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! One of the most hotly anticipated, hilarious and addictive debut novels of 2023, from Schitt’s Creek and Workin’ Moms screenwriter and an electric new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey. Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love. 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. I think the problem with this book is that it’s not in its ideal format. This would have worked a lot better as a short story/essay collection. As a novel, it drags and meanders without a real sense of purpose or plot. Nothing really moves forward and it feels like a collection of comedy routines on a shared topic. The zany one liners also work a lot better in that medium I think. With this being a full length novel, endless jokes about the same topic get tiring.

However, all that being said I have little doubt this but will be a hit if not because of the authors script writing credentials. A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman’s messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica Heisey Maggie’s marriage 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. I’m giving it 2 stars because I managed to finish it, but I expected something good to happen at some point. I’m sad to say I regret the investment.Literally, one of the chapters is called: Emotionally Devastating Things My Therapist Said to Me Like They Were Nothing - I laughed way too hard for too long at this chapter for so many reasons. Maggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days, but at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.

One of the most hotly anticipated, hilarious and addictive debut novels of 2023, from Schitt’s Creek and Workin’ Moms screenwriter and electric new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey. 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.” 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.

Creative Play

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. This book made me feel like the boy in Matilda who is forced by Principal Trunchbull to eat that entire chocolate cake. At first you think, oh yay cake. I enjoy this. But then you realize you are forcing yourself through more of the same with no new development until you are ready to just explode. It is much easier to digest in a more bite sized portions. Laugh-out-loud funny, razor sharp and painfully relatable, Really Good, Actually is an irresistible debut novel about the uncertainties of modern love, friendship and happiness from a stunning new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey. However, it just goes on and on. It’s way too long as it’s all basically the same theme so there’s a lot of repetition. There isn’t a plot as such as it’s just Maggie‘s exploration of various things which eventually gets tedious. 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. She tires me out, wears me down quite simply drives me round the bend. Some references mean nothing to me as a reader in the United Kingdom but will mean something to North American readers.