Maybe you know a Marjorie Moore; maybe you are one. She’s dauntless, desperate, and a little bit delusional. In her debut novel, Manhattan-based writer Christie Grotheim delves deep into the American heartland to explore a flawed search for fulfillment. Her lovable protagonist’s insatiable desires and misguided antics shed light on our own search for escapes—and search for self—and perhaps that is why we cheer her on wholeheartedly.
Protagonist Marjorie Moore, trying to overcompensate for her difficult childhood, always wants more—and as a result, often feels she ends up with less. Forever searching elsewhere, she is consumed with wanting, or in her opinion, needing. Feeling trapped by her town and her family, she escapes through obsessive shopping, pill popping, and fantasizing about a possible affair with a friend from high school with whom she reconnects on Facebook. Her growing credit card debt “forces” her to sell prescription drugs—which she secures at her receptionist job at the local hospital—to her dysfunctional friends. As her web of lies at home and work unravels, Margie wrestles with whether she is capable of becoming present in her own life.
Astute and provocative, Grotheim’s prose captures many of life’s dichotomies—masks versus authenticity, recklessness versus stability, and searching versus finding—in this moving debut novel.
BIOGRAPHY
Christie Grotheim’s debut novel, The Year Marjorie Moore Learned to Live, was published in 2019 by Heliotrope Books. Her stories have been featured in Salon.com, The New York Observer, Prometheus Dreaming, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, West View News, and Petrolicious.com, among others. Christie is co-founder of Crystal Radio Sessions, a monthly reading series in Manhattan’s legendary KGB Bar, and she facilitates monthly Draft Chats at The Porch in Nashville, where she is also an instructor.
After twenty years in Manhattan, Grotheim and her husband relocated to Ashland City, TN, where after two years of renovations and construction on their property, she’s back to finishing construction on her second novel, while finally realizing her dream of hosting artist and writers retreats on the five acres she now calls home. See more of her writing at www.christiegrotheim.com and follow her on Instagram @christiegrotheim.
PUBLIshed Work
Getting and staying sober has made me wonderfully, terribly aware.
personal essay on literary journal prometheusdreaming.com
Soaring Past My
Midlife Crisis
As 40 approached, I faced many night terrors, but when I grabbed the trapeze, all my anxiety fell to earth.
personal essay on Salon.com
Leaving the comfort of the East Village, a move of two miles felt a world away.
personal essay on MrBellersNeighborhood.com
15-part Series on adventures and breakdowns on an eight-week road trip around the US in an 1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car
essay series for Petrolicious.com
After 9/11, two photographs became
prized possessions
personal essay on MrBellersNeighborhood.com
A World of Art Way Out West
article for Travelmag.com
Retreating during the height of the pandemic; but how far is too far?
personal essay on literary journal reideasjournal.com
A User's Guide
Defining the state of Real Estate
in NYC
humor essay on MrBellersNeighborhood.com
When I moved in with a perfectly lovely women, I discovered just how much I had to hide.
personal essay on Salon.com
An attempt at self-improvement after a bad break up resulted in faulty dental work and trauma far worse than the break up itself.
long-from personal essay on Ducts.org
Harlem's Culinary Renaissance
article in Courier Magazine
And Its Magical Medina
travel essay for TravelMag.com
A designer finds a very creative solution to dealing with a difficult client.
personal essay on TheReset.com
A listical of a cynical New Yorker's New Year's Resolutions that just might not be futile
humor essay for The New York Observer
After breaking out of the limits of her small Texas town, it took years to appreciate coming home again.
personal essay for West View News
A Guide to Getting Lost in the West Village
article for West View News
A determined dachshund develops a love of street food.
personal essay on Ducts.org
Meandering Through Medieval Gamla Stan
Article for TravelMag.com
readings and events
- Time is TBDThe KGB Bar Virtual StoriesTime is TBDThe KGB Bar Virtual StoriesPlease join me in celebrating my one year book anniversary—while also supporting the legendary KGB Bar—with a live reading of the prologue of my debut novel, The Year Marjorie Moore Learned To Live. I look forward to connecting with those near and far!
Lyrics, Lit & Liquor Reading Series
In January of 2018, I read a humor piece called
"A Second Round of Firsts" on the horrors, er, challenges of aging. Please join me here at
the charming East Village institution 2A and have a listen!