Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

This is a highly improbably and thoroughly enjoyable tale of a young girl who is the picture of a young thing who has no conception of what is happening to her and the consequences of the choices she makes until they are upon her. When we meet Margo she is a 20 years old about to give birth to a baby boy. The father is her junior college English professor, a man who is exactly who you would expect in the situation--a terrible husband who preys upon his students, although he would deny it. Everyone in Margo’s orbit has begged her not to have the baby. She doesn’t listen, following her heart instead, a decision full of stubbornness and naiveté. Of course she drops out of college but she begins by being sure she can raise her son, Bodhi, alone while living with a gaggle of roommates in Southern California. She cannot, at least not easily. She gets no help from the professor, of course, and his mother tries to buy her off. Margo’s mother, Shyanne, a former Hooters waitress who is now a sales associate at Bloomingdale’s, won’t take time off to help and probably shouldn't be trusted with another child. Margo’s father, Jinx, a WWE Hall of Fame wrestler turned manager who was never around because he too fathered a child while married to another, is absent. Until he isn’t. A few weeks after Bodhi’s birth, there is Jinx at Margo’s door. In leather pants, with a heavy history of heroin and opioid addiction, he is not the babysitter Margo is expecting, but he’s fully at ease taking care of Bodhi. And so begins the very unusual plan to make enough money for all of them to do a little bit better than survive. This was a very fun read with a bit of a serious underbelly to boot. Don't miss it.