Well, money is just one of Margo’s many troubles. Her unplanned pregnancy puts her into a pickled vat full of complicated family relationships, roommate issues, legal intrusions, unconventional employment choices and yes, money troubles.
We were all young and dumb when we were 19. But Margo’s problems…and the way that she chooses to solve them provide an endless series of “what would I have done” questions that will keep your book club pretty busy as you discuss this novel.
And we’ll help you get that conversation started with these book club questions for Margo’s Got Money Troubles. This discussion guide has 10 discussion prompts, a synopsis and some selected reviews, all of which can help you explore Margo (and her troubles).
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Margo’s Got Money Trouble Synopsis
(We always chose to provide the publisher synopsis because we feel that it’s worthwhile to discuss whether the official book description actually squared with your experience of the book.)
Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Rufi Thorpe
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.
10 Book Club Questions for Margo’s Got Money Troubles
These questions have been tailored to this book’s specific reading experience, but if you want more ideas, we also have an article with 101 generic book club questions.
- The decision about whether to have an abortion or keep an unwanted pregnancy is a difficult one. It’s also one about which our society does not have consensus. Discuss how the book presents the pros and cons of this difficult choice?
- Suzy and Margo discuss whether OnlyFans makes Margo a slut or whether it’s, as Suzy says, simply a matter of control. Margo then later says, “Even when it came to herself, Margo could see it both ways: hometown girl makes good, defies capitalist patriarchy, or teen whore sells nudes while nursing, too lazy to work.”
Which way do you see it? - Professor Mark claims in class that “You aren’t trying to have a relationship with the character. You are trying to have a relationship with the author through the character.” Later he talks about how characters aren’t real and that they’re simply a tool of the author. Agree? Disagree?
- “It’s true that writing in third person helps me. It is so much easier to have sympathy for the Margo who existed back then, rather than try to explain how and why I did all the things that I did.”
Thorpe uses the third person past tense to break the fourth wall between Margo and the reader. But she also regularly switches back to first person present tense, doing so sometimes multiple times on the same page. What was the author hoping to accomplish by toggling the point of view? - Read the following opening paragraph of Margo’s Got Money Troubles and discuss what in there (if anything) describes your anticipation and expectations as you crack open a new book.
“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. But that doesn’t stop you from wishing they would, from wishing they would come right up to you in the dark of your mind and kiss you on the throat.” - Jinx is caring for Bodhi while also doing Oxy and heroin. Shyanne rats out her daughter to child protective services. Mark abandons both Margo and Bohdi, and then hides behind his mother. Which of the three do you feel the most inclined to throttle?
- Before reading this book, were you aware of OnlyFans? If not, did you open up an incognito browser window and do a search? If so, what kinds of weird ads are now showing up in your social media and browser feed?
- Discuss Margo’s relationship with JB. Would you have invited a “client” to visit you for a real date? Later their relationship veers into a more professional direction at the end of the book. How did you feel about that twist?
- Is Margo a genius businesswoman or is she simply occasionally lucky?
- Pick just ONE and defend it:
– This is a coming of age story?
– This is hilarious and heartwarming
– This is about overcoming the odds
– This is about modern feminism
– This is about sticking to your decisions, even if you aren’t sure about them
– This is about Arbys
Selected Reviews for Margo’s Got Money Troubles
(Use these selected Goodreads reviews to compare with your own experience of the book. Do you agree or disagree with the reviews?)
“So quirky, so funny, so one of a kind: everything these weirdo characters did was unpredictable, and yet somehow they felt so real, and i cared about them and their relationships and their bizarre plans.”
“…Out of nowhere, multiple times, Margo becomes a super savvy businesswoman and makes thousands upon thousands of dollars relatively easy. This is rare and a dangerous message as sw isn’t easy and can take YEARS to buildup anywhere near where Margo gets and the cons of living as a swer for measly money isn’t worth the catastrophic damage as a trade off…”
“…For yes, this is about OnlyFans and TikTok and pro-wrestling. It’s about a 20-year-old single mother, her son the result of an affair with her English professor […] It is also a deeply, agonizingly human story about the judgments we make, the way we try and decide who “deserves” a Good Life.”
“Thorpe spends 50 pages moralizing why abortion is selfish or at least irresponsible, then spends the rest of the book justifying (or not bothering) the main character’s use of her OnlyFans account to make a living as a sex worker. These are both important women’s issues, neither of which are more pious or deserving than the other. Thorpe is sending some convoluted, and some downright bad messages to the young women who will read this book. I find the narrative didactic and obtuse. Is this what passes for white feminism in 2024?”
What to Read Next for Book Club
If you loved this book, then check out our list of books like Margo’s Got Money Trouble.
If you’re keen on more books featuring humor and women who are just trying to make their way in the world under difficult circumstances check out our discussion guides for Lessons in Chemistry and Nothing to See Here. Each guide has a non-spoiler synopsis toward the top of the page. And if you’ve already read and loved Lessons in Chemistry, we’ve also got a list of more books like it.
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