Good Material: A Read with Jenna Pick

A novel

De: Dolly Alderton

Narrado por: Arthur Darvill, Vanessa Kirby

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK • 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.

not what I expected

I went into this book assuming that since the protagonist is a comedian going through a breakup you are going to have a funny, heartfelt story of someone using humor to deal with the emotional baggage/process of a break up. However, for the first 90 percent of the book you could substitute Andy’s profession with any mediocre career where the individual is failing and it doesn’t matter to the story. This disappointment clouded the book for me. There isn’t a single laugh or smile to be had in this book, but I also didn’t find it pulling on my sentimental heart strings very much either. It’s pretty meh.

Glad I Hung In There

Wasn’t so sure about this 1/3 of the way through. Was regretting I had picked it but luckily I hung in there because it got better and I ended up really liking it.

So very funny! Full of heart and wisdom. Great characters. Narrator was funny. Absolutely loved it.

Nothing - this book was delightful . I have no complaints. I recommend it to all my friends.

Surprisingly moving

Excellent narration and character development. The story was a surprisingly poignant and moving slow burn. Definitely understand why it is on so many best of 2024 lists.

Glad I stuck it out!

Breakups are hard! Hard to listen to someone else go through it in a whole lot of detail. I loved that we heard Andy’s perspective for most of the book but you knew he wasn’t a victim or anything. He had awareness that he was part of the problem. Then, to hear Jen’s story at the end brought it all together. Well done! Glad I stuck with the book when I wasn’t sure what the point would be.