“You are about to begin reading a new book, and to be honest, you are a little tense. The beginning of a novel is like a first date. You hope that from the first lines an urgent magic will take hold, and you will sink into the story like a hot bath, giving yourself over entirely. But this hope is tempered by the expectation that, in reality, you are about to have to learn a bunch of people’s names and follow along politely like you are attending the baby shower of a woman you hardly know. And that’s fine, goodness knows you’ve fallen in love with books that didn’t grab you in the first paragraph”
Margo is a 19 year old girl who feels lost in her life. The daughter of a former Hooters waitress and an ex- pro wrestler who aren’t together anymore, she attends community college and starts an affair with her married professor, Mark. The affair leads to a pregnancy and despite numerous concerns by her mom and high school friend, she decides to keep the baby, even though she knows she will be doing this on her own.
Margo has the baby and as expected, it’s not an easy feat. Her mom is no help and Margo is broke. Her dad shows up on her doorstep and offers to babysit and be a roomate to help with the rent. Jobless and facing eviction, Margo knows she needs to do something drastic and decides to start an OnlyFans account. It takes a while but she starts to make money but Margo discovers that even though she solved her financial problems, there were a whole host of other problems awaiting her.
“I’m just saying,” Jinx said, seemingly more lucid now, “when you’re lost in the deep dark forest, the thing to do isn’t to get scared of the trees. You have to find your way out again.”
This was such an interesting book. The cover art made it seem like it would be a fluff book and although it had a fluff aura, it actually was a book with realistic themes. The book alternates from first person narration to third but it’s mostly from Margo’s point of view. Thorpe does a good job of reminding us that Margo is 19. At various points in the book, I would get so annoyed and wonder why she made certain decisions but then remember how young she was. For example, it is difficult for Margo to see that she was taken advantage of by her professor and still argues that it was a consensual affair.
“And it really makes you wonder: What kind of truth would require this many lies to tell?”
Another thing Thorpe does well is even though the book is full of heavy topics, the book never feels heavy. She also fully fleshes out all the characters so you have a good understanding of them. I think it helped a lot understanding Margo’s mom and dad’s past and gave insight into Margo’s relationship with them. It was amusing to me how her mom stood her ground on not being a hands-on grandma. I did enjoy seeing the evolution of her relationship with her dad.
“It was the word unfit that scared her, a mother who didn’t fit. A mother who wasn’t the right kind of mother like all the other mothers. A mother without a ring, who was too young, who let men look at her body for money.”
One of the interesting parts in the book to me was how people define and see sex work. Even though Margo had an OF account, at many points she had to defend herself saying “I am not having sex with people”. At the end of the day, the book is about a young lady who is lost, made some bad decisions arguably because of how she was raised and is now trying to make the best of the cards she was dealt with. I did this on audio. It was narrated by Elle Fanning and I have to say I wasn’t a fan of her narration even if I understand why she was probably cast. As expected, the book is being turned into a series starring Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman.
Taynement
TwoNightStands 