Maggie, Or A Man And A Woman Walk Into A Bar, is a novel by Katie Yee about a woman who has had a terrible year. First, her husband tells her he is leaving her for another woman, and then she is diagnosed with breast cancer. The novel is told vignette style, almost stream-of-consciousness, and jumps around the narrator’s life – her childhood, her Chinese parents, her relationship with her husband, her sickness, her kids. It reminded me of Dept of Speculation ( a book I adored), particularly in its style. What’s missing from Maggie, Or A Man And A Woman Walk Into A Bar, is the anger that fueled Dept of Speculation. Our narrator here is passive, accepting and ultimately forgiving (?) of her husband, whom she doesn’t even tell about her cancer. She is sad and bewildered, but she doesn’t fight against what has happened to her, even in her own mind. This emotional aloofness makes it a little hard to connect with the book. It also lessens its staying power – I read it a while ago and don’t remember all that much about it. It’s a short read, infused with gentle humor that is often incongruous with the gravity of her situation. I wanted her to freak out a little bit instead of just bobbing along with the current. I listened to this on audio and the narrator might have been part of the issue – she was too gentle and quiet.