BOOK JOURNAL: Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Entry #4 on a wry British novel from a male POV that turns the typical rom-com storyline on its head
Quick note: I’ll be keeping a reading list which will include everything I read throughout this year and fun book-ish links. Here’s the link to the permanent page on the ‘stack. I will update this list in real time and also continue to post weekly Book Journal entries for my faves. Happy reading! xo, Cassie
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Rating: 5/5 stars
By now, you know that I love all things British literature. From Jane Austen to Dolly Alderton (the author of today’s Book Journal book), I especially love the culture, the humour (*wink*), and the wry social commentary that so many of my personal favorite British writers infuse into their work. Good Material is technically a British rom-com but it feels so much more potent than the genre would normally suggest.
The most striking element of this book is that it’s from a male POV. At first, I was taken aback and admittedly a little turned off. I reached out to a friend of mine who already read the book, and she assured me that if anyone could write this, Dolly could, and that I should stick with it. I did and was not disappointed. Alderton writes such wonderfully complex characters. Andy (the main character) is a 35-year-old struggling comedian, so there’s even a leveled-up amount of humor in the story. If you’ve watched the Netflix series, Baby Reindeer, Andy’s story and character development reminds me a little of Donny’s, just without the stalker Martha of it all.
I also loved the portrayal of friendship in your 30s and supporting a friend during a breakup. She captured the realities of how, in your 20s, your friend group can look so similar in terms of everyone being in the same phase of life, and within a few years, some move, some have one or two kids, some get promoted into high-powered jobs. It doesn’t mean friends are any less friends, but it certainly changes the way friends show up for one another. This book was, in many ways, more about navigating friendship dynamics as a 30-something than about the underlying romantic relationship.
Bottom line: if you’re looking for an atypical British rom-com type novel written by a sharp and insightful writer, this is a great choice.
Favorite quotes from Good Material:
“Poetry is the most reviled and redundant art form, everyone rolls their eyes at it and takes the piss out of it. But the second that something shit happens in our lives, it’s the first recourse we have.”
“‘Getting dumped is never really about getting dumped.'
'What is it about, then?' I ask.
'It's about every rejection you've ever experienced in your entire life. It's about the kids at school who called you names. And the parent who never came back. And the girls who wouldn't dance with you at the disco. And the school girlfriend who wanted to be single when she went to uni. And any criticism at work. When someone says they don't want to be with you, you feel the pain of every single one of those times in life where you felt like you weren't good enough. You live through all of it again.'
'I don't know how to get over it, Mum,' I say. 'At this point I'm so tired of myself. I don't know how to let go of her.'
'You don't let go once. That's your first mistake. You say goodbye over a lifetime. You might not have thought about her for ten years, then you'll hear a song or you'll walk past somewhere you once went together - something will come to the surface that you'd totally forgotten about. And you say another goodbye. You have to be prepared to let go and let go and let go a thousand times.'
'Does it get easier?'
'Much,' she says.”“Life is a bit more difficult for women. More difficult than it is for us, I mean. And you don't need to ask them to explain why or understand it all. You just need to be nice to them.”
“I love how quickly you read books and how absorbed you get in a good story. I love watching you lie on the sofa reading one from cover-to-cover. It’s like I’m in the room with you but you’re in a whole other galaxy.”
“Once saw her nod respectfully at a TINY JADE SPOON in the British Museum.”
Related content:
She also has a collection of essays, Everything I Know About Love, which was made into a series of the same name. I have not read or watched either, but want to. I have read her other novel, Ghosts, and really liked it, too.
This interview on Shondaland.
This piece in Marie Claire Australia where she talks about writing from the male POV in Good Material:
“For my new book, I wrote about heartbreak from the male perspective so I interviewed a lot of men in research. One of the reasons I did this was because men remain a mystery to me in so many ways, but especially in the wake of a broken relationship.
It can often seem like men can compartmentalise their emotions and not have them take over their life, but what I found was that it is just as difficult for men as it is for women. It was really useful for me to understand that heartbreak is not a state of female victimhood, but the collateral damage of being human and loving someone.”
If you like Dolly Alderton, you would also like:
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney. You knew a Sally Rooney rec was coming, right? Her name speaks for itself, but I loved this book as much as I loved Normal People (which is also a great book to pick up and/or series to watch if you haven’t already).
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. Mason is an Australian author, but the tone is so similar. This book was incredible—a little more focused on mental illness, but equally as satisfying in terms of character development.
Writers & Lovers by Lily King. Set in Massachusetts and written by an American, this is not quite the British rom com with dry humor that Dolly Alderton puts out, but the general vibe and character development is a lot like Alderton.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. The subject matter of this book is not as light or rom-com-esque like Good Material, but Moshfegh’s approach to developing wry, interesting characters is similar to Alderton’s writing.