Good Material and honey oat sourdough

Hello and welcome to Good Book/Good Bread! I hope you all are having a lovely summer.

So far mine has been full of dips in the breath-catchingly cold rivers and lakes around Revelstoke, low-key hikes, and having fun growing delightful and strange things in my new veggie garden, like muskmelon and candy roaster squash. I was also fortunate to attend a writer’s residency at The Banff Centre in June, where I worked on my book about paddling the Columbia River. It was such an inspiring place, and so cool to meet amazing writers and bask in a creative atmosphere.

Since I got back from Banff, I’ve read five books in a row that I loved—the opposite of a reading rut! Below, I review Good Material by Dolly Alderton, a book I kept seeing on various best books of the year lists. I’d not read anything by Alderton before, and ended up loving this one so I’m sure I’ll add her other titles to my to read list. Enjoy!

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Good Book: Good Material by Dolly Alderton

In a Nutshell

Good Material is a work of fiction that centres on Andy, a 35-year-old stand-up comedian living in London. When we meet Andy, he’s shell-shocked after the love of his life, Jen, breaks up with him. After being together for three years and co-habitating, Andy thought they were perfectly happy and well matched.

Now he has been sprung from the apartment they shared together, and moves in with a moody senior citizen obsessed with writing prison letters to Julian Assange. His career is failing, his agent won’t call him back, and all he can focus on is what a wreck his life has become. Adding to his turmoil is a growing disconnect between Andy and his close friends; they all have small children and busy lives, and are unavailable to commiserate with him in the months it takes him to work through his new reality. The reader goes along with Andy through the full scope of his grieving, from day drinking to dating a Gen Z woman to lashing out at those who love him. Andy is a challenging and self indulgent protagonist who sees himself as a victim for much of the book, and his friends and loved ones try to manage his unravelling with both humor and tenderness. Good Material is funny in a dry, British humor kind of way, sometimes dark, and often endearing.

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Good Material in Three Words

Sweet, disarming, sage

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Structure

Good Material is told in first person by Andy, with a switch in perspective near the end of the book.

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What I liked about Good Material

1. Shift in perspective

   Good Material builds Jen, Andy’s ex, up to be the villan. It even begins with his written list of all of Jen’s faults, including that she’s a bad dancer who can’t find the beat, and lingers for too long in museums. “Once saw her nod respectfully at a TINY JADE SPOON in the British Museum,” writes Andy.

   She is portrayed as having ruined Andy’s life. Near the end of the book, the perspective shifts to Jen’s. The reader gets to understand how the relationship crumbled from her perspective, and I enjoyed how that led me to rework in my head everything I’d read so far—including seeing Andy as a victim. It was an effective way to illustrate how complicated relationships are, and how the stories we tell ourselves about them are fluid.

2. Honesty

   A lot of the things Andy does after his break-up are things that if you did them, you’d definitely never want to admit to: some light stalking of Jen, going on long benders, drinking alone, and badgering their mutual friends for information on whether Jen had met anyone. When he does find out via social media that Jen is dating a new man, Andy does such a deep dive that he turns up the new guy’s Australian tax return. It was like getting a fly-on-the-wall look at all of the various ways people cope with relationship loss, but in a single character.

3. Changing nature of adult friendships

   On its face, this is a book about the breakdown of a romantic relationship. But the most compelling aspect for me were the chapters that explored how friendships can evolve with age. Andy is in a very different stage of life than his friends, and he feels the pain of no longer having a lot in common. The needs he has for his friends are no longer ones that they can meet. They have different priorities and less time for him. I found this to be a really rich part of the story, and so relatable—it’s hard when friendships evolve, and when you find yourself needing to adapt your expectations of support from certain people.

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Quote I liked

“There are so many hidden miniature break-ups within a big break-up.”

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Good Bread: Terra Firma’s Honey Oat Sourdough

Reading about our protagonist’s post-breakup no-carb diet led me to fantasizing about the bread I would bake to pair with Good Material. Nothing makes me want to eat bread more than hearing about people who aren’t eating it. Perhaps a sourdough loaf with cheddar AND parmesan? Savory rolls brimming with chives and bacon bits? An eight-braid loaf of challah, made with generous amounts of olive oil, and the crust shiny with egg wash?

My plans were foiled by the intense heat wave in British Columbia. My husband and I live in an 118-year-old house, and its quirky layout means our kitchen, living room, and bedroom are on the second floor. As the temperatures rose to 38 degrees Celsius, the upstairs of our house got extremely hot, so hot in fact, that we spent a week and a half sleeping in the basement, along with our two huskies. I would wake in the pitch black in the morning like a goblin, curled up beside skis and camping gear, the light blinding me when I emerged from the basement. We finally broke and bought a few window air conditioners, but I still cannot bear the thought of turning on the oven at all, let alone to bake a few loaves of bread at 450 degrees.

Option B was to find some delicious bread from one of the excellent bakeries in town, a far more achievable task. I chose Terra Firma kitchen, and a loaf of their honey oat sourdough, the crust a deep caramel colour. Topped with some peanut butter and jam, it was a perfect post-hike snack, and most definitely not something Andy would eat.

Looking forward:

Book I’m looking forward to reading: Butter by Asako Yuzuki

Music I’m looking forward to listening to: When I’m Called by Jake Xerxes Fussell

Bread I’m looking forward to baking: peach and feta focaccia

Thank you for reading! If you liked this issue, forward along to a friend. If you hated it, please forward along to an enemy.