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Heisey perfectly captures the realities of a big, bad breakup, and it couldn’t be more refreshing. Add that to the downright loveable cast and you’ve got the perfect anti-rom com.”— Bust Magazine a b c d Ermelino, Louisa. "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do in Monica Heisey's Bittersweet Debut Novel". PublishersWeekly.com . Retrieved 7 July 2023.
Really Good, Actually: The funny, relatable No. 2 Sunday
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. 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.anyways, i really liked this one! and it's one of those books that feels weird so say you "liked" or "loved" because of the flawed main character ... and boy is she FLAWED! i agree that there were a lot of moments that i cringed through while the FMC self sabotaged her life, but something about it felt relatable? plus (while it does take a while to get there) her character growth is EVERYTHING. i was so pleased with the ending and to see how far maggie had come. and not to mention this book is FUNNY. the sarcasm, wit, and dry humor sprinkled throughout was top notch. 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! 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. 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. 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.
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey | Goodreads
A tender yet sharp debut, detailing the self-discovery and absurdity in heartbreak." — The Canadian Press 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 . . . 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 Diaryfor the smartphone era.”— Publishers Weekly Really Good, Actually opens with the line My marriage ended because I was cruel and the narrator Maggie continues with a list of reasons her marriage ended. With an opening like that, it can only go downhill, and that it did. We meet twenty-nine year old Maggie reeling from a divorce from her college sweetheart. They have been dating for a long time and finally got married, the marriage only lasted 608 days. Now Maggie must navigate a new world, single, broke, emotionally erratic and trying to find out who she is outside of the world she created with her ex-husband.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. A cringe-filled, funny—and surprisingly poignant—look at one woman’s self-discovery after heartbreak.”— People 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™. 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. However, all that being said I have little doubt this but will be a hit if not because of the authors script writing credentials.
Monica Heisey About | Monica Heisey
I would have rated this book 3 stars, but one line caught my eye, and I felt it rather strongly as one of the most relatable thing I’d read in a while: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. Funny, charming debut . . . Really Good, Actually is like having a front-row seat inside Maggie’s hyperenergetic brain as she searches for the magic combination of distractions to heal the pain. . . . Heisey knows how to bring laughs grounded in frank observations of the behaviours we try our best to hide from others." — Toronto Star Time to gobble up this Bridget Jones's Diary-for-the-smartphone-era that is perfect for fans of Schitt's Creek and Fleabag. Reading like a millennial Nora Ephron, everyone will fall in love with the messy and relatable heroine." — barnesandnoble.com
Really Good, Actually – HarperCollins Publishers UK
The author has my attention at the start with the opening section which is really good but then she loses me. Whilst there are some laughs and also some heartache I struggle to get through this. 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. Every sentence of Monica Heisey’s writing is a treat. Her observations on men, women, friendship, family, love, sexuality and womanhood are equal parts hilarious and profound. No one makes me laugh like she does.”— Dolly Alderton, bestselling author of GhostsYou know those miserable friends you avoid at all costs? This book was like being forced to listen to one for 5 hours straight. Painful. Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over. A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism. Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with sharp observations, Really Good, Actually is a tender and bittersweet comedy that lays bare the uncertainties of modern love, friendship, and our search for that thing we like to call "happiness". This is a remarkable debut from an unforgettable new voice in fiction. (From HarperCollins) Funny. Astutely observed. I loved it. Monica Heisey is a star writer.”— B.J. Novak,#1 New York Timesbestselling author of One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
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