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I am awake WAY too early because I accidentally took a weeeee depression nap after learning about a family member's illness. đ„șđ„șI think my mind just needed to take a break to process so here I am awake at this unGodly hour. They say nothing good happens after midnight and I 100% agree with that. Maggie is an interesting character in that she is more complex than first meets the eye. I'll admit to getting frustrated with her at times but to be honest that's kinda what made the book special. Had Maggie been written as a one-dimensional character , it would have been a fluffy, mindless read. Instead she's a hot mess and even though you might not make the same choices as her, on some level she is relatable.
One of the most hotly anticipated, hilarious and addictive debut novels of 2023, from Schittâs Creek and Workinâ Moms screenwriter and electric new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey. I feel like when you get a divorce everyoneâs wondering how you ruined it all, what made you so unbearable to be with. If your husband dies, at least people feel bad for you. One of the most hotly anticipated, hilarious and addictive debut novels of 2023, from Schittâs Creek and Workinâ Moms screenwriter and an electric new voice in fiction, 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 DivorcĂ©eâą.Really, Good, Actually is also an incredibly powerful reminder that people don't need to be fixed, but they do need support, and they best possibly loving intervention you can provide if you have the energy to give? Also, to not mention any kind of random Japanese pottery theory about broken people... Really, though, let's all encourage our friends to seek professional help when we can see they're clearly struggling and we don't have the tools to help them. đ„șđ„ș My marriage ended because I was cruel. Or because I ate in bed. Or because he liked electronic music and difficult films about men in nature. Or because I did not. Or because I was anxious, and this made me controlling. Or because red wine makes me critical. Or because hunger, stress, and white wine make me critical, too. Or because I was clingy at parties. Or because he smoked weed every day, and I did not think it was âactually the same thingâ as my drinking two cups of coffee in the morning. Or because we fell in love too young, and how could our actual lives compare to the idea weâd had of what our lives could be when we were barely twenty and our bodies were almost impossibly firm? Or because we tried non-monogamy for three months in 2011, and it was just fine, not great. Or because he put hot sauce on everything, without tasting it, even if Iâd spent hours balancing the flavours from a recipe Iâd had to scroll past a long and detailed story about some womanâs holiday to find. Or because he forgot our anniversary once. Or because I did our laundry never. Or because his large Greek family had not quite accepted me as one of their own, even after I learned his yiayiaâs favourite poem for her birthday. Or because he walked in on me shitting that time. Or because, in 2015, we attended nine weddings and got carried away, and a big party where everyone told us we were geniuses for loving each other then gave us three thousand dollars seemed like a great idea. Or because we went to Paris and had an argument instead of falling more in love or at least rimming each other. Or because Iâd stopped imagining what our children might look like. Or because heâd never started. Or because I was insecure, and sometimes petty. Or because he kept insisting we go vegan, then sneaking pizzas into the apartment while I slept. Or because we finished watching The Sopranos and never started The Wire. Or because when we were first getting together, Iâd kissed someone else, and sometimes still thought about her. Or because he was needlessly combative, with a pretentious streak. Or because I was a coward, whose work did not âactively seek to dismantle the state.â Or because I scoffed when he said that and asked about the socialist impact of his latest McDonaldâs commercial. Or because he called me a cunt. Or because sometimes, I was one. Anyway, it was over. I was very sold on the set up though: a young, pithy woman goes through a divorce and has to cope with all the changes that brings. She struggles to achieve independence (financial and otherwise) when sheâs been part of a couple for so much of her adult life. She doesnât necessarily know entirely who she is, how to go about being a responsible adult, or have complete control over her emotions and even though I havenât been married or divorced, it was relatable. Unfortunately for me the execution fell short, but maybe if I experienced divorce I would appreciate it more. 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 âhappinessâ. This is a remarkable debut from an unforgettable new voice in fiction.
Maggieâs marriage has ended just 608 days after it started, but sheâs fine â sheâs doing really good, actually. Sure, sheâs alone for the first time in her life, canât afford her rent and her obscure PhD is going nowhere . . . but at the age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new status as a Surprisingly Young DivorcĂ©eâą. 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. However, it just goes on and on. Itâs way too long as itâs all basically the same theme so thereâs a lot of repetition. There isnât a plot as such as itâs just Maggieâs exploration of various things which eventually gets tedious. I canât say either that I especially like her as a central protagonist and this is one of those occasions where I think that is important. She tires me out, wears me down quite simply drives me round the bend. Some references mean nothing to me as a reader in the United Kingdom but will mean something to North American readers. Of the 43 most stressful events that an average adult might contend with in their lifetime, âdivorceâ and âmarital separationâ rank at Nos 2 and 3 respectively, grimly sandwiched between âspousal deathâ and âimprisonmentâ. (âVacationsâ and âfrequency of family reunionsâ make the list too â useful to remember in the wake of the holiday season.) Itâs a nugget of popular psychology with which Maggie, the heroine of Monica Heiseyâs debut novel, Really Good, Actually, would be familiar.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. Maggie is fine. Sheâs doing really good, actually. Sure, sheâs 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 DivorcĂ©eâą. Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their storesâa gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstoreâbecome fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love.
This book made me feel like the boy in Matilda who is forced by Principal Trunchbull to eat that entire chocolate cake. At first you think, oh yay cake. I enjoy this. But then you realize you are forcing yourself through more of the same with no new development until you are ready to just explode. It is much easier to digest in a more bite sized portions. Recommended by Los Angeles Times âą Washington Post âą GQâą Elle âą Good Morning America âą People âą Guardian âą The Times âą E! News Online âą The Globe and Mail âą Toronto Star âą The Week âą New York Post âą Shondaland âą and many more! 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!The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
In the movies, you are Diane Lane, or Keaton, or possibly Kruger, a beautiful middle-aged Diane who is her own boss and knows about the good kind of white wine. Usually, you do not continue living with your ex for weeks because you canât make the rent on your dusty one-bedroom apartment alone. Generally, you are not a glorified research assistant and an advertising copywriter, respectively, whose most important shared financial asset is your one friend who always gets free phones from work. Certainly, you are not supposed to be twenty-eight years old and actively planning a birthday party with the dress code âJimmy Buffett sluts.â Maggie is a 29 year old struggling to come to terms with a fresh divorce and for some reason has zero self restraint. She is endlessly cringey; constantly acting poorly and saying awful things to her friends. Iâm surprised her friends didnât fall out with her sooner.Kind of. Heâd 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 reliefâdespair, to think that I had caused him such pain heâd been driven to experimental songwriting; relief, that I wouldnât have to listen to it. Maggieâs marriage ended just 608 days after it started, but sheâs fine â sheâs doing really good, actually. Sure, sheâs alone for the first time in her life, canât afford her rent and her obscure PhD is going nowhere...but at the age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new status as a Surprisingly Young DivorcĂ©e.