Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

Really Good Actually Review

We’ve all been there. We have all had our hearts broken, and we have all done stupid, stupid things after a break-up. If you haven’t been there – well, have you lived? Maybe you’re very fortunate? I am not sure.

Maggie is twenty-nine and is going through a divorce – her marriage has ended just 608 days after it started. The novel follows Maggie who is totally fine (is she?) and who is actually doing quite well (sure) throughout the first year of her divorce. The chaos of her first year after (during?) her divorce is unhinged – and every reader will feel intense and often unrelenting second-hand embarrassment. You may even recognise variations of your yourself in some of her antics as she navigates this process.

Some plot elements that resonated with me were when the cat she and her husband shared went with the husband when he moved. I found this hugely sad (obviously). Then she (Maggie, not the cat) proceeds to log in to the cat’s Instagram account to keep tabs on her ex. I also really felt for her in her loneliness, her oscillating feelings of freedom and uncertainty. On the other hand, I found the character of Maggie infuriating, especially when she alienated her friends. She is consumed by her pain and so spends a great deal of time immersed in a vacuum of pain and selfishness (often understandably, very often maddeningly).

Maggie doesn’t expect her marriage to end, and she doesn’t expect that she will have to start again. But here we are – it happens and in this novel she grapples with this new beginning after a painful ending. She orders burgers at 4am and goes on bizarre adventures as she attempts to be really good, actually.

This book made me cringe. It made me laugh. It made me examine my own behavior after a thankfully long-ago break-up. And then it made me cringe again. And again. And I kept reading it.