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Synopses & Reviews
Review
New York psychologist Magda Eklund is about to turn 70 and is reeling after the sudden death of longtime friend Sara. When Sara's widower approaches Magda with a request that she temporarily hold onto Sara's ashes, he also brings one last gift from Sara: a list of cities for a planned road trip celebrating Magda's birthday. With the encouragement of her colleagues, the colorfully drawn Theo and Boomer, Magda sets off to complete the trip on her own. As Magda winds her way to the Southwest and through various touch points from their lives, she finds herself revisiting defining moments from the past, particularly her childhood and the relationship with her sister. At an Amarillo hotel, Magda crosses paths with the effervescent Judy, and the two strike up a connection. As Magda makes her way back home, she finds herself forced to confront the realities of her relationship with Sara as well as her inner desires. Montague's debut novel imparts an affecting journey into the tricky bonds of grief and aging alongside the rewards of self-discovery.--Booklist
Is there an expiration date for self-discovery? Psychiatrist Magda Eklund, the mordant protagonist of Montague's debut novel, is on the cusp of her 70th birthday and is dealing--sort of--with the death of her close friend Sara. Though their relationship had been somewhat fraught before Sara's death, Magda is grieving the loss of their long-term connection, perhaps even more than Sara's widower, Fred, who has relinquished his wife's possessions, correspondence, and ashes for Magda to winnow through. While exploring Sara's notes, Magda finds the outline for a birthday road trip Sara planned for them, with an itinerary including locations of sentimental importance to both friends. Magda embarks on the trip herself, accompanied by Sara's ashes, a lifetime of memories, and a sense of confusion about what Sara had intended the trip to accomplish. As Magda travels from state to state and from inns to motel rooms to convenience stores, she experiences a longing for Sara while encountering other people who manage to live with considerably less angst. (More importantly, she delays visiting a stop related to a critical time in her own past.) Grappling with the reality of Sara's death is just one part of the problem Magda needs to solve; another is how to be happy, if possible, in a world where she has never acknowledged, openly, what (or who) she wants in life. Montague portrays Magda's slow journey to self-acceptance and actualization with sensitivity and sketches out the social, familial, and professional forces that have been roadblocks along the way. Humor and bemusement at human foibles characterize the narrative but never detract from the seriousness of Magda's delayed search for happiness and comfort in her sexual identity. The hard lessons and gifts acquired through loss are illustrated here in the most sensitive way.--Kirkus Reviews
"My God, where has Magda Eklund been all my life? In this assured, hilarious, and surprisingly tender debut, Anna Montague shows how the unexpected journeys we go on to find ourselves can happen at any age. It's an exploration of identity and queerness, family and grief, all packed into one rollicking road trip. Populated by a cast of wholly unforgettable characters, How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? is the best kind of novel--one that leaves you loving the people around you a little bit more, and craving your next adventure." -- Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding
Synopsis
For fans of Less and Remarkably Bright Creatures comes 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.
About the Author
Anna Montague is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? is her first novel.