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<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never felt like a therapist to a fictional character before, but Maggie made this experience possible. She entered my reading life, made herself comfortable and for the next several hours relayed each and every thought and trouble of her first year as a divorcee.<\/p>\n
About Maggie<\/h2>\n
Her husband is divorcing her. She\u2019s devastated. For years her life orbited around her family only, but now her husband is swooshed away by a midlife crisis, and her adult kids have their own lives. She\u2019s lost, confused and grieving. She doesn\u2019t feel noticed or needed. The last time she did feel noticed was when she was thirty (hence the title).<\/p>\n
Maggie is mainly fixating on<\/p>\n
- \n
- why her husband left her. Was it her body? Was it his work? Was it the way she kissed? Was it the was she didn\u2019t kiss?<\/li>\n
- what others think about her. Do they notice her? Who noticed her? Why did they notice her?<\/li>\n
- what she did to others. How could she? Could she? Was it ok then? Is it ok now?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Maggie is full of doubts, whether she\u2019s in Rome, or in a new house, or at work. Her mind is full of \u201cmaybes\u201d. Here\u2019s what it looks like:<\/p>\n
\n
\u2026maybe he, like I, was bereft over our children leaving home.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
Maybe he really had changed\u2026 Maybe we both had.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
Maybe it was not the autumn of my romantic life. Maybe there was some spring left in me after all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
But maybe, I thought – just maybe – \u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
So you did, Maggie. There are 112 \u201cmaybes\u201d (on 254 pages).\u00a0 <\/span>And I haven\u2019t even calculated all instances of \u201cprobably\u201d and \u201cperhaps\u201d. Maggie is full of uncertainties and she knows it.<\/p>\n
I know I’m overanalyzing it, but that’s kind of what I do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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<\/p>\nThe only breathers happen when Maggie is having conversations with somebody other than herself. But even then, for god knows what reason, Maggie interrupts the dialogues in order to inform us what a cup looks like, or how many dandelions she has picked already.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nAnything about the book?<\/h2>\n
No, there\u2019s NO book! There\u2019s no plot! It\u2019s a year in a woman\u2019s life during which she takes a trip, talks to her kids, meets friends, makes some changes. Sometimes she goes shopping, sometimes she tries new make-up. She changes her hair colour (oh no, is this a spoiler?\u00a0\ud83d\ude31 ) She cuts tomatoes. In fact, when I was 94 percent into the book and Maggie was still just cutting tomatoes, I braced myself for the book to end on her picking up a cucumber to cut next. Thankfully, it ended on a nice closure of one major question. I\u2019m glad that was the moment I last saw Maggie, and that I didn’t have to say goodbye to her when she was just making a salad.<\/p>\n
Final thoughts about Maggie<\/h2>\n
Maggie is the only reason I\u2019m giving this text two stars. I like her, even though she often sounds like a friend who gets drunk and then goes on and on about her ex. Maggie is still fun. She can joke. She would make a good book reviewer!<\/p>\n
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Jean [Maggie\u2019s friend] has shelves full of apocalyptic-type novels. Some of them are strangely good, though the main takeaway is that if you manage to survive the beginning of the end of time, your reward is prolonged misery, and maybe the occasional roll in the hay with some survivor who\u2019s even more screwed up than you are.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Would I recommend meeting Maggie?<\/h2>\n
If you are looking for an imaginary friend, but the one who wouldn\u2019t really be there for you and instead would need you to be there for her, then you will love meeting Maggie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"