As a big Dolly Alderton fan, I was really surprised that when I started reading Good Material, it was written from the male perspective! After a few pages, I was over my initial surprise and instantly hooked on the story of Andy and Jen's break up. I particularly loved the change in perspective at the end of the novel, revealing exactly why Jen chose to break up with Andy.

Loved this book and will definitely recommend it.

Thanks NetGalley for an advanced copy

Dolly Alderton is back and I couldnt wait to get my hands on the next installment of her brain material,

Whilst this was not my favourite book, it did have insight into breakups in your late 20s and 30s, alot of the material was very true and probably pulled from real life experiences and I loved the open honesty and hilarity that comes with it. However I found Andy to be irritating for majority of the book and Jen to be a figment of a robot women until the last chapters, I wish that the book was fleshed out with two sides a little earlier on and not in the last quarter.

It was however a good easy read to take with me and I really found myself wanting to know how they got on and whether their friendship survived.

I would give 3.5 Stars.

I just don't think me and Dolly Alderton click. I've read most of her published works at this point. Each time I try really hard to love her work as much as everyone else does, and each time it just does not live up to my expectations. Good material is no different. And while the book was not bad by any means, I had a hard time caring about the characters and what would happen with said characters. That could however just be that I am not the target reader for a book about a struggling 30 something year old.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for sending me an advanced copy

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I found this novel difficult at times just because Andy is such a frustrating character - you just want to shake him and tell him to pull it together (plus to stop being mildly misogynistic!). However, I assume that's the point. A lot of men could probably do with reading this book, if only for its insights into male friendships (which remain a mystery to me) and for the twist at the end. Just a 3 as I'm not sure I was actually the target audience for this.

Just a wonderful book, absolutely love anything from Dolly.
Interesting to see something written from the male perspective from dolly

Once again, Dolly Alderton has succeeded in capturing the millennial experience - in life and in love - but this time from the male perspective. GOOD MATERIAL is a very relatable story, but also a very frustrating one if you're a woman reading this.

I'm not sure if she meant the character of Andy to be funny and endearing, because he certainly wasn't. He reminded me of narcissistic, emotionally immature boyfriends of relationships past, so much so that for the entirety of the book I was rooting for the one person who wasn't in it - Jen. Good for her getting free from this manchild who could not provide for her the way she provided for him! Andy spends the whole book trying to figure out why Jen left him, which is painfully obvious, and does almost nothing to change his life so he can reach his goal - get her back. If anything, he gets further and further away from being good material. The cherry on the top is that the resolution is written from Jen's perspective - suddenly vivid with emotional intelligence, crystal-clear insights into the relationship, and loaded with the pain of having had to live with this bad boyfriend under the weight of society's expectations of women in their thirties. The epilogue encapsulates everything that's wrong with modern relationships: in the end, it's almost always the woman who bears the brunt of emotional labour.

So it wasn't exactly an enjoyable book to read. It was infuriating, triggering, borderline depressing, but it also provides - excuse the pun - lots of good material for discussion. I wonder how differently men would read this book than women. However, props as always to Dolly for writing so beautifully and with painfully sharp insight into the human psyche.

It took me a while to get into this. Andy’s character felt quite whiny and I couldn’t get invested in him. However, it all turned right in the end and I particularly loved the switch in perspectives to round this read out. I have heard someone talk about Jen’s monologue and how this could have made a better essay from Dolly which I would still love to see. Overall though it was a nice read and I’d always be interested in what Dolly puts out next. Long live the high low fan club

As usual Alderton has produced a gripping well-written read that keeps the reader engaged and wanting more. Like Ghosts, Good Material provides relatable characters to those of us born as millennials in the struggles faced.

The book follows Andy a 35 year old comedian still hunting for his big break in the comedy market, struggling with a break up with his girlfriend of some year Jen, who like a lot of millennials in this age bracket shared a flat and friends between them both, so the ramifications of the break-up has lead to overanalysing why it has ended, what singledom means and just how it will change his life in regards especially of his friend circle. Heart-wrenching and funny I recommend it as a book to read over this festive season!

Many thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Oh, I adored this one.

Andy, a 35-year-old comedian chasing his 'big break', has just been dumped by his long-term girlfriend, Jen. They shared an apartment in London and a set of friends, and now Andy finds himself roaming the streets of sudden singleton-ness and overanalysing why it all ended. Andy believes that if he can figure out what went wrong, he and Jen can be reunited. What follows is a heartbreaking but often hilarious tale of modern-day love and thirtysomething life.

I think Dolly Alderton is a genius. I love her books and really enjoy hearing her speak (her episodes of the podcast Sentimental Garbage are 👌🏼). Dolly's emotional intelligence and wit shine here, and her writing is truly lovely.

This novel's well-meaning characters are flawed and relatable, and many of their interactions and observations are laugh-out-loud funny. I thought it was really refreshing to hear a break-up story from a male point of view, but I still loved the very clever insertion of Jen's short side-of-the-story at the end of the book to tie up loose ends. Good Material shines a different shade of light on romantic fiction, and I was here for it.

Heart-wrenching, astute, observant, and wise, this novel is full of warmth and love in its exploration of love lost, through the eyes of someone who thought he had everything figured out. I cried, I roared, I loved 🖤

I’m such a fan of Dolly Alderton, whether it’s fiction or non fiction I love anything she writes! I particularly liked how this latest book was told from a man’s point of view.
When Andy finds himself single at 35 after breaking up with who he thought was the love of his life, he struggles to find his place amongst his married friends and successful but single comedian friends. Told from a males perspective of having your heart broken, it really opened my eyes to how differently men and women deal with break ups. So cleverly written with great characters and absolutely hilarious at times I absolutely loved this and would highly recommend to anyone, male or female!

Wasn't able to finish this ARC (life got in the way, not enough time to read). However, the 100 or so pages I did read convinced me to buy a copy so I can read and in a couple of years reread it.
I also bought it as present for my friend as we are both Dolly Alderton fans :)
Thanks so much to the publisher for this eARC! Keep sending Dolly's ARCs to me in the future, I promise I'll be better and actually finish them.

Stand-up comedian Andy has been broken up with, so like all good millennials, he’s finding his feet with a listicle: the book opens with his wryly well-observed ‘‘Reasons Why It’s Good I’m Not With Jen”, and his list of Jen’s foibles and ick-making traits will make many readers wince in recognition. Andy has moved back into his mum’s house, having speedily vacated the London flat he shared with Jen: his mum – who deadpans that she loves Jen just a bit more than she loves Andy – brings him a mug of tea laced with Disaronno, and Andy declares that it feels like Christmas: his world has stopped, even if only temporarily.

Andy’s post-breakup behaviour will be painfully familiar to many: he scrutinises Jen’s Instagram Story updates for clues as to why he was broken up with: he buys four bottles of her perfume and throws them into a canal, reducing the likelihood that he’ll encounter her signature scent by a miniscule percentage: he saves the new Bon Iver single for a long train ride so he can wallow in self pity. His mates cluster round to offer support on a boys’ night out, but only after much cajoling from his very best mate Avi – whose wife Jane is Jen’s closest friend – and Andy reels at the realisation that their quartet will never be the same again, limping his way through the many “miniature break-ups” concealed within a big break-up. He heads back to work, delivering a half-hearted set on the other side of the UK: he navigates finding a new place to live in London on a comedian’s salary, swiftly moving in and out of a canal boat then into a 78-year-old prepper’s spare room – and slowly starts the task of pulling himself back together while also trying to work out what went wrong – but without Jen’s side of the story, can he ever move on?

Alderton has an undeniable gift for depicting relationships whether between friends, romantic partners or family members, and her vignettes and asides will make millennials both burst out laughing and crinkle their noses at how well they’ve been ‘seen’. This is a whip-smart, gleefully written insight on how we muddle through contemporary relationships which will no doubt be transformed into a series sooner rather than later: you’ll probably smash through this book in one indulgent sitting, delighted by the chance to spend more time navigating the imagined relationships created by this superbly-talented writer.

Featured in the December issue of Cambridge Edition magazine

I must say I really struggled with this book. It was very slow paced and the first 200 pages bored me so much that I almost put the book down and didn't pick it back up. Although it wasn't necessarily a great read for me, I am glad I stuck it out and by the end of the book I somewhat enjoyed the story.
It was quite a sad story and I felt like this made it a bit hard to read. I am a sucker for a sad story but to me this didn't quite hit the mark.

One thing that I loved was that it was written from a male perspective which was very refreshing. Every breakup book seems to be from the perspective of the woman and I loved how it was handled. I also loved the reverse POV at the end as well! It did tie the book up well.

To me Dolly's strength is non-fiction and this just wasn't the book for me.

I loved this novel, I did not want to put it down. Told mostly from the point of view of the male protagonist , Andy, it tells of Andy’s breakup with his partner Jen and of his devastation. It is real and beautifully written. I have never read any of Dolly Alderton’s work before, but I will now be going back through her catalogue. Thanks to Penguin Hrneral UK and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel.

Andy is suffering a break up. Jen, his fairly long term (3 years) girlfriend has dumped him. He is trying to work out what and what he could have done differently. Very poignant and heartfelt and very well written. .

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy.

I have read most of Dollys books and this one certainly lived up to her standards. Really funny and engaging, a typical fun Dolly Alderton read.

Good Material is an incredibly fun and entertaining read. I loved reading from male POV of a break up and seeing him come to terms with his flaws and life without Jen. This is also such a funny book with interesting takes and twists with moments are heart-warming insight. This was overall so excellently written and I highly recommend.

Literally had me laughing out loud! I've only dabbled with Dolly in the past but this one definitely kept me hooked. I was literally racing through the pages when I definitely should have been asleep. Loved!

Good Material is a really engaging read about dealing with the end of a relationship, told mainly from the perspective of Andy, a stand-up comedian, who's not coping too well with Jen's decision to end things. (We do hear a bit from Jen, as well - but it's mainly Andy.) And in his struggle to understand what went wrong and deal with the absence of Jen, he does some pretty crazy things.

Although the breakup comes as a total shock to Andy, this isn't one of those stories where the man is in total denial about what an unreasonable monster he really is. He has his flaws, certainly, but he's not a bad person - neither of them are. It's interesting to see it all from his perspective, before Jen comes along to offer her take on things.

A highly enjoyable, entertaining and insightful read.

I've loved Dolly Alderton's previous fiction and non fiction so I was very excited to read Good Material. At first I must admit I was not sure that I would enjoy a novel with a male protagonist but once I got into it I loved it. Andy is a stand up comedian and when his three year relationship with Jen ends he is heartbroken and determined to discover what went wrong. Like all of the author's work it is funny, insightful and moving. I thought the final section from Jen's point of view really added to the novel and helped the reader understand both sides of the relationship.
Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.