The main character in Katie Yee’s debut novel is never named, but inside Baldwin Public Library, readers spoke about her as if she were someone they knew.
Yee joined the library’s afternoon book discussion group earlier this month for a conversation about her novel, “Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar,” which follows an unnamed narrator navigating divorce, breast cancer, motherhood and betrayal.
Nearly 20 readers attended the discussion, asking questions, responding to one another, and sharing personal connections to the novel’s themes. What began as a discussion of one novel became a broader conversation about names, identity, illness, race, motherhood and the stories people carry with them.
Adult Programming Librarian Elly Muller said the afternoon group, one of three book discussions the library offers, tries to feature newer books and a variety of voices. Many of the same women attend regularly, she said, building the familiarity that helps conversations become personal.
Muller kept an advance reader copy of Yee’s novel on her desk for months before reaching out to the author, as the library board has been interested in bringing more authors to Baldwin for discussions and events.
Rather than host a formal lecture, Muller wanted Yee to sit with readers around the table and take part in the discussion.
“I wanted everyone to be able to ask their questions and for it to be more personal,” Muller said.
Yee, 30, is a Brooklyn writer whose debut novel has drawn national recognition. “Maggie” was named a notable book of 2025 by The New York Times, won the Barnes & Noble Discover Debut Author Prize and was longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction.
That informal format shaped the May 13 conversation almost immediately, as readers focused on one of the novel’s most striking choices: Yee never names her narrator.
Names are central to the book, Yee said. In the novel, both the husband’s lover and the narrator’s tumor are named Maggie, giving the narrator a way to claim some control over two forces disrupting her life. But Yee intentionally left the narrator unnamed because she wanted readers to feel a sense of shared ownership over her.
“I wanted her to feel like she was our narrator,” Yee said. “I wanted her to belong to all of us in that way.”
Several readers connected the narrator’s lack of a name to their own experiences with identity, culture and belonging, saying names are often the first way people show respect, especially when someone’s name is unfamiliar or difficult to pronounce.
“The first respect I can give you is to know your name,” Donna, a discussion participant, said.
Others shared stories of friends and family members who had been encouraged, or required, to use English names in school or in other countries. Shelley, another participant, said the narrator felt so real by the end of the book that the missing name became less important than the emotions Yee had built around her.
“The woman was so real to me that her name was so unimportant,” Shelley said.
Yee said the novel is not autobiographical, though it draws from pieces of her life, family history and fears she was thinking through while writing. Released last July, it began as a short story about five years ago, when she was going through what she described as a minor breakup and wanted to raise the emotional stakes in fiction.
Rather than write directly about a breakup, she imagined a narrator facing divorce, illness and betrayal.
“I feel like I had created a narrator that I thought was strong and resilient,” Yee said, “and I wanted to see kind of how much I could lovingly put on her plate.”
Breast cancer also shaped the novel. Yee said the illness runs in her family, noting that her grandmother had breast cancer and her mother has it. Nanette, another participant, said she had to put the book down for a time because the subject matter was too painful, but returned to it because she wanted to see the narrator reach a place of happiness.
Despite the novel’s focus on cancer, divorce and betrayal, Yee said humor was essential because laughter can become a form of understanding. During the discussion, she said the narrator’s use of jokes is less about wanting to be a comedian than wanting to connect with her children and the people around her.
“If I can make you laugh, that means that I understand something about you,” she said.
The discussion of names and belonging also led readers to talk about race and representation. Cece, a discussion participant, said she appreciated the way Yee addressed racism subtly, without making it the entire focus of the novel.
“Race is always present, but not central,” Yee said.
Motherhood and storytelling were also central to the discussion. In the novel, the narrator uses Chinese folklore and bedtime stories to connect with her children and share part of their heritage. Yee said she grew up hearing Greek, Roman and Chinese myths from her mother and grandmother.
“I think it was important for her to share some bits of this culture with her children,” she said.
For Muller, those exchanges are what make the gatherings valuable beyond the book itself. She said Baldwin’s book groups have helped patrons form friendships and become more involved in the library.
“You just find out a whole lot about someone when you’re talking about a book,” Muller said. “You just end up telling stories about yourself as part of analyzing the book. And that definitely forms community.”
Around the table, Yee’s novel became more than a book to discuss. It became an invitation for readers to tell stories of their own.
Baldwin Public Library’s next afternoon book discussion will feature “Go Gentle” by Maria Semple on June 10. For more information or to register, visit baldwinpl.org.
