Sometimes, a simple review feels insufficient. Where are the skywriters, the megaphones? In the case of Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe (The Knockout Queen), it may be more via shelf-talkers than carnival barkers, but rest assured: this novel is going to make some serious noise. Aside from its excellent pacing and fascinating character work, this book is terrifically smart and plays with perspective through the indelible voice of Margo, a college student surprised by an unplanned pregnancy (the product of a relationship with her married English professor) and an unexpected decision--to become a mother. "I did not have good reasons," Margo explains. "I just wanted that baby. I wanted it more than I'd ever wanted anything." When everything starts to crumble, as of course it must, Margo turns to OnlyFans and the live-in support of her ex-professional-wrestler father, Jinx.
Thorpe uses these elements to execute a brilliant exploration of what is real and what is fake, how the world sees us and how we see ourselves, and what it means to try to control the narrative. It's an exchange on OnlyFans that produces this question: "When you fall in love with a book, is it the character or the author you're falling in love with?" Margo argues that it might be both, but agrees when her fan notes that "only one of them is real." "And the fake one is the only one you get to actually know," she adds. Whether it's Rufi Thorpe or Margo, readers will fall in love with Margo's Got Money Troubles. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian