Really Good, Actually By Monica Heisey

Title: Really Good, Actually

Author: Monica Heisey

Format: 370 pages, Hardcover, Audible

Published: First published January 17, 2023

Language: English

Genre:
Fiction Audiobook Contemporary Romance Humour Chick Lit Book Club Adult LiteraryFiction Adult Fiction

My Review:

‘This has the comedy and the cruel reality of divorced life. Worth reading.’

About the Author

Monica Heisey is an essayist, comedian, and screenwriter from Toronto. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, the New York Times, Vogue, Elle, The Guardian, Glamour, New York Magazine, and VICE, among others. She has written for television shows like Schitt’s Creek, Workin’ Moms, and Everything I Know About Love, and created her own romantic comedy for SkyTV, Smothered, which aired in December of 2023. She lives in London.

My Thought

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey — When You’re Definitely Not Fine, Actually

“I’m fine.”

How many times have we said those words when we were anything but fine?

Monica Heisey’s debut novel, Really Good, Actually, takes that familiar little lie and turns it into a hilarious, chaotic, painfully honest story about divorce, friendship, loneliness, and trying to figure out who you are when the life you thought you wanted suddenly falls apart.

Meet Maggie.

She is twenty-nine, broke, working on a graduate thesis that seems to be going nowhere, and—most importantly—newly divorced. Her marriage lasted only 608 days, and Maggie is determined to convince everyone, including herself, that she is doing really good, actually.

Of course, she isn’t.

Not really.

A Surprisingly Young Divorcée

Instead of quietly falling apart, Maggie decides to embrace her new single life.

She has suddenly acquired time for hobbies, dating, questionable decisions, late-night burgers, and figuring out what exactly people are supposed to do after their carefully planned future disappears.

With the help of her friend Amy, her academic advisor Merris, and an extremely active group chat, Maggie throws herself into her new life.

And chaos follows.

There are dates that go nowhere, friendships that become complicated, nights that don’t quite go according to plan, and plenty of moments when Maggie has to confront the uncomfortable reality that being single isn’t necessarily the exciting new beginning she imagined.

Sometimes it’s lonely.

Sometimes it’s liberating.

And sometimes it’s both on the same day.

The Funny Side of Falling Apart

What makes Really Good, Actually stand out is its humour.

Maggie’s thoughts are messy, self-deprecating, occasionally ridiculous, and wonderfully honest. The novel doesn’t turn divorce into a tragic melodrama. Instead, Heisey finds the absurdity in the experience.

Because sometimes heartbreak looks like crying on the floor.

And sometimes it looks like ordering a burger at four in the morning and wondering whether that counts as personal growth.

The humour makes Maggie incredibly easy to follow, even when she is making questionable decisions.

And honestly, that’s part of the charm.

More Than a Divorce Story

Although divorce is at the centre of the novel, Really Good, Actually is ultimately about something much bigger.

It’s about identity.

What happens when you have spent years imagining your future with someone else?

Who are you when that person is suddenly gone?

And how do you rebuild a life when you aren’t entirely sure what you want the new version to look like?

Maggie’s journey isn’t a neat transformation from heartbreak to happiness.

It’s much messier than that.

She makes mistakes. She dates. She overthinks. She embarrasses herself. She questions her choices. She leans heavily on her friends. And slowly, she begins to understand that happiness doesn’t necessarily mean returning to the person she was before her marriage.

Maybe it means becoming someone new.

Friendship Takes Centre Stage

One of my favourite things about the premise is that the story isn’t entirely dependent on romance.

Maggie’s friendships become an important part of her survival.

Her newly divorced friend Amy, her academic advisor Merris, and her group chat provide the support, honesty, and occasional reality checks she desperately needs.

Because sometimes, when your romantic life is falling apart, it’s your friends who help you remember that you’re still a whole person.

Summary:

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.

Happy Reading!!!

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