Really Good, Actually is … not bad, actually.
I can see why its rating on Goodreads is 3.14, but I rounded my 3.8ish up to four stars.
Partway through, I was tempted to put the book down and move on — the main character is grating and completely self-obsessed, with a friendship group that rubs me up the wrong way — but I’m glad I stuck with it.
It’s the story of 29-year-old Maggie, who is embarrassed because her marriage has come to an end after two short years. After spending some time allowing herself to deal with things unhealthily (takeaway food, staying indoors, cyber-stalking), she throws herself into all the things she thinks she should do post-breakup (hobbies, fitness, dating). She is ‘really good, actually’ if anyone asks.
But she’s not, obviously. Anger and resentment bubble up inside her and turn her into a vile individual whose friends no longer want to spend time in her company.
She’s so gross that you don’t want to look away.
While the book never asks you to like Maggie, it demands (or necessitates, perhaps) a level of empathy from the reader on the level that Maggie herself asks from her friends. And it’s really hard to give her second chances and the benefit of the doubt when she pushes your buttons so often, but people are people and they deserve some wriggle room to be awful when life goes belly up.
I won’t give away the ending, but let’s just say she has an arc.
The snarkiness of the narrative tone won’t appeal to everyone, and some (myself included) might find the list of Maggie’s Google searches a device that quickly becomes overused.
But that being said, if you enjoyed Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, you might enjoy this. This is a lighter character study — nihilistic at points, but less often and less heavy.
#AmReading
Really Good Actually, by Monica Heisey
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