Stronger than her first novel - the solid-but-unremarkable Ghosts - Alderton abandons her familiar voice and ambitiously takes on a male perspective. She's not the first author to do this successfully (think of Lisa Jewell's male romantic leads in her mid-career books, or Louise Wener's 'Goodnight, Steve McQueen') but it's always nice to see a gamble pay off.

I don't know what it is about Dolly Alderton's writing, it's not going to set the world on fire but somehow what she creates always manages to be more than the sum of its parts. The sections in her memoir about her best friend Birdy's little sister had me ugly-crying in public to such an extent I was quite relieved she didn't appear in the TV adaptation. Anyway, back to the new one...

Andy Dawson is a carb-loving stand-up comedian whose self-involvement and thin skin definitely ring a bell for me as a writer who lives with a stand-up comedian (we're both awful), and most of the book is told in his voice. The final eighth or so of the narrative is told by his ex-girlfriend Jen. Her section is necessary and illuminating but short on laughs and its themes of child-free-ness, emotional literacy and holding on to friendships as you grow up - particularly while your mates, and your lesbian sister, all have babies - are very recognisably showing the touch of the author's hand.

Because of this, I found Jen's explanation for her life choices a bit less interesting than Andy's delightfully Nick Hornby-esque adventures, though I agreed with everything she said (and most of Andy's opinions too, including the ones about truffle crisps, which are disgusting, addictive and too often available at my local branch of Majestic Wine).

I loved this so much, thank you for the ARC copy.

Once again Dolly managed to write in a way that is so relatable and fun whilst also having a lot of heart.

Definitely will be recommending this to everyone I know!

Also would rate 4.5 if possible!

Once again, Dolly Alderton does not disappoint. She tells the all too familiar tale of a breakup from Andy's point of view. The highs, the lows, the insanity and the heartbreak.

Andy is blindsided when his girlfriend of three years, Jen, breaks up with him. He is left filtering through his thoughts and trying to work out 'where it went wrong'. As ever, Dolly maintains the fine line between tragedy, comedy and heart-warming moments. It was quite frankly, a scarily accurate depiction of breakups and how we think of ourselves and the trajectory of our lives.

Her writing is fantastic as always and I truly enjoyed reading this. May have shed a few tears, but that is part of fun :)

I have enjoyed quite a few of Dolly Aldertons previous books and I was really excited to read her latest release.
The book follows Andy as he tries to move on from a break up and examine what went wrong and how to deal with it all. It took me a little while to get into the book but once I did I was gripped. It is very well written and does a good job of portraying a sometimes unlikeable and flawed character but with enough empathy to see both sides of the story even though it is told (mainly) from Andy’s perspective. I definitely would relate more to Jens character so it was very interesting for me to see it all from Andy’s PoV.

As a huge Dolly Alderton fan, the hopes were securely raised high for this book and I purposefully didn't read too much about the story. I wanted to open the book and just go with it and and not have an preconceived ideas about anything.

I loved Andy and I'm so thrilled hearing about the male heartbreak, musings, behavior with such deep and emotional depth. It was just beautiful, wise and after a few chapters I didn't give a hoot about Jen. In fact I felt the chapter where her voice was unnecessary and that's why I gave it four stars. I was team Andy all the way.

I know and am comforted when I read Dolly's writing and understand I'll know more, feel relived about my own failings and errors and simply get life.

Loved it.

Brilliant storyline as usual from Dolly Alderton full of acute sharp observations on family, friendship and love.

The narrative was funny, poignant and thought provoking and totally relatable. I particularly loved the change of POV at the end even though I loved Andy's unique voice.

Highly Recommended

Told almost entirely from the POV of comedian Andy who has just been dumped by Jen, Good Material is a sort of anti-romance novel. It’s heartwarming, and the importance of the love of friends and family is weaved throughout, but this is not exactly a story with happy endings. I enjoyed it a lot, and it was refreshing to read a male protagonist by a female writer, but I wasn’t so sure of the switch to first person POV of Jen towards the end, which felt a little bit imbalanced.

3.5*

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I just love how Dolly writes and love her as a human!

It took me a little while to get into this book as I learned to get used to Andy as our main character. But I soon sailed through reading his story. I'm not convinced that I liked him though, he's a smidge dramatic.

I won't say why because it was a surprise to me so I won't spoil it but I loved the change in storytelling at the end. It was perfect!

Don't make me wait so long for your next novel Dolly!

Very easy reading, absolutely whizzed this. If you have ever lived and worked in London as a thirty something professional then this cuts to the heart of relatability to expose the embarrassing self-conscious truths. Funny and well written but not a lot of heft if you like something with a few more layers.

Dolly Alderton is an auto-buy author for me as her memoir Everything I Know About Love is one of my favourite reads of all time. Although her other fiction novel Ghosts didn’t leave an impact, I wanted to give Good Material a try. (Spoiler: it did not disappoint!)

The male POV is so refreshing, the subtle wit throughout made it a light-hearted read although it tackled some serious topics. Every character, even if they were on the periphery felt multi-dimensional and real. It also felt well-balanced between plot and character development.

I feel as though Good Material would appeal to a lot of different readerships, but would compare it most closely to Emily Henry and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books. Although there is romance, there is also a focus on a plethora of different relationship dynamics and self-reflexiveness.

I was very excited to get my hot little hands on this, having loved Dolly Alderton’s debut novel Ghosts. And it DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I’m happy to report that Dolly’s most definitely still got it.

I’ve read a lot of books lately that fall into the “messy girl” genre - this is a “messy boy” variation and it works really well. It’s a bit like an updated version of High Fidelity and it’s both extremely readable and emotionally honest.

Our narrator is Andy. He’s in his 30s and he’s scraping by as a not terribly successful comedian, with the odd side gig to make ends meet. More importantly, he’s just broken up with his long term girlfriend Jen and he’s not taking it well.

It’s a book about heartbreak – or as Andy puts it, about “the madness”. Andy falls apart and makes bad decisions and I think anyone who’s ever had their heart broken can probably relate to a very large part of it. Okay I didn’t suddenly decide that living on a houseboat would be the answer to my woes but I did reassemble a letter that had been through a paper shredder which is pretty high on the demented ex tally.

Towards the end we get another perspective on what happened which allows us to see what some of Andy’s blind spots have been along the way. It’s a very satisfying - and realistic - conclusion.

Honestly, I was so bored with this one and couldnt wait to finish it. Andy and his self pity were just too much to handle.

Good Material by Dolly Alderton is a wry and witty exploration of heartbreak and friendship. Andy loves Jen but that feeling is no longer mutual and he just cannot figure out why. Their breakup has left him homeless, his stand up comedy career has stalled and when he looks around at all his friends they seem to have grown up and left him behind. Reluctant to give up oh Jen, Andy decides that if he can figure out what went wrong there is a chance that he can fix things and Jen will take him back, but its not going to be as simple as he hopes.
I love a book that makes me laugh, and even more if I find myself really invested in the characters and caring about what happens to them, and her Dolly Alderton has succeeded doing both. While we do get chapters from both Jen's and Andy's perspectives, the focus is largely on Andy and I really liked that, it was interesting to read about the breakup from a male perspective and see how their coping mechanisms were sometimes the same and sometimes very different. I felt like there was a lot of growth in the character over the course of the book and I think that anyone who leans towards character driven stories will find much to get their teeth into here.
I read an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Dolly Alderton returns with a sharply funny, beautifully observed and exquisitely relatable story of heartbreak and friendship, and how to survive both.

Follow struggling comedian Andy as he tries to survive being dumped. You will laugh, you will cringe, your heart will hurt. Then you will read Jen's side of the story and your heart will hurt again, but it's totally worth it.

Highly recommend this one.

Dolly Alderton has once again written a novel that cleverly reflects on relationships, dating in the 21st century, friends, heartbreak and on what it means to be a woman. It's funny, smart and sad at the same time. I did find Andys part to be too long and wouldve liked a little more of Jen.

I’m such a big fan of Dolly Alderton and having read Ghost, I was delighted to be offered a preview copy by the publisher through #netgalley. It didn’t disappoint. In fact, I thought it was better. Andy was a brilliantly focused central character and the stand up comedian context worked really well. No spoilers but I thought the ending was satisfying. I wasn’t keen on Jen and this was because as a reader, I’d invested in Andy. Nice work Dolly - a thoughtful and perceptive story. I’ll look forward to your next book!

Dolly did it again. She's a queen. I cried, I laughed. I was literally glued to the book for 24 hours. No one writes about love and heartbreak like Dolly Alderton does.

Good Material is an original, emotion-filled, honest read surrounding a break-up and it’s aftermath.

The story starts in Summer 2019. We are thrown straight into Andy’s list of reasons why it’s good he isn’t with Jen. The story then starts in July 2019 and ends in January 2020. It follows a short time period, alternating with some past elements in 2015 at the beginning which introduce us to Andy and Jen’s relationship. I liked the contrast between the two timelines and how the two main characters had changed between them.

The novel’s focus is on Andy, and is told almost entirely from his perspective. It being written primarily from a male perspective was interesting, especially with the author being female. I don’t often read books focussed around male characters, not intentionally it just often happens that way. Good Material felt original and reading of a break up from a male POV, as the one who has been broken up with, going through the stages of that was eye-opening.

Andy is quite a self-destructive character, with questionable behaviour and actions, but he is ultimately likeable. I found myself feeling sorry for him a lot, despite knowing he wasn’t always helping himself. We learn a lot about him as the novel progresses: meeting his friends, learning the in’s and out’s of his career as a comedian and following him alone the post break-up haze as he looks for answers. His character is funny even when he doesn’t mean to be and I found myself oddly engrossed by him and his life.

Andy learns a lot about himself and his friends as he moves through the novel. The reality of being single in your mid-thirties, when your friends are married with children, with the alteration of responsibilities and where everyone’s priorities and interests lie is fascinating. Andy going back into visiting bars and clubs as a single person, looking for romance or casual relationships, was really authentic. You can feel his emotions and how this can all be intimidating through Dolly’s writing, it’s raw and open. The emotions and the ups and downs are all covered in an absorbing way.

Dolly’s writing in the novel as whole, as always, is brilliant and it really draws you in. It’s evident how much research and information gathering she’s done, making things feel more authentic. The finer details of things like pricing systems for a corporate booking websites just added a whole extra level of authenticity. She really brought Andy’s world to life and it felt wholly realistic, as if they were all real people living in London.

Jen’s segment at the end, although not a long one, is brilliant. I really liked the fact it gives more information from her and fills in such a lot of information I didn’t know I need. Flipping the perspective to do this was such a clever idea and it really ties everything together.

What a fitting title.

Having never gotten around to reading Alderton’s writing before but only ever hearing incredible things, I was so excited to dive into this book.

This was so well-written, the story so considerate and realistic and to top it all off a little funny. I will admit that the last section of the book really elevated it and made me adore it even more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

To be perfectly honest with you, I struggled with the beginning of this book and kept going because I was sure that Dolly Alderton would not let me down. I was possibly at 75%, when I really thought I couldn’t go any further, and suddenly all the story fell into place as I became as self realised as both of the main characters in this Very clever story. I thought it was perhaps a little over long, however, by the time I had finished the story, I was thrilled to have done so. I will definitely be buying a copy of this book, so I can peruse and reread the story. The true story of Jen and Andy, is multilayered and takes a lot of unpicking. It doesn’t actually become fully apparent until the end of the book, and therefore I urge any reader to keep going until the very end. Looking back, and seeing all the parts as a whole, I give this book 5 stars. It’s one I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.
Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this excellent story ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review