How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund?

A Novel

A funny and moving novel about love, loss, and new beginnings found on an unlikely road trip

Most days, Magda is fine. She has her routines. She has her anxious therapy patients, who depend on her to cure their bad habits. She has her longtime colleagues, whose playful bickering she mediates. She’s mourning the recent loss of her best friend, Sara, but has brokered a tentative truce with Sara’s prickly widower as she helps him sort through the last of Sara’s possessions. She’s fine.

But in going through Sara’s old journal, Magda discovers her friend’s last directive: plans for a road trip they would take together in celebration of Magda’s upcoming seventieth birthday. So, with Sara’s urn in tow, Magda decides to hit the road, crossing the country and encountering a cast of memorable characters—including her sister, from whom she’s been keeping secrets. Along the way she stumbles upon a jazz funeral in New Orleans and a hilarious women’s retreat meant to “unleash one’s divine feminine energy” in Texas, and meets a woman who challenges her conceptions of herself—and the hidden truths about her friendship with Sara.

As the trip shakes up her careful routines, Magda finally faces longings she locked away years ago and confronts questions about her sexuality and identity she thought she had long put to rest. And as she soon learns, it’s never too late to start your next journey.

Engaging and touching story

Such a wonderful story of love, loss and devotion. Complicated friendships are explored with such insight and compassion. I also truly loved the author’s writing style and beautiful phrasing. Cannot wait to read the next book from this author!

Refreshing to have older character as protagonist

The protagonist's story touched me... enjoyed the history included, liked the way the author went from the present to the past through the letters... enjoyed the lesbian content... I feel we need more well written literature from this perspective...

Yes, more, please!

Cynthia Nixon's voice stood out and not in a good way

2.5 Stars I really didn't like the main character, she feels so stiff and her feelings are muted. I did like the themes of love and friendship in all their imperfections.

Yearning

A lifetime of yearning for a different life so well described. Thoughtful and hopeful - traveling through a well aged life.

Good concept but

I liked the concept of this book more than I liked the execution. I like this book was about a gay 70-year-old learning to love herself. We need more representation like this in all forms of media. However, I found the telling of the story contrived obvious and overworked.