Another review put it best: "Being stuck inside the head of a 35 year old man with the emotional bandwidth of a teaspoon is truly the seventh circle of hell."

It took me awhile to get into Good Material. I have really enjoyed Dolly Alderton’s books and her reflections on dating in your 30s and online dating have been so perfect that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to read this one.

Then I realized it was narrated by Andy the MMC as he processes a breakup over the course of a year. To be honest that threw me a bit and it took more time to be invested in his side of the story. Yet also that is also why it won me over too. Seeing his struggles and how men deal with patriarchy and masculinity when it comes to their feelings felt really novel to see explored.

Also I absolutely love Morris, The Flip concept is genius, The Lost Weekend bit made me so sad, Andy’s mom’s speech about all the little goodbyes 😭 and I wish all my friends with kids were like Jane and Avi (don’t @ me but being a 30 something person especially woman/femme who is single and choosing not to have kids is rare but also can be incredibly ostracizing and lonely, Jane and Avi pull both Jen and Andy into their lives intentionally and that was very beautiful to see.)

Then in the last 40 pages we get Jen’s perspective on not just the year but how she came to be in a relationship with Andy and I lost it. As someone who has been mostly single and choosing to not have kids and very comfortable alone but not 100 percent sure if I want a relationship or just the creature comforts of one… I just felt so seen. And then I bawled through the end because it was just really beautiful.

Dolly just does this oh so well.

What I didn’t love. I don’t enjoy a lot of comedy especially comedy by white men and to use Sophie’s word, it’s a bit cringe.

The ending!? Why would you give your characters these big exciting turns in their life and then overshadow them with COVID happening which then feels like some weird cruel joke. Just leave COVID out. We don’t always need to include it, we can exist in an alternate timeline and still have it be believable.

If you love books about relationships, breakups, the messy bits, and ultimately laughing your way through finding yourself and healing then you will enjoy this.

Thank you @netgalley and @aaknopf for my digital ARC!

I could really relate to this book. Which I think a lot of people could. In all an enjoyable read. I might not recommend this to everyone but the majority would find something

This was my first reading of Alderton’s work and I really enjoyed it! This book was a great examination of a relationship post-breakup AND told from the man’s point of view. It was interesting to read from this perspective and I think Alderton did a great job writing from a different standpoint.

There were times when I laughed out loud while reading. It’s an easy book to read and quick to get through and enjoy.

Thanks to Knopf for the ARC!

Even though this was recommended to me multiple times, I kept putting it off. Probably because I LIKED Ghosts but I didn't LOVE it like many seemed to. And what are the odds I'd like a male perspective on a similar subject more? Apparently odds are good because I absolutely adored this. While cringey at times, Andy's experience over six months after his girlfriend dumps him feels highly realistic (we've all been there). And I loved that the characters were in their mid-30s, rather than 20s like many breakup stories are. The end is a bit controversial, but for me the last 50 pages solidified Good Material as a 5-star read. I love love loved it.

Good Material Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Author: Dolly Alderton
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

I have never before read a book that follows a 30 something man dealing with a long term relationship breakup, but I do have to say I enjoyed it. This book felt much more like helping a friend get through a rough breakup than it did reading about a character. Dolly Alderton did not try and sugar coat the reality of being broken up with in your 30s, especially when you thought the relationship was going well. While reading this, you experience every stage of grief with Andy while also watching Andy being able to form his own identity again outside of a codependent relationship. I loved that even though Dolly wrote from the perspective of Andy, and his life/struggles post breakup, we as the readers get a few chapters at the end that is from his ex girlfriend’s point of view. I also loved being able to see the two sides to the relationship, and have better understanding of why it ended, and how she also grieved the relationship. I don’t know if I would d this book to someone going through a break up or not due to how raw and imperfect the characters are, but I do think it’s an important read if you are looking to see the reality of a breakup without the romantic happy ending that most books offer:

Another masterpiece by Dolly Alderton. The inner-monologue of the narrator and dialogue with characters was painstakingly written. Good Material was so colorful and written so well that when I think back on it, I think I watched it as a tv series or movie. This novel still stays with me months after reading, as with all of Alderton’s writing.

GOOD MATERIAL was my first Dolly Alderton book but won’t be my last! + a moment of silence for this cover!

⭐️ rating: 4 stars
genre: lit fic
#️⃣ pages: 336
🎧 reco the audiobook! the British narrator >>>
✍🏼 same author of GHOSTS and EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE
ALC #gifted by #prhaudio
📖 a @readwithjenna february pick
read if you like: quick books, stories from a different POV, coming of age type stories, funny books

all i knew going into GOOD MATERIAL was that it covered a breakup from a man’s POV. color me intrigued! this story felt fresh and unique to me bc of this since most POVs are written from a 3rd person or women’s POV. Alderton has a comedic, effortless way of writing and she evokes many emotions for readers—laughter, sadness, empathy, understanding and more. it almost feels like a coming of age novel in a way—the MC is reallllllly going through it after a breakup and it takes you along for the ride. i devoured this on audio (i think i finished in 3 days) which is so rare for me, but it was addicting! some of it got monotous and a bit repitive, but i think that goes to show how mundane and confusing the days/months after something like this can be. this book would be a very fun book club pick to discuss!

GOOD MATERIAL follows a 35-year-old man named Andy who has just been dumped by his girlfriend of 3+ years and is totally blindsided and confused. why did she do it? what does he do now? will they ever get back together?

i’m not going to lie, i was terrified i’d go through 300+ pages of this book just for them to get back together 😅😂 i’m not going to comment on that either way, but i was pleased at the ending—there is a surprise waiting for you that was semi-jarring on audio. if you know, you know 👀 i think it tied up the book nicely and without it, the book would have felt incomplete for me. but now with it there, i found myself wanting more of it the entire book! this is vague but i’m trying to keep it spoiler free. come back and chat with me about this when you’re done 🩷

all in all, a quick and enjoyable read!

I love Dolly so much! This book was so relatable and very funny! Dolly never fails to mix humor and real life together in a book

loved the POV, he was so petty and languishing, would also gift this to someone going through a breakup, fun to read and so real
good material > ghosts

Alderton’s writing should be mandatory reading for modern dating and heartbreaks. Everything that happens in her novels feels so real. If you haven’t found yourself in that exact situation, chances are you know someone it has happened to. Her characters are so easy to empathize with and you find yourself going through all the emotions along with them. In Ghosts it was obvious how well she knew the female mind. But she outdid herself in Good Material with the way she captured the dichotomy between the masculine and feminine psyche through a break-up so well.

Honest, insightful, and full of heart. Thoroughly enjoyed this, and even though I got a little weary with one side of the story, I can totally see why it is set up in that way. So glad we got to hear the other side—it felt very much true to life in the way that relationships struggle and dissolve and how they can feel so different for the two people in them—even when both parties love each other fiercely. Thanks!

I really loved this book! I feel like it’s a good book to read after a break-up. I really enjoyed the ending and I won’t spoil it here. But the last chapter I loved how that came about. The main character was very self-deprecating, funny (he is a comedian) and a good friend. I loved the inner dialogue that he had and that was a lot in this book. I don’t always love the inner dialogue of characters, but Alderton did it really well here. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends, especially the ones that don’t like sex scenes in books. There are no overt sex scenes which can sometimes feel refreshing.

I loved loved this book! I rarely read the male perspective in hetero breakups, and Andy was equal parts infuriating and sympathetic.

I don’t read a ton of novels from a male’s perspective, so this was a switch up for me. Enter Andy — a comedian + odd-job working, sentimental, balding, thirty-something who recently got broken up with by the love of his life. Most of this novels journey follows Andy processing his relationship and his shortcomings. At times he got a bit whiney and long winded for me, but then i had to remember to sympathize— bc aren’t we all this way with a broken heart?

Dolly perfectly wrote this as a beautiful mess. It shows the impact and sometimes chaos of a break-up mentally, in friendships and in decisions we make. I absolutely loved the inclusion of the last chapter’s perspective shift as well. Mild spoiler— but it gives a beautifully complex journey of a woman choosing to be single.

This might make me a basic book bitch, but I don’t care. I love Dolly Alderton’s writing. She’s a delight! This time, our MC is Andy, a 35-year-old comedian whose girlfriend, Jen, has just dumped him. He drinks too much and pines too much until his career stagnates (and then flops).
Meanwhile, all his friends are paired up, married, or married with children. Alderton perfectly captures how strange it is to find yourself single in your mid-thirties suddenly. I loved this!

Not at all what I expected. This should be categorized as romance. I enjoyed some it, mainly the end. I wish more of the story was told from the woman's point of view. The man was too whiney and annoying. The writing was top notch. The story was not very interesting.

Good Material was a wonderful read. I liked the perspective after a break up and the aftermath. The writing was excellent as always.

It feels irrelevant to post a review to this title which has garnered so much buzz. I'm definitely in the minority - I felt like our hero was whiny and mopey and just completely annoying the entire way through.

Dolly is always exactly what I'm looking for. She's funny, and relatable, and so deeply observant the world around her. Her stories are almost painfully real, which can make them, occasionally, *cringe* (as Sophie would say), but they are always entertaining.

I will say that this is probably my least favorite of the three Dolly books I've read. Ghosts is an all-time favorite, and the writing here was excellent; I think I was just hoping for more Jen and less Andy in this breakup narrative. Jen's section at the very end brought this book up a full star for me—her reflections on peer pressure, societal expectations of women, and the ways in which being in a long term relationship can change the way you view your partner and yourself were all dangerously sharp, and made up for at least a few weeks' worth of Andy's directionless wallowing.

Thank you to Knopf for the opportunity to read and review this title! I would easily recommend this book to fans of Meg Mason, Sloane Crosley or Rebecca K Reilly.