Really Good, Actually: The must-read major Sunday Times bestselling debut novel of 2023

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i would compare this book to a mixture of ADELAIDE and ROMANTIC COMEDY but tbh i liked it a lot more. i believe i read somewhere that it was being adapted into a movie or series and i think it would translate very well! Swipe to see some bits I thought were great especially the one about how being thirty one is the same as being twenty six except you’re hotter and smarter and know a little bit about tiles. That got a small chortle from me🤣 and I was thinking oh ok good to know. I look forward to knowing a bit about tiles💀." Stephenson, Hannah (17 January 2023). "Writer/comedian Monica Heisey: 'I don't really trust dating apps' ". Irish Examiner.

First of all, the positives as I see them. The premise is a creative one and I do enjoy the new chaotic life Maggie now lives though the standout feature that appeals to me the most is the ironic, sarcastic tone and the social commentary. The friendships are good and there are some scenes that are entertaining as Maggie employs a multitude of diversionary tactics. The Google searches she does a funny too! Really, Good, Actually is also an incredibly powerful reminder that people don't need to be fixed, but they do need support, and they best possibly loving intervention you can provide if you have the energy to give? Also, to not mention any kind of random Japanese pottery theory about broken people... Really, though, let's all encourage our friends to seek professional help when we can see they're clearly struggling and we don't have the tools to help them. 🥺🥺 Maggie’s marriage has ended just 608 days after it started, but she’s fine – she’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s alone for the first time in her life, can’t afford her rent and her obscure PhD is going nowhere . . . but at the age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new status as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™. Vacillating between the cringe-worthy/second-hand embarrassment-fueled moments of a person with no self-awareness.. and absolute heart-wrenching grief and denial... this story is hard to read. Somewhat in a good way, somewhat in a bad way? It's categorized as a novel, but most definitely makes you wonder how much of was real for the author. I give the author a lot of credit because she took a subject that is explored frequently in fiction, divorce, and yet came up with a story that felt fresh and new. That's a pretty big feat to pull off. Regardless of whether you have experienced a significant break up or not, there's some value here for any reader.

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Or maybe that’s just me. “Oh, my God,” Heisey says with a laugh as I detail many of her screenwriting credits over a video call from her home in London. “A Canadian content supporter in America. What next?” She somewhat understates the fandom for Schitt’s Creek, which swept the comedy categories at the (American) Emmy Awards in 2020. And as showrunner of a forthcoming British show in the spirit of the breakthrough dramedy “ Catastrophe,” she’s edging ever closer to becoming a Hollywood name.

Maggie’s marriage is ending only six hundred and eight days after it began (despite being together nearly a decade) . . . At the end of the affair, they’ve obviously fallen for each other pretty hard, but then she finds out he has a 6-year-old child from a previous relationship,” says Heisey. “So it’s about being a young and unlikely stepmother and figuring out where you fit in a relationship with a person who already has someone who matters the most to him.” In the movies, you are Diane Lane, or Keaton, or possibly Kruger, a beautiful middle-aged Diane who is her own boss and knows about the good kind of white wine. Usually, you do not continue living with your ex for weeks because you can’t make the rent on your dusty one-bedroom apartment alone. Generally, you are not a glorified research assistant and an advertising copywriter, respectively, whose most important shared financial asset is your one friend who always gets free phones from work. Certainly, you are not supposed to be twenty-eight years old and actively planning a birthday party with the dress code “Jimmy Buffett sluts.”I've been seeing this gorgeous cover all across Bookstagram and Goodreads so I'm hoping it's good! I just DNFed my last read, and I'm actually really proud of myself for that because I was genuinely not invested in it! I was very sold on the set up though: a young, pithy woman goes through a divorce and has to cope with all the changes that brings. She struggles to achieve independence (financial and otherwise) when she’s been part of a couple for so much of her adult life. She doesn’t necessarily know entirely who she is, how to go about being a responsible adult, or have complete control over her emotions and even though I haven’t been married or divorced, it was relatable. Unfortunately for me the execution fell short, but maybe if I experienced divorce I would appreciate it more. You know those miserable friends you avoid at all costs? This book was like being forced to listen to one for 5 hours straight. Painful. You know how every funny book about a single woman who is a ‘bit of mess’ is compared to Bridget Jones? Well, comparatively? Bridget: step aside babes.

Having herself navigated some unsteady personal terrain, Heisey is making a career out of guiding characters through the kinds of crises we can laugh at and sympathize with all at once, while upending enough rom-com tropes to keep things interesting. All of which is to say that you’re going to get to know Monica Heisey a lot better, in one medium or another, and you’re likely to come out of the experience knowing yourself a little better too. Monica Heisey was born in Toronto at the very end of the 1980s and has spent most of her adult life in London, after moving there in 2010 to pursue an MA in early modern literature. She is an author, screenwriter, essayist, and occasional comedian. She works mostly from bed and has accepted that this will impact her posture.

From the rating alone, it’s obvious this was NOT for everyone, but oh how I loved it. There’s nothing like making an imperfect fictional friend and this was another example of a “romdramedy” that had me laughing out loud one minute and “bless your heart”-ing Maggie the next. The whole thing is a bit of a ramble, really. We’re with Maggie and she’s spiralling and then not spiralling and then spiralling some more. It’s fun and relatable in a chaotic sort of way which is realistic if you think about it. There’s plenty introspection and the kind of deep thought that happens when your life is collapsing. Plenty drama. It would make for light (?) reading. At least to me, it was light ish. I recommend.

I'll begin this review by stating what I think is v important: this book is not for everybody. I know my mom would hate this book, as would probably most folks over the age of 50. But- BUT- I will say I think I am the target audience. Not just, like millennial white women in their early thirties; I honestly felt at times like the book was made for me and me alone. I related so much to Maggie, even though I'm happily married and not going through a divorce like her. Freshly divorced Maggie is open to trying and doing new things, including dating, journalling, working out and standing up for herself. With all of this, she crumbles weekly and spends days indoor hiding away from the world. With the help of friends she slowly faces her situation and make plans for next step.Kind of. He’d moved out, taking the cat (for now) and a gaming system and three acoustic guitars. The idea of Jon writing breakup songs in some dark sublet filled me with equal parts deep despair and incredible relief—despair, to think that I had caused him such pain he’d been driven to experimental songwriting; relief, that I wouldn’t have to listen to it.