Margo's Got Money Troubles: A Novel

I went looking for a stupid, silly, trashy book to read. And the blurb for this fit the description. But holy hell it over performed. I have just finished, and I am DELIGHTED. That was DELIGHTFUL. That wasn’t the stupid book I expected. That was fun, and depressing, and silly, and stressful, gorgeous, unexpected, complex and I was SO SO WORRIED for them. And I am so happy with that ending. Expect I would like to keep reading this forever please.

I think I paused while reading at least six times to message or speak to someone and tell them about this book because it was just so good. Unfortunately there really isn’t a simple way to describe the plot without it sounding silly and trashy but THANKFULLY there are PLENTY of people like me in the world who might come looking for trash, and find this wonderful treasure. I’m not even mad at myself for writing that sappy sentence just then, because I’m still so delighted by this book.

This book made me fall in love with Thorpe's storytelling all over again. When I finished, my urge was to turn back to the beginning and start reading again. She is a master-crafter, combining a compelling story with twists in narrative form that enhance meaning. Personally, this is my favorite of her books. There are so many nuggets of wisdom, but it's also a page-turner that will keep you awake reading under the covers. I found the arc of the main character particularly pertinent. You will be entertained, and you will learn something about the world, and that is what good fiction is all about!

Being I am in my sixties I really didn’t think I could get into a book about Only Fans. However, I’m still a contemporary woman. This story is about so much more than that. It’s shows a flawed and decent young woman traveling through her young adult life having to make some tough decisions. In the end the story shows an intelligent, strong and empathetic woman who is making a good life for herself and not judging herself so harshly. We are mostly all doing the best we can do.

This definitely wasn't The Knockout Queen, but Margo proved another strong vessel for Thorpe's way with dark, razor sharp humor. I found the book enjoyable without ever getting lost in it, and though the story was charming I found the prose strangely dense, with an odd insistence on keeping the proceedings upbeat. I kept putting the book down as it never drew me in fully. I sensed struggle in the writing process to uncover a story, and I sensed struggle in the editorial process to draw out and sustain a plot.

Margo makes a somewhat raggedy decision to keep a baby at 20 years old after having an affair with her college professor - and then has no idea how to take care of it and afford her existence as a new mom. The book picks up momentum after CPS and her baby's biological father get involved once Margo finds success with OnlyFans, but while the book itself is wholly likeable, many of the characters were either too thinly sketched or unbelievable. The college professor was SO spineless, Margo's mother was SO awful, her pro wrestling dad was SO well-meaning, the love interest was SO hunky and perfect...it was like Thorpe picked a single adjective for every character and ran away with them. At times, the voice was outright cloying it was distracting, which I never found in Thorpe's writing before.

Ultimately, the book just didn't have a tight enough storyline to really make it something special. I also (and this is a first) hated the font used for the text and disliked the maniacal, sloppy cover art, just none of the production choices seemed to do this novel any favors. Everything kept pushing me away.

A good litmus test to see if Margo is for you is to flip to the end and read the acknowledments first. They are so whacked out and overlong and hyperbolic, I couldn't tell if they were brilliant, the best acknowledgments ever written, or if Thorpe had done like...six lines of coke before banging them out. Like much of the book.