Have you ever thought about how your narrate your own life?
Do you tell stories to your kids? Family? Friends? Are you a prolific poster on the socials, and if so, how accurate a representation of your life is it? Maybe you are a journalist. Or perhaps you just talk to yourself. And however the manner, is it with purpose or passion? Are you trying to bend reality to your will, or willing a wish into reality?
Katie Yee’s “Maggie; Or a Man and A Woman Walk Into a Bar” is one woman’s account of the end of a marriage and the beginning of a medical journey, narrated solely by the nameless protagonist. Her words take us through her eyes into a world where she is a mother to two young children, a soon-to-be-ex-wife to her philandering husband, a close friend with her college roommate and … a breast cancer patient.
The construct of Yee’s novel is fascinating to me in that we as readers never learn our protagonist’s name. Is it a gift to readers, to be able to name her, much like she does her tumor? For me, the lack of a name in a world where everyone else has one made it possible to get as close as I could to her without the roadblock of an assigned role. (There’s a whole thing going on with names here, you’ll see.)
The protagonist’s thoughts and feelings about being a daughter, a wife and a mother were incredibly rich and well-formed, impactful and accessible. She’s completely relatable, though that’s not to say there weren’t times I wanted to shake her by the shoulders — this character is a well-practiced Stoic, fully immersed in the understanding that she can only control what she can control. If my husband took me out to dinner to tell me he was leaving me for another woman, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have reacted as calmly as our protagonist did. And no — I am not going to meet her for drinks under the presumption I might actually like her. Nope. Not going to happen.
She is a storyteller — not to just us, the readers, but to her children, and mostly, to herself. Remembrances of her childhood, her mother, her burgeoning relationship with her husband and the transition from personhood to motherhood. These anecdotes hit hard and are a reminder of how we indeed lose our hearts to the outside world when kids come into the picture.
I loved this story and these characters will stay with me for a long while. A quick read for anyone looking for a book for the holiday weekend. And spoiler alert — though sad in its nature, also joyful and surprising and ends on a sweet note. Definitely worth picking up.
LitzyDitz 