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    Really Good, Actually
    Really Good, Actually
    Really Good, Actually
    Audiobook10 hours

    Really Good, Actually

    Written by Monica Heisey

    Narrated by Julia Whelan

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    THE NO. 2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

    The Times Popular Fiction Book of the Year

    ‘A heartbreaker of a book’ THE TIMES

    'Alarmingly relatable' MARIAN KEYES

    ‘Hilarious and profound’ DOLLY ALDERTON

    The hottest debut novel of 2023 from Schitt’s Creek and Smothered screenwriter and an Observer debut author of the year, Monica Heisey.

    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 and 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™.

    As Maggie throws herself headlong into the chaos of her first year of divorce, she soon finds herself questioning everything, including: Why do we still get married? Did I fail before I even got started? And how many 4am delivery burgers do I need to eat until I am happy?

    Really Good, Actually is an irresistible debut novel about the uncertainties of modern love, friendship and happiness.

    'Hilarious, heart-warming, wise' PAULA HAWKINS

    ‘Heisey makes me laugh hard and often’ ROB DELANEY

    ‘A Sex and The City for social media-obsessed millennials … Irresistible’ METRO

    ‘Wry, modern, self-deprecating’ INDEPENDENT

    ‘One of the most talked-about releases for 2023’ EVENING STANDARD

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateJan 17, 2023
    ISBN9780008511753
    Author

    Monica Heisey

    Monica Heisey is a comedian and writer from Toronto. She has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, Elle, The Guardian, Glamour, New York magazine, VICE, and more. She won four Canadian Screen Awards for her work on Baroness von Sketch Show, and has written on shows like Schitt’s Creek, and Workin’ Moms, among others. She currently lives in London, UK. This is her first novel.

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    Reviews for Really Good, Actually

    3.5/5

    154 ratings7 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a mixed bag. While some appreciate the realistic portrayal of the main character and the excellent narration, others find it repetitive and boring. The constant self-pity and lack of wit are disappointing. However, if you're interested in a story from a young woman's perspective, you may enjoy it. Overall, the book receives mixed reviews, but it does have its merits."

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Maggie and Jon broke up. Not just broke up. They are getting divorced. Even though they have only been married a few years. Though they had been living together even more years before that. The thing was that Maggie thought her life was basically sorted out. And now she finds that she is still in her twenties and already divorcing and she had not planned on that. And now it’s all tears and emotional support from her friends and aberrant behaviour all the way down. And there just doesn’t seem to be any bottom. And definitely no future.

      Maggie’s breakup and breakdown doesn’t break any new ground. The writing is full of gags and set pieces that are humorous even if predictable. But it feels like sketch comedy writing, if that is a definable thing. Since we catch Maggie already in the process of breaking (up and down), we never get a chance to see how it is even possible that she gathered this rather large cohort of amazingly tolerant (of her) and supportive friends. We are told that she had basically been in one long monogamous relationship for years but we mostly see her trying her hand at hookup apps and having various sexual encounters (she also seems to be experimenting with the possibility that she is bisexual). And always with the jokes, both aggressive and self-deprecating. You can’t help but worry for her, but you never feel as though you know who she is. On the other hand, I am probably too old for this novel. Maybe younger people find all of this completely perspicuous. I confess to just feeling a bit tired and queasy.

      I’m sure it’s fine and that other people will enjoy it, but it’s not really good, actually, so I can’t recommend it.
    • 5/5
      Nothing too deep but consistently amusing, sometimes laugh out loud.
    • 3/5
      Holds a decent claim to sit beside Heartburn and Bridget Jones in the canon. It never quite breaks through to the sort of Serious Look at Modern Love territory of Catherine Lacey or Lauren Oyler, but then again their books aren't nearly as funny as this. The Harry Styles cameo will live long in the memory.
    • 2/5
      The narrator was disengaged from their own story but expected us to emotionally invest?!? The usual...divorcee, going through stuff, becomes shitty friend to their friends blah blah blah
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this. Yes, Maggie is a horrible person who after she splits with her husband becomes a tornado of emotions, actions and questionable decisions. However, she was someone who felt very real at times, or versions of people that I've met across the years. Julia Whelan who narrated Really Great, Actually performed an absolute masterclass in narration.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I don't think I'll finish this, I've listened to 3 hours, so far it's repetitive and I'm bored. It reminds me a lot of my year of rest and relaxation and I didn't really enjoy that either. The narrator uses a permenantly peevish tone throughout so that compounds the relentless self pity. It feels airless and tiring without the wittiness I was promised from all the hype! If you're looking for a story from a young woman's perspective try no such thing as an easy job.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Monica Heisey ventures into novel territory, with a switch from comedy screenwriting to penning a contemporary fiction. The Schitt’s Creek writer does not leave behind her sense of the absurd and the human foibles that make characters both relatable and exaggeratedly bizarre. Maggie is a young woman in crisis, and she is not handling it very well. Unmoored by the dissolution of her short marriage, she is forced to grapple with her dashed life expectations and a restart for which she is unprepared. The plot generally tails Maggie as she realizes her gaps in knowledge about adult life and the dependencies that she had been able to ignore as part of a couple. She flounders in her unwished-for freedom, her attempts at independence providing many moments of zany adventures and awkward interactions. Her well-meaning friends also relentlessly bombard the poor woman with unsolicited advice and platitudes—spinning her more toward chaos than self-sufficiency. Through narrative and interspersed emails, lists, and conversation summaries, Heisey avoids succumbing to the obvious tropes of the genre. Like the tv scripts she has written, Really Good, Actually is funny and irreverent, at times even crass and cringe-worthy. Readers who appreciate kooky heroines and parodies of romantic comedy will find this debut a delightful diversion.

      Thanks to the author and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.