Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar

By: Katie Yee

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

A New York Times Notable Book. One of Time’s 100 Must-Read Book of 2025.

Summer’s Best Beach Reads by The New York Times • Books You Should Read This July by New York magazine • Books We’re Most Excited About by Today • Best Beach Reads by Harper’s Bazaar • Best Books of Summer by ELLE • Most Anticipated Books of the Summer by Time • Best Summer Reads by Oprah Daily • Books to Read this Summer by The Washington Post

“As with Nora Ephron’s Heartburn…you read Maggie to spend time with its author.” —The Washington Post

A Chinese American woman spins tragedy into comedy when her life falls apart in a taut, wry debut novel, “as playful as it is profound” (Alison Espach, author of The Wedding People)—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 Husband: 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.

3.5 Stars

in depth look at 1 woman's very bad year, good read, well written, definitely recommend.

Very disappointing

This was a plaintive and mournful dissection of a dissolving marriage which became much like listening to a friend whine incessantly without moving to change. The narration was overprecise except when voicing children or men and the piece became painfully monotonous. There was no plot and the resolution was a foregone conclusion. Ms. Yee seems to want to write essays and not a novel. She is gifted and her talent seems clear.She makes some lovely observations about children and marriage but none advance the "story" line. This book was truly one note.

Depression

Depression-wow, was there a single positive emotion in that book? I hope that wasn’t the author’s actual situation. So depressing on every level.

Not much to it

The central character is faced with a divorce and simultaneous breast cancer and the entire book is an account of how she deals with them both. I found it all tedious. The narrator was excellent, which is why I gave it 3 stars.

couldn't wait for it to end

considering how awful the main character's year was, you'd think there would be some ounce of emotional outrage but no, the main character has the enthusiasm and personality of a dead fish