave her holding the rent on her own. She is a waitress but cannot hold on to the job and take care of a baby even trying her best. How will she work, attend college, and take care of a baby on her own?
Her estranged dad, Jinx (a former pro wrestler and heroin addict), shows up and moves in with her to help with the baby and help with the rent. This encounter gives her a chance to get to know her father. So funny!
However, things are tight financially, and Margo is resourceful. She is twenty years old, unemployed, alone, and needs cash. She starts an OnlyFans account with subscribers (we see the highs and lows), and her dad helps her with the tax stuff and other advice. She begins making money and has time for her young son. Her dad is a big help with the baby.
Margo enjoys the work and quickly gains subscribers, but her popularity brings trouble when Bodhi’s father learns what she’s up to and disapproves, leading to a fight for custody.
From Mark to her mom and stepdad, someone turns her into social services. Now they are threatening to take away her son. But she is smarter than they give her credit. With social services on her back, the baby's dad, drug screening for her dad, and other issues with her line of work, she risks losing her son.
However, Margo is resilient and tenacious and fights back with legalities and resources that help her fight to keep her son for a great ending!
My thoughts...
Hilarious, hopeful, wise, tender, and heartwarming.
MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES is hilarious, and you will root for her until the end. I enjoyed her unconventional relationship with her dad and her love for her son in a world where things get crazy and complex with a desperate need to survive.
Innovative, clever, and quirky.
This story will teach you not to judge until you walk in someone else's shoes. Margo is an unforgettable heroine! Way to go.
I loved the author's take on life and how things cannot always be perfect. Life is hard and messy. It is about understanding your rights and fighting for what you want, and there is no shame in having an OnlyFans account.
A blending of motherhood, family drama, and coming of age with a literary twist. Readers will adore and highly recommend it— full of humor, heart, and thought-provoking. Wildly entertaining!
Recs...
This is for fans of the author, Kevin Wilson, Sally Hepworth, Dan Chaon, Fredrik Backman, Elizabeth Berg, Lou Berney, David Nicholls, Sara Westover, and Jeannette Walls.
Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy for review purposes.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: June 11, 2024
Praise
A Most Anticipated Book by The New York Times• Vulture • TODAY • Bustle • Real Simple • Goodreads • Literary Hub • Publishers Weekly • Shelf Awareness . . . and more!
“Exuberant . . . Terrific characters, rich worldbuilding, deep thoughts about fiction and morality, a love story, and a happy ending.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Tender and offbeat. . . Thorpe infuses the portrayal of Margo and Jinx’s relationship with sweetness, and she makes Margo a character to root for as the young mother learns how to support herself with help from her unconventional family. Once this gets its hooks into the reader, it doesn’t let go.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Simultaneously irreverent and earnest, Thorpe analyzes contradicting social mores in an immersive and thoroughly entertaining way. Margo’s charming voice is the perfect vehicle for modeling the power gained by fashioning your own story in defiance of the criticism and dictates of others.”
— Booklist
“Deeply funny, thoughtful, riveting.”
— Emily Gould, Vulture
“In turns funny and moving, daring and satisfying, but above else, relentlessly charming—that rare book about storytelling that also tells a good story.“
— Emily Temple, Literary Hub
"Margo’s Got Money Troubles is an audacious, wildly funny, completely unpredictable novel by a writer so singular that it's hard to compare her to anyone else. Rufi Thorpe writes wildness so well, the messiness of the choices we make, the strange ways we bend and twist ourselves to accommodate those choices, and she does it with the rare qualities of tenderness and empathy. An absolutely brilliant book."
— Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here
“A hilarious novel about making the most of what you’ve got. Sharp and funny by turns, this is an exceptionally tender look at young motherhood and love that also involves professional wrestling, and yes, OnlyFans. I gobbled it up.”
— Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow
"A thrilling, uproarious, and above all affirming exploration of one young woman's fight to make it in a world that's rooting against her. Margo is an unforgettable heroine, so real she walked right off the page and into my heart."
— Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit
"Long after the last page of Margo’s Got Money Troubles, I think of certain lines and bust out laughing. In public. This novel is damn funny, but also touching and smart and surprising and beguiling and just completely bad ass. Rufi Thorpe is truly one of one!"
— Deesha Philyaw, award-winning author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
“Rufi Thorpe is one of the most talented and daring novelists at work today. Thorpe takes a young, single mother's desperation and weaves from it a madcap, remarkable family of misfits. Margo’s Got Money Troubles is just so good: the humor, the pathos, the redemption—every sentence, every twist of plot is wildly original and unexpected. When has such a lovable heroine ever been created? Reading Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a joy; you will fall in love on page one.”
— Stephanie Danler, New York Times bestselling author of Sweetbitter
“When I finished it, I couldn’t quite believe it was over, that is how much I was completely rapt by Margo’s Got Money Troubles. A brilliantly unique story, fallible and lovable characters and moments so human and hilarious that I laughed out loud multiple times. I can’t quite believe this is only the first book I’ve read by Rufi Thorpe, because after reading her latest novel, it’s clear that I need to go back and read everything she’s ever written. She is a genius, after all.”
— Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us
“I cannot stop telling people about this weird and wonderful gem of a book. It’s so completely different than anything I’ve ever read. … This book was so singular and full of heart and I fell hard for both the titular Margo and her father, Jinx. If nothing else, read it for the last line alone, which FLOORED me. My prediction is this will be the Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow of 2024, so if that’s your jam, get in on the ground floor.”
— Book Enthusiast
About the Author
Photo by Leyna Ambron
Rufi Thorpe is the author of The Knockout Queen, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award; Dear Fang, with Love; and The Girls from Corona del Mar, which was long-listed for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. A native of California, she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons. WEBSITE
