How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? - by Anna Montague

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"At once tender and hilarious, How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? is a beautifully written and moving novel of loss and new beginnings." -- Jonas Jonasson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

"A road trip novel with a tremendous amount of heart - I ached along with the characters, rooted for them, wished them all the best. Truly a novel that asks you to consider the winding, secret path to love that sits lodged in every person's breast. Anna Montague has written something bright and lovely here, a novel that is above all quietly beautiful." -- Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth and Mostly Dead Things

"I love therapy and books about therapists, so this warm and witty debut novel won me completely. I loved Magda Eklund's journey of grief and wonderment." -- Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters and Lovers and Liars

"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

"Delightful. . . . This earnest road novel has plenty of appeal." -- Publishers Weekly

"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

"Montague's debut novel imparts an affecting journey into the tricky bonds of grief and aging alongside the rewards of self-discovery." -- Booklist

"The perfect blend of bitter and sweet, this debut belongs in every fall tote and every brunch gabfest." -- Oprah Daily

"[A] must read . . . [in How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund?] Magda sets off on the cross-country journey, meeting a various cast of characters on the way who will challenge her long held perceptions about identity, sexuality, love, family, and friendship." -- Town & Country

"Tender but assured . . . . This book will be popular in public libraries. The characters are crisply written and engaging; hand to readers who enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman." -- Library Journal (starred review)

"Did I cry several times during this book? Yes. Do I want to recommend it to every woman I know? Yes. . . . Surprisingly funny and uplifting." -- Mara Lynn Luther, Ravalli Republic

"Anna Montague explores friendship, aging, grief, regret and love with both creative and contemplative depth in her noteworthy debut." -- BookPage

"A thoughtful and affecting story about wayward love, regret and missed opportunity. . . Slow down, and enjoy the ride." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Beautiful, beguiling, and slightly bonkers. . . . Montague is such a gifted, sensitive, and big-hearted writer." -- Ann Levin, Associated Press

"How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? is a noteworthy debut about looking back while moving forward. Friendship, love, regret, repression, grief, yearning, aging and new beginnings--Montague explores each of these themes with both creative and contemplative depth." -- BookPage

"This sparkling debut sends a 70-year-old therapist on a cross-country road trip with the ashes of her best friend. As she revisits the choices she's made and the people she's cared for, Magda's path through grief leads to wonder." -- People

"An enchanting story of self-discovery, friendship, and resilience." -- Debutiful

"[An] affecting novel." -- Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal