Books I've Read: Really Good, Actually

 

I picked this one up at the library because it looked like it might be funny and light, and because the author was one of the writers on Schitt's Creek.  And while it was amusing in parts, It wasn't really as funny as I think the author thinks it is.

Let me just preface this review by saying I did read a large chunk of this book directly after I had surgery and was on a lot pain medication and probably a little doolally from anesthetic... 

The main character in this book is Maggie, a 29-year-old grad student and newlywed.  She and her husband have been together since the early days of college, but only decided to tie the knot about a yer ago.

So, it's a shock when Maggie discovers her marriage is over and she's facing life as a single woman again at such a young age.  After the initial period of inertia where she can barely lever herself out of bed, Maggie starts making tentative steps toward life again.  With help from her supportive group of friends and their group chat, a fellow newly-divorced woman and her tough, lesbian thesis advisor Merris, Maggie is determined to get back out there and grab life by the horns.

The book follows Maggie through this first post-divorce year as she tries to take up hobbies, moves house, experiments with dating apps and might just find a new guy she could give her heart to.

Some of the stuff she ends up in is quite funny, but in kind of a tragic way because Maggie herself is actually a truly tragic character.  She's completely lacking in any self-awareness, even as she's so totally wrapped up in herself and her self-improvement that she can't see anything outside her own sphere.  I found myself actively disliking her in so many places during the is book, especially the way she treated her friend group who were nothing but supportive of her.

And the way she constantly texted and called her ex everyday, even when he never responded was, again, tragic.  One of the most uncomfortable scenes in the whole book is one in which she goes to a couples therapy appointment, certain her ex is going to show up, when it's so obvious that there's no way he's ever going to do that.

But really, that's just one of many super uncomfortable scenes...

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this book, but to call it laugh-out-loud funny is a bit of a stretch.  It's a more uncomfortable, strained kind of laughter, when the odd moment of hilarity ensues.  I found myself cringing through a lot of it, humiliated on Maggie's behalf.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

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.