Dear readers, I forgot how much I liked “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” Rufi Thorpe’s novel about a teenager who becomes pregnant by her professor, until people started giving me sidelong glances on the subway last night. It’s so rare for me to laugh while reading that I don’t really have protocols for how to deal with it in public. Granted, this one is catnip for me. There are not one but two single mothers. The dialogue is great. The story is weird enough that it could have only come from the brain of a writer who has clearly been paying attention to the absurdism inherent in daily life. The novel was a breakout hit when it came out in 2024, and I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot more about it now, thanks to the Apple TV adaptation starring Elle Fanning as Margo; Michelle Pfeiffer as her mom, a former Hooters waitress; and Nick Offerman as Margo’s father, a retired pro wrestler trying to stay sober. I’m encountering more and more books that seem to be written with a possible TV treatment in mind. The first three episodes of “Margo’s Got Money Problems” are available to stream, and so far, they seem to be a pretty faithful interpretation. It’s kind of thrilling to hear complete sentences lifted from the novel and spoken aloud, even if the script reassigns some plotlines and cuts some scenes. (I do wish I could’ve seen Pfeiffer smack a delivery nurse across the face, as Margo’s mother does in the novel. Getting barred from the hospital where your teenage daughter gave birth — that’s a character arc!) I’d love to hear about any screen adaptations that you think are pitch perfect or, as always, about what you’ve been reading. You can reach me by emailing books@nytimes.com. See you next week. Like this email? We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
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