Good Material: A novel [L0099]

2024 - HCDJ Excellent condition. New York Times Bestseller, One of the New York Times Book Reviews' 10 Best Books of the Year. From the best-selling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love: a story of heartbreak and friendship and how to survive both "Like Nora Ephron, with a British twist....Delivers the most delightful aspects of classic romantic comedy-snappy dialogue, realistic relationship dynamics, humorous meet-cutes and misunderstandings-and leaves behind the clichéd gender roles and traditional marriage plot." -The New York Times. Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy. And he can't work out why she stopped. Now he is. . . Without a home, waiting for his stand-up career to take off, wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't looking. Set adrift on the sea of heartbreak, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of his ruined relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him. But Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story. In this sharply funny and exquisitely relatable story of romantic disaster and friendship, Dolly Alderton offers up a love story with two endings, demonstrating once again why she is one of the most exciting writers today, and the true voice of a generation.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Best breakup novel ever! I kept double checking on whether the author was really a woman. Dolly Alderton is definitely a woman. I just found it astounding how well a woman could absolutely inhabit a male psyche. It was a breakup story from a male point of view and yet...fully fleshing out Jen's side of the story as well. Brilliantly done. Thank you Dolly."; "What will stick with me the most is the last chapter. It caught me by surprise and redeemed the whole reading experience for me. We normally read about societal pressures and self-discovery in your twenties but I loved this story more because it tackled it from the perspective of those in their thirties+. The complex emotions of not being on the same path as your friends/family and isolating other's expectations to figure out what you want from life is difficult and takes time to realize. Dolly explained it so well and it's a great reminder of how we should empathize more with others and normalize all the different ways you can have a happy and fulfilled life."; "I really loved this one. I loved the humour. I loved the quiet insight into human behaviour, gender, adult friendship, social pressures, social media, and reaching that tricky age when friendship becomes secondary to partnership and anyone without a partner is often left to drift while everyone who used to be there for them focuses in on their spouse and children. I really loved the way Alderton constructed the story, so it feels like a story about Andy, a lovable but self-focused 35-year-old comedian coping with a breakup, but really, it's a story about Jen, his ex, a woman who has learned through her relationship with Andy the joys and challenges of being in a partnership she isn't ultimately moves away from. I loved, loved, loved that we got there first by seeing Andy as a whole and sympathetic person, albeit an often frustrating one, such that when Alderton flips the story on its head, everything expands and the big, long-awaited answer to why the breakup happened feels like a glorious breath of insightful fresh air that goes beyond one relationship to illustrate a bigger picture of life."