Publishers Weekly
04/08/2024
Thorpe (The Knockout Queen) returns with a tender and offbeat story of sex work and teen parenthood. Margo, 19, gets pregnant by her college English professor, who, along with her mother, wants her to have an abortion. She has the baby anyway and struggles to keep up with rent before reaching out to her father, Jinx, a retired professional wrestler and heroin addict who wasn’t around for much of her childhood. It turns out Jinx has recently left rehab and needs a place to live, so he moves in and helps Margo take care of the baby, whom she’s named Bodhi. With Jinx watching Bodhi, Margo finds time to explore online sex work. She briefs Jinx, with whom she has a candid relationship, on her new income stream, and he reluctantly offers advice on her OnlyFans account. 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. 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. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary Management. (June)Correction: A previous version of this review mischaracterized Jinx’s reaction to learning about Margo’s OnlyFans account.
From the Publisher
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
"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
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-02-17
A college freshman finds out that everyone was right: Her decision to have her English professor’s baby really does ruin her life. Until it doesn’t.
“I’d learned about the terms first person, third person, and second person in high school, and I’d thought that was all there was to point of view until I met Bodhi’s father in the fall of 2017.” Not for nothing does Margo’s journey into motherhood begin in English class, as she switches back and forth between third and first all the way through the book, using third for distance from her cringier mistakes. The elevator pitch for Thorpe’s fourth novel—as exuberant as the first three—is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow with online porn instead of video games. Really! It’s a story of friendship, love, and family set in a different part of the big world of cyber-storytelling. Shortly after Bodhi is born, Margo finds she can’t afford the child care necessary to hold on to her waitressing job. Then two of her three roommates move out in response to infant wailing, and she has to find a source of income fast. She ends up posting pictures on OnlyFans, a subscription-based porn site. “Lonely, hot girl in financial freefall, please help me make rent this month....If you want to find out what Pokémon your dick most resembles and what attacks it might have, send me a $20 tip and I’ll provide a full write-up.” Turns out she is very good at this. Further help with the rent comes when her father, Jinx, a wrestling world icon, comes fresh from rehab to move in and help her with the baby, and then she reaches out to OnlyFans viral stars WangMangler and SucculentRose, who have much to teach. Just as she’s beginning to get it together, the English teacher does a complete 180—instead of wanting nothing to do with Bodhi, he’s now demanding full custody. The title is the only bad thing about this book.
Terrific characters, rich worldbuilding, deep thoughts about fiction and morality, a love story, and a happy ending.
