The Page 69 Test: "The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn"

Monday, July 10, 2023

"The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn"

Sally J. Pla is the author of the acclaimed novels The Someday Birds and Stanley Will Probably Be Fine. She has English degrees from Colgate and Penn State

and has worked as a business journalist and in public education. She has three sons, a husband, and an enormous fluffy dog and lives near lots of lemon trees in Southern California.

Pla applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn, and reported the following:

From page 69:
Due to wildfire, Maudie and her Dad have just been evacuated to a coastal campground run by Dad’s old buddy Naldo. While Dad scrounges for emergency groceries, Maudie visits the gift shop, and meets the charming Begonia, Naldo’s teenage niece. Begonia tells her:

“If I can help you guys with anything, just holler. I’m working odd jobs around her all summer. And my brother Max is a lifeguard down at the beach. Uncle Naldo got us both on the payroll. He’s a pretty good uncle.”

“Yeah,” I say. “He’s nice.” I take a minute, processing everything she just told me (glitch-delay). Then I add: “We’re grateful.

“We all feel real bad for you guys – our whole family does.”

I smile and nod. And I wonder what it’s like to have a whole family. An uncle to give you a job.

A brother who’s a lifeguard. Silver rings. Curly hair. Prettiness. Boobs. Ha ha ha ha ha.

“Take your time. Look around.”

Behind the glass display counter, I notice a bin of small silver metal charms—strange, flat medallions in the shape of odd things—flaming hearts, praying hands, animals, hats, wings, body parts.

“Those are Milagros.” Begonia takes out the bin without my even asking. “Religious folk charms from Mexico. But you don’t have to be religious to carry them. They also just, I don’t know, like, kinda fun and funky to keep in your pocket or whatever.”
This is fairly decent indicator of what the book is about. Maudie is an autistic kid who spends the school year in a difficult home situation with an angry stepdad. Summers, spent with her gentle, kind biological dad, are usually a respite. But this summer is different. It’s a crucible summer, and it marks her journey from a shame-riddled Maudie of glitches, silence, and secrets, to a strong Maudie who finds her voice and her power, who learns to speak up for herself. Who finds a sense of community for the first time.

She starts to find that community right there on page 69, in striking up a friendship with Begonia. So, in that sense, McLuhan’s notion is upheld.

Also, Milagro charms. Maudie indulges in some magical thinking, which causes her problems down the line. This is the start of us seeing her do that.

This was interesting to think about. I wonder if every page of a novel could bear the weight of the page 69 experiment. Take any arbitrary page and consider it in terms of its coherent storytelling and ask: Does this page move the story forward meaningfully? How does it give us a picture of the whole? Interesting questions!