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

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i believe i read somewhere that it was being adapted into a movie or series and i think it would translate very well! She worked on all five seasons of Baroness, and, with the rest of the writing room, was awarded four Canadian Screen Awards for comedy writing. Heisey’s portrayal of the joys and pitfalls of online dating will ring true, and Maggie’s self-deprecating, often snarky humor keeps the deeper themes of the story from getting too heavy. Some references mean nothing to me as a reader in the United Kingdom but will mean something to North American readers. Freshly divorced Maggie is open to trying and doing new things, including dating, journalling, working out and standing up for herself.

Really Good, Actually – HarperCollins Really Good, Actually – HarperCollins

Fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Queenieor shows like HBO's Girlswill want to give it a read.This is a wonderful story about love, loss, friendship, rediscovering yourself and the hope that after coming messily apart it is possible to come back together fuller again.

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey | Goodreads

If you have a friend going through a divorce, you can most definitely hand them this book in their divorce care package! The morning Jon leaves, Maggie takes a selfie of her sad face and immediately downloads Facetune to edit the dark circles under her eyes. I went through a major break up at that age, and it wrecks you, like any break up does, but the fact that your 30th birthday is around the corner adds a very specific sort of stress for women, even if you have spent most of your adult life railing against ageist stereotypes. Or because he put hot sauce on everything, without tasting it, even if I’d spent hours balancing the flavours from a recipe I’d had to scroll past a long and detailed story about some woman’s holiday to find. She has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, Elle, The Guardian, Glamour, New York magazine, and VICE, among others.It’s described as a “hilarious and painfully relatable” story, and with the author’s background as a comedian, it’s a safe bet that it’s going to live up to the promise and make you laugh. I suspect the material would have worked better in short essay-style pieces: as a novel this feels laboured and lacks dynamic forward movement. I can’t say either that I especially like her as a central protagonist and this is one of those occasions where I think that is important. Her comedic talents are in no doubt in this effort, but she demonstrates a rare insight into modern relationships too.

Really Good, Actually – HarperCollins Publishers UK

Luckily Maggie has a great group of friends to depend on, but this is a tumultuous period in her life, and it's going to take some big changes to turn it around. Her first book I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better: A Woman’s Guide to Coping with Life, a collection of essays, was published in 2015. Moments of genuine pain, joy or self-interrogation combine with dark humor to make a novel that manages to remain engaging even as Maggie slides to an inevitable rock bottom. You know how every book about a young woman is described as “darkly funny” and then it’s actually only depressing? If Bridget Jones had a long-lost Canadian niece, it would be Monica Heisey's utterly lovable hot-mess of a young divorcee, Maggie.It makes Really Good, Actually a smart and funny coming-of-divorce novel, a story of self-reckoning with a likable heroine to root for. Impossibly funny, endearingly felt, alive and rich and ultimately a story of trying not only to find one's self but to figure out how best to care for the people we love. Readers will surely relate to Maggie as she navigates these choppy new waters… Really Good, Actually is a balm that will soothe the soul. But all in all, Really Good, Actually is a witty and perceptive account of modern love and all its foibles. It’s a nugget of popular psychology with which Maggie, the heroine of Monica Heisey’s debut novel, Really Good, Actually, would be familiar.

Really Good, Actually: The must-read major Sunday Times

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? The kind of book you miss when you finish but that also leaves you feeling so deliciously content and satisfied. Oh and if the gifs didn’t clue you in, if you enjoyed Fleabag there’s a solid chance you’ll like this too. I don’t know if predictable is quite the right word for “Really Good, Actually”, but it does sound like a story you may have heard before.

Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. Vacillating between the cringe-worthy/second-hand embarrassment-fueled moments of a person with no self-awareness. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. There isn’t a plot as such as it’s just Maggie‘s exploration of various things which eventually gets tedious.