At the start of Good Material, we meet Andy, a 35-year-old standup comic who is trying to get over a breakup and listing the reasons why he is better off without his ex-girlfriend, Jen. These include her inability to drive a car, being “too connected to dogs”, having weird parents and lingering for too long in museums “at every artefact or painting … [I] once saw her nod respectfully at a TINY JADE SPOON in the British Museum.”
Dolly Alderton’s richly entertaining second novel is a chronicle of a relationship in its death throes and the aftermath of separation, told initially from Andy’s perspective and latterly – and rather too briefly – from Jen’s. Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who) brings a smart balance of neurosis and warmth to his reading of Andy, who is devastated when Jen announces she is leaving him. Drama ensues as he seeks solace in the pub and later in the arms of a 23-year-old named Sophie who doesn’t laugh at his jokes, calls him “boomer” and cringes at his Beatles references.
