Really Good, Actually
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3.3 • 91 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
THE NO. 2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
LONGLISTED FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE 2025
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
About the author
Monica Heisey is an author and screenwriter from Toronto, now based in London. She has written for television shows including TOO MUCH and Schitt's Creek, and her writing has been published in the New York Times, Vogue, Elle and the Guardian, among others. Her debut novel, Really Good, Actually, was a Sunday Times Bestseller. She was chosen as an Observer Best Debut Novelist of the Year 2023.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Comedian and writer Monica Heisey’s debut novel, based loosely on her own experience of being married and divorced before she turned 30, documents a year in the life of newly-single Maggie, starting from the day her soon to be ex-husband moves out of their shared apartment. Interspersing the narrative with snapshots of Google searches, snippets of online communication, itemised lists of things that make Maggie cry, and so on, Heisey stitches together a tapestry of emotional upheaval, barely concealed behind a whirlwind of Tinder dates and adult hobbies. Despite Maggie’s valiant facade, her heartbreak begins to manifest as mood-killing cynicism and self-sabotage, jeopardising her friendships and potential love interests, putting her on a collision course with rock bottom. Sharp, witty and, on multiple occasions, laugh out loud funny, Heisey’s appraisals of the way we approach our relationships with ourselves and each other sketch out a deeply relatable rendering of modern romance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Comedian and TV writer Heisey delivers an appealing debut novel (after the essay collection I Can't Believe It's Not Better) about a 28-year-old stalled PhD candidate left adrift after her divorce. Maggie's former husband, Jon, departs with their cat, and, despite their mutual promises to have a "Good Divorce," Jon is soon incommunicado, and Maggie is surprised by how much she struggles with being alone. She stays up most nights streaming crime shows she terms "British murder television" and is disappointed that she remains "annoyingly committed" to habits such as ordering late-night burgers. Maggie progresses to online dating (the men in Maggie's area of Toronto are "bearded and left-leaning"), and after striking out there, she tries exercise classes and creative writing workshops, but wherever she joins up, she's "wall to wall with the recently dumped." Later, the grief for her marriage morphs into a kind of self-obsessed nihilism that alienates her closest friends and torpedoes a burgeoning relationship with a nice guy. Even in its darkest moments the book is very funny, and Heisey's inspired skewering of urban millennial life hits the mark. Readers will gobble up this Bridget Jones's Diary for the smartphone era.
Customer Reviews
Really hardwork actually
This was quite a struggle but pushed through to which I was rewarded with a satisfying ending. A modern take on Bridget Jones’ Diary but less endearing. Divorce in the age of dating apps and selfies.
Not good, actually
I tried to persevere with this book hoping it would eventually lead somewhere but it the end I could not continue. Life is too short.
So dull
The single-most boring book I’ve ever read. Couldn’t wait to finish it.