Really Good, Actually

Almost really good, actually.

This is the story of Maggie, a twenty-nine-year-old woman who is going through a divorce and attempts to restart her life. The story starts off strong with a conversational tone, sarcastic humour that had me laughing out loud a few times, and a Toronto locale that this Canadian loved.

But instead of a novel, it felt more like a collection of Maggie's experiences and comedic instances about divorce and starting over. This makes sense since Heisey is a writer and comedian who has worked on a few famous TV shows (Schitt's Creek anyone!?). But these bunches of experiences got old and a bit tedious after awhile and I didn't always like being stuck with only Maggie's POV which was filled with her self-destructive tendencies and her immature attitude.

I listened to this book in audiobook format and while Maggie's lists and Google searches were particularly funny, I don't think they transferred well into audiobook format, despite Julia Whelan doing an excellent job as narrator. 

Overall, this was a good but not quite great read for me. When I step back from it, I liked the idea of following a young woman after divorce and I appreciated how Heisey focuses on the importance of self-care, asking for help and giving support to others when they need it. But this story meanders too much and I felt needed more direction as readers watch Maggie weather her new post-marriage life.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Monica Heisey

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Canadian

Type and Source: eAudio from public library

Narrator: Julia Whelan

Run Time:

Publisher: HarperAudio

First Published: January 17, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: 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 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™.

Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.

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.