4.5 Stars

I didn’t really know what I was expecting going into this book. A couple of friends read and recommended it, but both had read and loved Alderton’s previous work, so I wasn’t sure if it would hit the same for me. However, Alderton’s Good Material was unexpected. The concept was charming, and the execution was LAUGH OUT LOUD funny. Andy is our main character (for like 7/8 of the book), and he is a KNOB!!! But an unexpectedly endearing (at times) knob. I loved being a reader for his story (if that makes sense?) where, he is telling you his perspective, from his own point of view, flaws and all, self aware, but not self aware enough to realize how much he is leaving out and choosing to ignore. As readers, it’s easy to find Andy annoying, and maybe even unlikeable. But his story is still compelling, as we can reflect the worst of ourselves and our decisions and our relationships on and through him. His story is zany and strange and stupid at times, but never felt too unrealistic. I loved the dynamics of him and the people in his life, and reluctantly found myself charmed by a man I was so annoyed by. It felt like I, the reader, was his ex. Or that he was my best friend’s ex, and while I was on her side, completely, I honestly wished him the best. Throughout his story, and his “side”, I felt like this was a strong, solid book. But it was the last (eighth?) that brought it all together for me. I was surprisingly emotional, and so so connected to Jen’s perspective. It tied everything together, and brought together lose ends, in a way that, although not unpredictable, felt right.

The writing was vulnerable and painful, and the characters were flawed and multidimensional. This was a lovely, lovely story about heartbreak and mess, and like a long-term breakup, we kind of went through it, before we, the readers, also got a satisfying ending.

Dolly’s done it again! I’ve now caught up to everything Dolly Alderton has written and must say she’s become an auto-buy author for me.

I really enjoyed Good Material. Andy is a funny character to read about; he’s got what I would consider a dead career, a failed relationship, serious friend envy, and for most of the novel he’s a bit of a suck about why he got dumbed, not really acknowledging that he was at least 50% of the reason the relationship fell apart but overall somehow you want to root for him and hope that he can get his life back on track.

I think Dolly does a great job writing from a guy’s perspective and makes you believe that Andy would actually be sad and experiencing this loss of his relationship and not trying to make him a macho d*ck instead who’s just on the rebound, but also not a completely unbelievable typical male character written by a women (aka written how the author wishes men were like).

My paperback copy has about a million little tabs of emotional and quotable parts that I loved and may edit my Goodreads review later to expand on but in a nutshell all you need to know is this book is good and if you like contemporary fiction about relationships and/or Dolly Alderton’s writing give it a read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I did enjoy this book, I had a lot of high hopes because I have heard such great things about Dolly Alderton. What I had trouble grasping with the story was being inside Andy's head throughout the whole story. His depression about his breakup, his life as a comedian and how hard he was trying to get Jen back was really hard to follow with, though I know that was what Dolly was trying to do. I loved the ending from Jen's perspective of how she felt through everything and I loved how she touches on the pressure that society puts on women to get married and have a family.

Dolly Alderton the star that you are!! If you know me, you know I love everything Dolly Alderton writes. While this book is entirely different from what she normally writes (centred around a 3o year old man...) but honestly, I kind of liked it. I did see Dolly speak irl about this book, and I feel like that did give the book some perspective for me before actually reading it. Andy is just a silly guy going through a heartbreak. Is he a mess? oh 100%. Is it kind of funny, oh 100%. Is it also kind of sad? 100%. I don't know, I never felt bad for Andy (cause he was such a mess, and a lot of his issues with Jen were because of him) but I did find his whole heartbreak process real and relatable. I really loved Jen's little POV at the end, I wish we did get more of that, but centering the book around Andy definitely made this more of an interesting read. It's also lowkey a funny book! I was laughing out loud at some points.

First off, I would probably give this closer to 3.5 stars.

As mentioned in many other reviews, the last couple of chapters from Jen's POV really lifted this book up. I understand why the book was written the way it was but I did find Andy quite insufferable. Sure, many of his thoughts and actions were relatable but there were some comments dropped here and there that just, wow. But despite that, I didn't find it a drag to get through and I never considered DNF'ing.

I'm a big fan of Dolly Alderton and I find she touches on so many relatable themes in her writing and that was especially true here, I loved hearing Jen's side of the breakup and what led to her decision.

I thought this book was so smart, funny, and insightful. I was a bit of a tough sell at first because it’s so unusual to be in the head of a man, and Andy is a bit of a basket case, and he felt a little insufferable at times. The whole premise of the books is that Andy, a stand-up comedian, has been left by his longtime girlfriend, and it’s the story of him trying to get over their breakup, when he doesn’t have a clear understanding of why she didn’t want to be with him. However, somewhere along the way, I really started to feel for him. And then when the narrative shifts for the final ten percent of the book so we get Jen’s perspective on their relationship? Brilliant! It was one of those books where once I finished, I wanted all my friends to read it so I can hear more thoughts on it!

4.5 stars rounded up to five

Good Material by Dolly Alderton is a witty novel following amateur comedian Andy as he reenters the dating world mid-thirties after splitting with his long-term girlfriend Jen. I didn't know how much I would enjoy this book since I have never read a literary fiction/rom-com with a male main character but I really enjoyed it! Andy was funny, a little weird (in a good way), and although I have never been in his specific situation, insanely relatable. I was laughing out loud throughout the entire book and enjoyed how everything wrapped up in the end, especially with being able to read from Jen's perspective a bit. I think this book also did a great job of including realistic adult relationships and showing how they change as people get older, which is definitely one of Alderton's specialties when it comes to writing. I loved seeing Avi and Jane's relationship with both Andy and Jen after they broke up, and how supportive they were of both friends. I found Jen's perspective on her break-up with Andy to be something a lot of women struggle with, it really reminded me of Sylvia Plath's fig tree analogy. Overall, it was another win from Dolly Alderton, I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Randomhouse Canada for the advanced reader copy of Good Material by Dolly Alderton in exchange for an honest review!

I love Dolly Alderton. I read Ghosts when it came out years ago and I have not stopped thinking about it since.
My expectations were high when I finally got my hands on Good Material.

Her writing is so relatable, so honest, so funny, so sincere. Her characters are so real and her stories are so engaging.

This book is the perfect example of that, character driven and heartfelt, I highly recommend it 💚

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Doubleday for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This books delves into heartache in a humorous, heartbreaking and reflective manner. I really enjoyed the story, especially the second half.

Good Material by Dolly Alderton

Thank you to @doubledayca and @netgalley for my copy of this fantastic book. Dolly Alderton is one of my favourite authors for her wit and insightful observations. This one comes out tomorrow and I’m sure it will be popular.

Good Material is the story of Andy and Jen’s breakup. Told almost entirely from Andy’s point of view (which is so unique and refreshing) as he spirals into “the madness”. We see him go through all the stages, both expected - drinking too much and stalking her on Instagram, and unexpected - moving on to a house boat. Being single at 35 is not as easy as it was at 30, with all his friends being in relationships, parents, or just busy. Everyone can relate to at least one part of his experiences, whether you’ve been through a breakup like this or not. Any time I thought it was getting a bit too drawn out or mopey there would be a completely hilarious laugh out loud comment or moment that would draw me right back onto his side.

The ending was entirely brilliant, bringing in Jen’s point of view to wrap it all up and remind us that a break up always has two sides. Her insight and thoughts on life and relationships were so spot on.

Reminding me of both Ghosts and Confessions of a Forty Something F##k Up, this book was hilarious, heartbreaking and life-affirming.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC!
I honestly thought i’d hate this after realizing the novel was written from the first person perspective of a 35 year old man. and there was a stretch of it where i really did not like it, and i still don’t know how much i like andy, but that’s the point. and dolly made it so clear and so human and i should never have doubted it.
being young is awful but it’s also kind of wonderful. being in love is as awful as it is lovely and sometimes it takes so much time and a 70-something year old flatmate to tell us.
dolly’s writing style is witty when it needs to be and poignant when it ought to be. I giggled the right amount and was balanced out by passages that made me put my phone down and stare out the bus window. she gets it, the little intricacies of self-doubt and (lack of) self-esteem and selfishness and hopefulness. this book encompasses the human condition just enough to be thoroughly enjoyable.
at the end of the day we are a little pathetic but we are good. god, are we good.

This is a book about breakup written from the POV of a man in his mid-thirties. It is funny and timely. It will probably be relatable to a lot of people. My first instict was to give this book a 5-star rating, but somehow the more I think about it the more I am inclined to rank it lower for two reasons:

1. The book is written from the POV of a man but it really shows that it is written by a female author. I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing, but it is a biased description of male breakup experience.

2. The male POV makes up 85% of the book, the final part is written from female perspective. As with any conflict, it is important to hear both sides of the story. But Andy's part feels a tad too long and Jen's part a tad too short. I really hope her POV was a part of the initial book concept and was not added as an afterthought to appeal to Dolly's target reading audience.

I would recommend this to anyone who is going through a breakup or thinking about starting a family/having kids. It is important to understand that we are the masters of our fate and should not be victimized by society for living our lives on our own terms.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.

Dare I say a book for the Spotify Stalkers, if you know you know.

Dolly Alderton’s latest book, Good Material, follows 35-year-old comedian Andy Dawson after he is devastatingly broken up with out of the blue by his long-term girlfriend, Jen. He finds himself confused as to why the relationship ended and how his life could’ve possibly ended up this way.

Alderton’s writing in Good Material feels like a blend of Nora Ephron’s ‘When Harry Met Sally’ and Stephen Frears’ ‘High Fidelity’ in the best way possible. This is a witty exploration of modern relationships. And while I do think it will be either a massive hit or miss for most audiences, I think it's worth sticking out to the end.

I found this so unbelievably funny but also embarrassing. I think Dolly Alderton does such an incredible job pulling out the highs and lows of the break-up process and there were moments I had to put my book down because I saw myself in these characters in a way that was so deeply humiliating. Like truly, wanted to crawl into my bed in shame seeing myself this way.

I will be reading this again for sure, so glad I picked this up. Thank you for the arc.

One thing ran through my mind every time I picked up this book - this book (told from the perspective of a middle-aged male protagonist for about 95% of the book) is like medicine for anyone who has been broken up with by some middle-aged manchild who thought he was more woke, more important, and more interesting than he really is. The book is about a middle-aged stand-up comedian who is broken up with, and who spends the rest of the book going through various stages of grief, checking her social media, having a fling with someone else, being sad again, etc. Don't get me wrong, this is a great book - it's very "voice-y", for lack of a better term, and the storytelling is done so well that I was invested but my god, is the protagonist just navel-gaze-y and self-important and wallowing (and again - that's the point!).

I can give this book no higher praise than to say that this is the book I wish I had in my hands when I went through a difficult break-up with a dude in his 30s who was very much stuck in the past and had a warped sense of how he came across in the world. My favorite part of the book was the last 5%, where it switches perspective and we get some insights from the other prominently featured character - but I'm not going to lie, that last part of the book was so much more intriguing and faster paced and interesting: no doubt since the character herself was also more self-aware and accountable, etc, making it less of a frustrating and melancholic mindset to inhabit (compared to the first 95% of the book).

This is a great book, and I'll continue to read everything Dolly Alderton releases - but I can't lie, I do wish the perspective switch happened sometime midway through the book, rather than at the very very end.

GOOD MATERIAL was an absolute delight. So refreshing, so funny, so poignant, so witty, so with it. Would pair absurdly well alongside Monica Heisey's REALLY GOOD, ACTUALLY.

This is your next book club book, folks. Trust.

We follow Andy through his stages of grief, his struggles with his jobs, and with his male friends. All the characters were so well flushed out. I LOVED Avi and Jane and how Andy saw them and their family. I loved Morris, Andy’s mom. All of it. There definitely was a point in the book where I got sick of Andy’s pity-party and felt desperate for it to end, which I think was also the point. We see Andy try and take the “right” steps, joining a gym, getting a trainer, dating, etc. Once I got over the hump of drunk lonely sad Andy, things really sped up

I cannot believe Dolly picked on of the least sympathetic characters in current society (a 30 year old, white, male, comedian) and made me feel things for him. Taking on the male perspective was an interesting choice. This book definitely felt like a male-centric Ghosts. But instead about dating in your 20s, its about dating in your 30s. After turning 30 this year, the place these characters were in felt SO REAL. You have some friends with kids, getting married, and some friends starting fresh or pivoting.

In the end, she does a great job of capturing all the nuances of a relationship, the different stages you move through as a couple.

I don’t think Dolly Alderton is for me. For the majority of the book, I had to suffer through the pov of a man in his mid-30s while he wallows through a breakup. The end started to get good, but even then I felt the overall execution to be way too weak to be enjoyable.

I felt that the emotions portrayed in the book were quite superficial and surface-level - especially those of the protagonist Andy. While there were some good parts towards the end, they were not enough to make up for the book's shortcomings.

If you don’t typically gravitate towards literary fiction, this might be for you. I think I went in thinking I was getting a detailed emotional journey, but this book is technically categorized under “humorous fiction” which could be why I was let down.

Honestly I hadn't read the synopsis before starting this book so I went in pretty blind. I didn't realize that the breakup taking over Andy's life was the entire plot, but once I clued in to this, and accepted that Jen wasn't going to be leaving Andy's attention any time soon the book's pacing felt much more appropriate. The ending was pretty predictable, largely in part due to the title of the manuscript. Predictable or not, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book, despite that I usually struggle to connect with male point-of-view protagonists. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

I really enjoyed Ghosts by this author and was excited for her new book however I struggled to connect with the majority of the book told from a male POV. I did get more invested towards the end when the perspective switched to the woman's POV. I related a lot to her struggles with motherhood, what being a good partner involved and the toll being in a relationship can take on selfhood and autonomy. Good on audio and overall just an okay read for me. This wasn't a book that will standout for me this year but I'm sure it's bound to resonate with a lot of other readers. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and Librofm for an early ALC copy in exchange for my honest review!

Good Material is told from the perspective of 30-something Englishman named Andy dealing with getting dumped, moving out of his home and into various other living situations, navigating friendships, and handling work stresses (a comedian having trouble booking gigs) during this life change. We feel sorry for Andy, but also, can't help but think he's brought some of his situation on himself. We also hear from his ex, Jen at the end of the book, and it's a welcomed perspective to share her side of the story of why we ended up here. Overall, it's engaging and laugh out loud funny.

Not sure I've ever walked away from a book about a breakup and still loved and admired both characters in the (former) relationship, but here we are. I am a woman, but I would like to think the author has done a great job articulating a man's feelings. There were a few passages that gave me an opportunity to do some reflection that will surely be permanently tabbed/highlighted in a physical copy I eventually acquire!

This is my first Dolly Alderton and I can't wait to read her backlist, I also think this should immediately be a limited tv series, which makes sense give her background. Loved it.