Really Good, Actually

A Novel

By: Monica Heisey

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Every sentence of Monica Heisey’s writing is a treat. No one makes me laugh like she does.” —Dolly Alderton, New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Know About Love

Recommended by Los Angeles Times • Washington Post • GQ • Elle • Good Morning America • People • Guardian • The Times • E! News Online • The Globe and Mail • Toronto Star • The Week • New York Post • Shondaland • and many more!

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.

“A prime example of how a storyteller's voice can pull you right in and keep you clinging to every sentence. . . . This is a book I will give to my closest girlfriends and say, ‘You have to read this.’” — Zibby Owens, GoodMorningAmerica.com

“Tremendously funny and thoughtful.” –GQ

Really hard to finish

One of the worst books I’ve read lately. I just couldn’t connect or empathize with Maggie. 3/4 of the book was focused on “oh poor me.”

Good, not great

I love Julia Whelan as a narrator so that was a plus, but I found the lead character to be mostly annoying. Her lack of self awareness was too much. Maybe if I was still in my 20’s I’d relate more to this story…

Witty, raw, funny, & endearing

My only real critique is that it was like much too long. Her antics/craziness/anecdotes could have been condensed for the listener. By Chapter 17 I jacked up the listening speed to 2.1 just to get through it.

Great narrator but…

The narrator did a fine job and the story was well written. I just couldn’t identify with the main character. She spent a lot of time in avoidance when I am a face it head on person. If I met this character in real life I’d probably be disgusted with her behavior. But this is also a sign of good writing that the author could evoke such a strong dislike of the character. Maybe i am just in a place where I want to read something more positive.

I related

Having been thru a divorce, there were many of her thought processes I could relate to. She had to find herself and be comfortable in her own skin and I was there.