Really Good, Actually by @monicaheisey is painfully relatable to readers who have felt the sluggishness of not being able to move on. It doesn't necessarily have to be a broken relationship, it is of all those things in the past that has kept us shackled. The things that have controlled us, our lives and hindered our personal growth. The things that had entwined themselves with us so tightly that a life without them seemed outlandish.

Maggie's identity as a surprisingly young divorcee is something that she is unable to come to terms with. The man that she had dedicated her twenties too had turned out to be an unsuitable partner not much before they were united legally or by God, whatever one chooses to believe. She's financially defenseless and on top of that, her thesis seemed to be whirling inside an abyss. Her ex-husband had been her financial safety net and co-parent to their cat Janet, who she misses terribly too. With half her furniture gone along with her husband and the cat, she finds herself living a life that needs an alarming number of hamburgers at 4 am to find fulfillment. Despite the bunch of people that surrounds her new life, Maggie often finds herself to be a source of unrelatable content. She does not understand the optimism her newly divorced friend Amy harbours towards life and is chased with the thoughts of getting over the codependent life she shared with her ex-husband. Nothing makes sense to Maggie anymore and reinventing herself at the ripe old age of twenty nine seems like a tedious job.

Heisey's eye for the odd little things in life is amusing and her voice is an addictive one. There's a sense of familiarity in her prose that feels like home even though the plot is a journey of defamiliarization. The woman v/s void theme works fantastically with the hilarious tone of the novel. Really Good, Actually is a highly entertaining and realistic narrative about a woman's journey from nothingness to light.

Thank you @harpercollinsin for the copy!