July 22, 2025
Edelweiss download 6/1/25
Fiction, cultural, ebook, arc,
208 pages
S&S Summit Books
2.5/5
1/8/2026-1/8/2026
I always hesitate when reviewing a book that doesn’t work for me. There are so many things that just didn’t work. It is first person narrative of an unnamed woman. The book description explains the plot of this short novel. I disagree with the claims that it’s “hilarious”, maybe it’s just me.
Her crazed internal dialogue provides a sense of her dry self deprecating humor. But, it’s a stretch to call it “hilarious”. Her husband tells her over dinner at an all-you-can eat Indian restaurant that he is having an affair. She goes down a rabbit hole of wondering about this woman Maggie. She starts to mentally form a Guide for Her Husband offering advice on his likes and quirks. This is sad not funny. There is no processing of the information just a passive acceptance. I get what the author intended but I feel it fell flat.
Then, the story adds to it her diagnosis of breast cancer and decision not to tell Sam. Again, the whole story lacked an emotional connection that might have added humor to her perspective. It felt uncomfortable like laughing at a stranger’s funeral. When you feel a connection with someone it’s easier to see the ironic humor of life’s events.
Also, it was disjointed in regard to her questions about her relationship with her kids. She discusses several times about wanting to write a children’s book. Eventually, she decides to share her Chinese American heritage with her children through the oral history she received from her mother who did from breast cancer. Does she decide to write down all the ancient stories she tells? No, they all dig in the dirt with their hands to plant a tree.
https://www.librarything.com/work/33461541/304300398
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220160852-maggie-or-a-man-and-a-woman-walk-into-a-bar
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