Really Good, Actually

Monica Heisey ventures into novel territory, with a switch from comedy screenwriting to penning a contemporary fiction. The Schitt’s Creek writer does not leave behind her sense of the absurd and the human foibles that make characters both relatable and exaggeratedly bizarre. Maggie is a young woman in crisis, and she is not handling it very well. Unmoored by the dissolution of her short marriage, she is forced to grapple with her dashed life expectations and a restart for which she is unprepared. The plot generally tails Maggie as she realizes her gaps in knowledge about adult life and the dependencies that she had been able to ignore as part of a couple. She flounders in her unwished-for freedom, her attempts at independence show more providing many moments of zany adventures and awkward interactions. Her well-meaning friends also relentlessly bombard the poor woman with unsolicited advice and platitudes—spinning her more toward chaos than self-sufficiency. Through narrative and interspersed emails, lists, and conversation summaries, Heisey avoids succumbing to the obvious tropes of the genre. Like the tv scripts she has written, Really Good, Actually is funny and irreverent, at times even crass and cringe-worthy. Readers who appreciate kooky heroines and parodies of romantic comedy will find this debut a delightful diversion.

Thanks to the author and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review. show less

When I saw this book in B&N, and saw her sad, manic face on the cover I instantly thought "I can relate". I didn't pick it up right away, but 45 minutes later when I was about to check out, I went back and grabbed her.

It was like going to a pet shelter. I didn't choose her. She chose me.

I loved every second reading this book. I wish it would have never ended. But that's kinda selfish because that would doom Maggie to a lifetime of being miserable and never finding happiness. (But I still kind wish...). I laughed out loud so much. Literally LOL-ing. I never ACTUALLY LOL. LOL is a state of mind, not an actual thing people do. Unless, it turns out, you're reading this book.

I posted on my IG stories that I was reading this book and Monica show more Heisey shared it and I felt manic about it in the same way I feel like Maggie would have. Is that what the kids call "meta"? show less

Maggie is a Grad Student, married, renting an apartment and owning a rescue cat - until suddenly she is on her own. When her husband leaves her Maggie believes her life is over, aged 28. She wallows in sadness and self-pity, throws herself into various activities, overspends and indulges in lots of sex with lots of people. However sympathy for Maggie is growing thin and Maggie needs to face up to herself.

I am not the demographic that this book is intended for and I found it hard to read at first, simply because of the graphic sexual references and the Millennial vibe. However once I got into the rhythm of the book I started to find it very funny and very clever. OK, Maggie is a deeply unsympathetic character to me but the hilarity of show more the 'woke' activities and actions, the utter selfishness and the self-help got me hooked! show less

Maggie and Jon broke up. Not just broke up. They are getting divorced. Even though they have only been married a few years. Though they had been living together even more years before that. The thing was that Maggie thought her life was basically sorted out. And now she finds that she is still in her twenties and already divorcing and she had not planned on that. And now it’s all tears and emotional support from her friends and aberrant behaviour all the way down. And there just doesn’t seem to be any bottom. And definitely no future.

Maggie’s breakup and breakdown doesn’t break any new ground. The writing is full of gags and set pieces that are humorous even if predictable. But it feels like sketch comedy writing, if that is a show more definable thing. Since we catch Maggie already in the process of breaking (up and down), we never get a chance to see how it is even possible that she gathered this rather large cohort of amazingly tolerant (of her) and supportive friends. We are told that she had basically been in one long monogamous relationship for years but we mostly see her trying her hand at hookup apps and having various sexual encounters (she also seems to be experimenting with the possibility that she is bisexual). And always with the jokes, both aggressive and self-deprecating. You can’t help but worry for her, but you never feel as though you know who she is. On the other hand, I am probably too old for this novel. Maybe younger people find all of this completely perspicuous. I confess to just feeling a bit tired and queasy.

I’m sure it’s fine and that other people will enjoy it, but it’s not really good, actually, so I can’t recommend it. show less

Another reviewer nailed it with "Really Bad, Actually."

The writing was OK, but the main character was completely self-absorbed and thoroughly insufferable. It was hard to feel any form of emotional empathy for her because of how thoroughly whiny she was, and cognitive empathy would've required a deeper understanding of how she ended up in the situation she was in. The entire book has no plot; instead, it is the inner ramblings of a woman undergoing a divorce. Her mental health slowly spirals into depression and self-sabotage, but she doesn't believe that therapy can help her and is too self-absorbed to take advice from others.

At least, I believe the author was entirely aware of her character's flaws, but she chose to write her this way show more and did an excellent job. show less

I received an advance copy of this book, thank you

I didn't enjoy the book, not because it was poorly written, because it wasn't. Infact, Monica Heisey developed the characters perfectly. I could 100% picture Maggie, her best friends, her hookups, her colleagues at work and even her therapist, and picture the out-of-control situations that Maggie made happen with her self-centered obsessions. So convincing a character did Monica Heisey create, that more than once I wanted to reach into the pages and give Maggie a shake, and tell her to stop what she was doing. I'm not the audience the author was targeting, is my guess, so I believe some people will love this book.

Such a great cover, I was ready to chuckle and roll with this narrator. Instead, I found a stream of consciousness story where the mc, Maggie, is actually insufferable. I was waiting for the moment she realized she was actually kind of tough on her friends, very self-centered and couldn't seem to actually say anything that was real. You know it's bad when you feel really bad for John, the guy who left because she'd said the marriage wasn't working.

However, I will give credit for the narrator. I flipped this to an audio and I think I might have DNF'd if not for the voice of the narrator giving more emotion and giving a good emotion to Maggie's struggles. But it didn't bridge the gap to make me like this one more.