"Really Good, Actually" by Monica Heisey

An audio book.

Toronto, 2019. Maggie (first-person, an over-thinker who's a lecturer) was a plump teenager who suddenly over-dieted before meeting John when they were 19. They married. Now, at 28, he's moved out. Nobody's fault really, it seems. Her supportive friends are Amira (in a year-long partnership, still a flirt), Clive (gay) and 2 Laurens, one of them emotional. She has a sister Hanna and divorced parents. She lists the things she and John did together, the things they disliked about each other, the things that happen in films to divorcing couples. John takes their cat.

She makes friends with Amy, a divorcee. She considers cosmetic surgery. She binge-buys (we get another list - she likes lists and listacles) and moves into a cheaper place. She's curious about how John's getting on. His friends let slip that he's dating again. A barista rejects her. She "flirted like a baby deer learning to walk". She lets mutual friend Kalvin stay the night. No touching, but it was nice. She reckons she's 30% gay and starts sleeping with both genders. She sleeps with Kalvin after all, then doesn't see him again. She meets a new man, Simon, then breaks up with him after an argument about his trust in therapy and her difficulty with being pitied. We learn that she's been phoning/texting John at least daily even though he's not been replying for several months. She very much wants him back.

Her life's a disaster, she thinks, but her tweets about it are doing great. She tries, half-heartedly, a threesome. She thinks about getting back with Simon, though when he phones she says she needs space. She stays at her father's. She helps at a dog shelter. She and Amy share a place. She feels happy being single. Simon txts to wish her a happy birthday. She's happy about that too.

There are several smart one-liners - e.g. "a level of fun I've never met outside of an advert for a chain restaurant"; "you cannot spring a goatee on someone!" - but the plot-trajectory is no surprise. Her range of distraction activities seem to work in the end - they're entertaining enough, though there are sections that don't seem to do much. It feels like an overlong book.

Other reviews

• Shahidha Bari (a book full of millennial witticisms and reliably regular deadpan turns. But the seemingly tireless facility for jokes and comic self-deprecation can also be wearing ... There’s certainly a breezy confidence to Heisey’s mode of storytelling via text messages and Tinder correspondence, but quickfire DM exchanges in an age of internet dating can also read like comedy sketches, obstructing the possibility of real insight.)
• Sarah Collins (I am a fan of complicated female characters, but I needed a bit more depth here, I needed more development, and I needed a bit more of a plot, ultimately that’s why this fell flat for me.)