Quick Synopsis

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.

Publisher’s Synopsis

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. 

Book Review

I did not originally plan to read Margo’s Got Money Troubles. After reading the synopsis, I decided to forgo this novel because it sounded stressful. Unplanned pregnancy, money issues, eviction, etc. plot lines just sounded too much like upsetting parts of life, when I want books to escape into. However, a friend’s review dissuaded me of the notion that Margo’s Got Money Troubles was a bleak or saturnine.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a contemporary fiction, coming-of-age novel about a young woman named Margo who finds herself pregnant and alone facing eviction. After her former WWE wrestler father moves in, Margo realizes that she too can squeak out a living by creating a persona and performing… on OnlyFans. Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a story about embracing life’s messy moments and enjoying the journey no matter the bumps in the road.

As I mentioned, I was skeptical about Margo’s Got Money Troubles because the major plot points sounded like the events of my nightmares. However, I only really felt a bit stressed during the beginning when Margo was seeing her professor. For the majority of the novel, I was delighted at the growth of Margo’s makeshift found-family. Rufi Thorpe excelled in balancing serious topics with humor and levity. I was surprised at how quietly philosophical the novel is. Thorpe sprinkled tidbits of wisdom about life and the world throughout the book’s pages. I loved her outrageously funny yet honest takes.

There were moment in Margo’s Got Money Troubles to which any woman could relate. For example, I have never related more to anything in a book as I did to Margo’s description of the (always traumatic) transvaginal ultrasound. In addition, Margo’s moment at church felt like some horrible realization I have similarly had. Despite never having experienced many of the events of the book, I thought Margo’s story transversed the pages and were universally relatable to women in this world.

Thorpe’s writing was definitely a highlight of Margo’s Got Money Troubles. I will try my best to describe it, but I do not think I can do it justice. Thorpe’s prose has so much personality that it oozes from the pages. Her descriptions are very accurate and on point but also quietly hilarious. Thrope’s composition transformed a story of unfortunate events into an utterly charming and brilliant book.

Overall, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a delightful novel that will warm your heart and make you laugh. I highly recommend it as it will be one of my top books of 2024. I liked it so much that I ordered Rufi Thorpe’s previous novel The Knockout Queen.

Rating

Overall Rating

Writing

Plot

Character Development