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Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar
Not yet published
Expected 22 Jul 25A Chinese American woman spins tragedy into comedy when her life falls apart in a taut, wry debut novel that grapples with grief, motherhood, and myths—perfect for fans of Joan Is Okay and Crying in H Mart.
A man and a woman walk into a restaurant. The woman expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie.
A short while after, her chest starts to ache. She walks into an examination room, where she finds out the pain in her breast isn’t just heartbreak—it’s cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie.
Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing, and reclamation. She starts talking to Maggie (the tumor), getting acquainted with her body’s new inhabitant. She overgenerously creates a “Guide to My A User’s Manual� for Maggie (the other woman), hoping to ease the process of discovering her ex-husband’s whims and quirks. She turns her children’s bedtime stories into retellings of Chinese folklore passed down by her own mother, in an attempt to make them fall in love with their shared culture—and to maybe save herself in the process.
In the style of Jenny Offill and the tradition of Nora Ephron’s hilarious and devastating writing on heartbreak and womanhood, Maggie is a master class in transforming personal tragedy into a form of defiant comedy.
A man and a woman walk into a restaurant. The woman expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie.
A short while after, her chest starts to ache. She walks into an examination room, where she finds out the pain in her breast isn’t just heartbreak—it’s cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie.
Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing, and reclamation. She starts talking to Maggie (the tumor), getting acquainted with her body’s new inhabitant. She overgenerously creates a “Guide to My A User’s Manual� for Maggie (the other woman), hoping to ease the process of discovering her ex-husband’s whims and quirks. She turns her children’s bedtime stories into retellings of Chinese folklore passed down by her own mother, in an attempt to make them fall in love with their shared culture—and to maybe save herself in the process.
In the style of Jenny Offill and the tradition of Nora Ephron’s hilarious and devastating writing on heartbreak and womanhood, Maggie is a master class in transforming personal tragedy into a form of defiant comedy.
208 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication July 22, 2025
15 people are currently reading
4,093 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 10, 2025
I only give these coveted 5 stars to a book that captures my attention and evokes emotion (or a head-scratch) with unique/creative ideas or prose, creates characters and storylines that stay with me for a long time, and spurs me to tell all my friends to read it. Maggie hit all these marks for me! So impressed with this debut novel -- following Katie Yee from here on out.
Outside of the title (hoping it may change before publication to be less unwieldy?), I was a fan of everything else in this book. It handled really tough life gauntlets -- infidelity, divorce, cancer, raising bi-racial children, class inequalities -- so adeptly with sincerity and thoughtfulness but also humor and optimism. An untold number of times, observations from the main character hit spot on to things I'd witnessed or seen in my own life without giving a second thought to; I kept thinking, "Damn, how have I NEVER thought of that??" Each relationship had its own evolution with the simultaneously vulnerable and strong lead character be it with a cheating husband, ice-cold MIL, dear friend, a tree-obsessed son or inquisitive daughter.
My takeaway from this one: Life can come at you REAL hard all at once, but if you lean on yourself and those people who truly care about you, you can make it through better than you were -- even if it means reconstructing yourself or the life you thought you had ahead of you into something completely new and different. Also, F%&K Maggie.
****Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for advanced access to this book in exchange for my unbiased review.
Outside of the title (hoping it may change before publication to be less unwieldy?), I was a fan of everything else in this book. It handled really tough life gauntlets -- infidelity, divorce, cancer, raising bi-racial children, class inequalities -- so adeptly with sincerity and thoughtfulness but also humor and optimism. An untold number of times, observations from the main character hit spot on to things I'd witnessed or seen in my own life without giving a second thought to; I kept thinking, "Damn, how have I NEVER thought of that??" Each relationship had its own evolution with the simultaneously vulnerable and strong lead character be it with a cheating husband, ice-cold MIL, dear friend, a tree-obsessed son or inquisitive daughter.
My takeaway from this one: Life can come at you REAL hard all at once, but if you lean on yourself and those people who truly care about you, you can make it through better than you were -- even if it means reconstructing yourself or the life you thought you had ahead of you into something completely new and different. Also, F%&K Maggie.
****Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for advanced access to this book in exchange for my unbiased review.
February 13, 2025
Thank you to Summit and Netgalley for the read.
A funny and tragic character driven novel. This tragicomedy lands through it's short sections and narrative POV pacing. The jokes never stay past their welcome nor are they forced when they come along and here we have an well-crafted and edited story that turns toward the established and chosen families we have to get through the roughest of times. A charming debut that shows the wit and heart of Katie Yee's storytelling.
A funny and tragic character driven novel. This tragicomedy lands through it's short sections and narrative POV pacing. The jokes never stay past their welcome nor are they forced when they come along and here we have an well-crafted and edited story that turns toward the established and chosen families we have to get through the roughest of times. A charming debut that shows the wit and heart of Katie Yee's storytelling.
March 10, 2025
Absolutely everything I want in a book. This was so good!
You follow a FMC figuring out her stand in life through divorce, motherhood, health issues, friends & so on. The way the author sucks you into each line is impeccable. 💖 I loved seeing the little folktales told in between the main story when she is putting her children to bed. It encouraged me to start adding my own flavor to bedtime stories w my kiddo!
If this FMC was a real person, I would whole heartedly try being her friend, she’s 1000% my vibe.
Thank you NetGalley, the author, & publishers for this ARC!
You follow a FMC figuring out her stand in life through divorce, motherhood, health issues, friends & so on. The way the author sucks you into each line is impeccable. 💖 I loved seeing the little folktales told in between the main story when she is putting her children to bed. It encouraged me to start adding my own flavor to bedtime stories w my kiddo!
If this FMC was a real person, I would whole heartedly try being her friend, she’s 1000% my vibe.
Thank you NetGalley, the author, & publishers for this ARC!
November 25, 2024
Impeccable vibes. Hilarious, sad, strange, unhinged, and so well-observed. I highlighted so many lines because they described things I've felt and lived with such perfection, I was almost envious - how did the author come up with such a delicious, succinct framing! I read this book really quick with a mixture of loling and cringing and screaming - like I said, impeccable vibes. May we all have Darlenes in our life. Also f Sam!!!!!
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March 30, 2025Humorous, wholesome, and heartbreaking.
There was a lot packed into this debut, but it never feels overwhelming or contrived. Just a beautifully honest story about finding hope and resilience when life throws everything at you all at once. Favorite character award goes to Darlene.
Thanks to the publisher, and the author were giving me a copy in advance! ☺️
There was a lot packed into this debut, but it never feels overwhelming or contrived. Just a beautifully honest story about finding hope and resilience when life throws everything at you all at once. Favorite character award goes to Darlene.
Thanks to the publisher, and the author were giving me a copy in advance! ☺️
March 20, 2025
A surprising early contender for my favorite new release of the year. The stream of consciousness style of storytelling feels fragmented but never disjointed. The narrator's nuanced thoughts and feelings about grief, love, loss, and existentialism are explored in a really compelling way, and Yee is exceptionally good at describing these big, complicated emotions in terms of the mundane and relatable. Equal parts funny and sad, hopeful and nihilistic. Keep an eye out for this one.
Thank you to the author (Katie Yee), the publisher (Simon & Schuster), and NetGalley for granting me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to the author (Katie Yee), the publisher (Simon & Schuster), and NetGalley for granting me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
February 16, 2025
utterly speechless. It's quite literally 4am in the morning but I had to get this review out.
You know that feeling when you just finish the final season of a series. You sit still and quietly, your heart beating slightly faster than usual, as you stare out into nowhere wondering what comes next. I got that same feeling finishing this book. Utterly speechless. It's quite literally 4am in the morning but I had to get this review out.
This might just be one of my favorite reads of 2025 and it's not even out yet. For fans of slice of life books, one step away from a stream of consciousness, this story is for you.
We follow the main character after she finds out that not only is her husband unapologetically having an affair but that she also has breast cancer just like her mother did. It seems like God is just handing out one punishment after another, but in some ways her cancer also comes at the perfect time, helping her cope with the news of her husband.
I honestly don't even know how to explain this book without giving spoilers. All I have to say is that this is a 2025 must read, especially if you're going through a time of grief or general disconnect with your life.
5 FREAKING STARS
(Thank you NetGalley from the e-ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in exchange for a review.
You know that feeling when you just finish the final season of a series. You sit still and quietly, your heart beating slightly faster than usual, as you stare out into nowhere wondering what comes next. I got that same feeling finishing this book. Utterly speechless. It's quite literally 4am in the morning but I had to get this review out.
This might just be one of my favorite reads of 2025 and it's not even out yet. For fans of slice of life books, one step away from a stream of consciousness, this story is for you.
We follow the main character after she finds out that not only is her husband unapologetically having an affair but that she also has breast cancer just like her mother did. It seems like God is just handing out one punishment after another, but in some ways her cancer also comes at the perfect time, helping her cope with the news of her husband.
I honestly don't even know how to explain this book without giving spoilers. All I have to say is that this is a 2025 must read, especially if you're going through a time of grief or general disconnect with your life.
5 FREAKING STARS
(Thank you NetGalley from the e-ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in exchange for a review.
February 23, 2025
The plot of “Maggie; Or a Man and A Woman Walk into a Bar� by Katie Yee can be summarized simply - a woman learns in short order that her husband is having an affair and that she has breast cancer. The results of these events are what create the action the novel. However, the depth of the book comes from the narrator’s observations about the joys and sorrows of being alive, about friendship, motherhood, and ways of seeing the world. At one point the protagonist says, “I think if enough bad things pile up, they inevitably cross over into comedy. I am a collector of bad things with the hope that I can make them funny.� This is exactly what Yee does in this novel. She takes bad things and casts them in new light, making them funny and poignant as well as real and relatable.
What struck me most in this novel was the power of the connections that Yee makes through her choice of metaphor and the vividness of her prose. I found myself highlighting sentences and passages because of the unique connections that struck me as relevant and true. This novel elevates the joys and sorrows of every day. It gives the act of living importance and power and celebrates our humanity.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my independent and honest review.
What struck me most in this novel was the power of the connections that Yee makes through her choice of metaphor and the vividness of her prose. I found myself highlighting sentences and passages because of the unique connections that struck me as relevant and true. This novel elevates the joys and sorrows of every day. It gives the act of living importance and power and celebrates our humanity.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my independent and honest review.
November 26, 2024
A man and a woman walk into a bar. He's cheating. She has cancer. Only one will tell the other the truth.
I noticed our mess with the eyes of a stranger, of someone coming into our home for the first time. I looked at our home the way she might have seen it.
In devastatingly vivid prose, we follow the narrator through what it means to move forward - the days when grief threatens to overtake you, the glimpses of future serenity, the aches we invent for ourselves and the stings when they turn out to be true. Yee will hold your emotions in the palm of her hand, carefully parsing out threads of feelings you didn't know you had. She never tells you how to react, but masterfully wields her scenes in a way that can't help but wrench at your heart. It's a feat of storytelling that few can accomplish through such a fragmented structure.
This quietly snuck into being one of my favorite reads this year.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the e-ARC.
I noticed our mess with the eyes of a stranger, of someone coming into our home for the first time. I looked at our home the way she might have seen it.
In devastatingly vivid prose, we follow the narrator through what it means to move forward - the days when grief threatens to overtake you, the glimpses of future serenity, the aches we invent for ourselves and the stings when they turn out to be true. Yee will hold your emotions in the palm of her hand, carefully parsing out threads of feelings you didn't know you had. She never tells you how to react, but masterfully wields her scenes in a way that can't help but wrench at your heart. It's a feat of storytelling that few can accomplish through such a fragmented structure.
This quietly snuck into being one of my favorite reads this year.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the e-ARC.
March 5, 2025
The tender and often lighthearted musings of a woman who finds out her husband has been having an affair, and that she has breast cancer, all in the short span of a few weeks. Over the following months, our narrator contemplates the ways in which her life is due to change, and the ways in which it may not have been all that it seemed in the years before.
Yee's writing is a joy to read, flowing from one unconnected thought to the next without feeling disjointed or awkward. Full of beautifully ordinary observations on everyday life and thought provoking musings on love and loss, 'Maggie' was not at all what I was expecting, but was a gorgeous little book on one woman's efforts to heal herself in more ways than one.
Yee's writing is a joy to read, flowing from one unconnected thought to the next without feeling disjointed or awkward. Full of beautifully ordinary observations on everyday life and thought provoking musings on love and loss, 'Maggie' was not at all what I was expecting, but was a gorgeous little book on one woman's efforts to heal herself in more ways than one.
December 21, 2024
A wonderful premise. We first get to know our narrator as she laments her children’s preference for her husband’s storytelling. Soon, she is shocked by her husband’s betrayal and by a cancer diagnosis�
The voice and humor drew me in right away. The story is structured as two long chapters in a stream of consciousness style. I appreciated this and think it fit the character (but I also would have loved short chapters to give the lovely writing and observations some more breathing room).
Thank you very moving to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.
The voice and humor drew me in right away. The story is structured as two long chapters in a stream of consciousness style. I appreciated this and think it fit the character (but I also would have loved short chapters to give the lovely writing and observations some more breathing room).
Thank you very moving to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.
March 20, 2025
**3.5 maybe? 4?
Unfortunately, I feel like I read this at the wrong time/in too many short stints to get the full effect of what I think is probably a great book. However, as good as I think it was, I'm not sure I was massively emotionally invested in our main character, and the storyline didn't resonate with me personally. I did really enjoy the overall plot and the intersections between the story in which our mc reflects on small aspects of life, motherhood, marriage, etc. It brought out small mundane things that punctuated the broader story. Thank you to the published for this ARC!
Unfortunately, I feel like I read this at the wrong time/in too many short stints to get the full effect of what I think is probably a great book. However, as good as I think it was, I'm not sure I was massively emotionally invested in our main character, and the storyline didn't resonate with me personally. I did really enjoy the overall plot and the intersections between the story in which our mc reflects on small aspects of life, motherhood, marriage, etc. It brought out small mundane things that punctuated the broader story. Thank you to the published for this ARC!
December 26, 2024
I absolutely adored this enchanting debut novel, and immediately placed it on my Best of 2025 list, where I presume its other readers will too. The storytelling, including the use of stories and folklore within the novel, is brilliant, and the dry, dark humor through a woman's crises manages to still be hopeful. I can't wait for this book to hit shelves and find its enamored audience, and I can't wait for whatever Katie Yee writes next!!!
December 2, 2024
This was great! It’s everything I love, it’s sad, hilarious, unhinged at times, and just so well written! I feel like a lot of people can relate to this book, there is so much in it that most people have experienced and lived through. I laughed, cried, and was yelling at one point! Highly recommended people read this!
December 1, 2024
Not my jam. A big rambling stream of consciousness with little plot. I applaud the author for insight into the depths of this character's plight but I found myself skimming over the repetitive lists. I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 14, 2024
wow! I loved this sad lil book so much. the writing was incredible, humorous and poignant and honest and heartwrenching. truly immersed me and often left me feeling a bit gutted (in a good way). such a good examination of grief and healing and heartbreak. 4.5 stars rounded up!
January 5, 2025
pleasantly surprised at how much i enjoyed this! this kind of fragmented storytelling does not always work for me but the inner thoughts of this narrator really drew me in, i felt her pain and laughter on every page
February 6, 2025
A hilarious, wholly moving novel that is capable of holding so many truths at once. It is, somehow, both incisive and bighearted. Yee is a tremendous writer and I will read every book she writes for the rest of my life, with glee.
March 12, 2025
I really did not expect to love this, because it’s something I wouldn’t pick up if I hadn’t been assigned it to read by work. I have almost nothing in common with any of the characters. But I was absolutely drawn in by this, I think thanks to Katie Yee’s stunning, gorgeous writing. What a book.
April 3, 2025
3.5 stars � I thought this was an engaging and poignant read, with some really powerful moments for reflection. I would have liked a bit more closure in parts, and it’s not a narrative style I usually would gravitate towards, but I’m glad I read it!
Shelved as '2025'
November 18, 2024📱 Thank you to NetGalley and S&S/Summit Books
March 23, 2025
Absolutely remarkable in every way. I laughed, I screamed, I cried. Such a joy to swim in Katie Yee’s beautiful prose.
March 25, 2025
3.75
funny and sad. end was a little too abrupt.
funny and sad. end was a little too abrupt.
September 29, 2024
lyrical, humorous, raw—well done, I’ll come back to this when I have a moment to mine and edit and notes
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