Hey, Good Luck Out There
A Novel
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Hey, Good Luck Out There
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Narrated by:
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Georgia Toews
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Written by:
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Georgia Toews
About this listen
Subversive, captivating and vividly attuned to both the extraordinary and the mundane, Georgia Toews’ debut novel Hey, Good Luck Out There is a furious and hilarious journey through the relentless, soul-baring world of addiction and recovery.
After an amazingly unpleasant pizza party intervention, our twenty-two-year-old narrator checks into a women’s rehab facility, confined "for her own safety" without meaningful contact with the outside world. For escape, she and her fellow patients have only stilted phone calls with their disappointed and concerned parents, daily meetings in the form of inspirational speeches from wealthy ex-alcoholics and lifestyle gurus, visits to the doctor, and clandestine trips to a dingy internet cafe. For our narrator, a neon-pink journal gifted by her grandmother with gold embossed letters on the front—“Let Them Eat Cake!”—is her only comfort amid an endless carousel of strangeness and unease.
When she is discharged from rehab after thirty punishing days, returned to Toronto’s streets without resources, a job, or an apartment, and tasked with staying clean despite a seemingly bottomless urge to give up, the book asks: What next? What happens in the aftermath of your lowest low? Alone, and at war with an intrusive inner creature, at last she begins the process of making a home for herself in the world.
Hey, Good Luck Out There introduces a dynamic new voice in fiction: Georgia Toews is at once unguardedly truthful, gritty, and darkly funny, with a sardonic, wholly original sense of the absurd.
What the critics say
"Toews weaves her lived reality with a powerful imagination and a keenly honed voice to create a novel that rings, at every point, of truth. . . . Hey, Good Luck Out There is a surprising, at times shocking, read. Toews writes commandingly not only of desperation and temptation, but of the world—and Toronto—as a whole. . . . Scarring and unforgettable, an essential reminder of our shared humanity, our common struggles." —Toronto Star
"Honest, funny, scary and beautiful. . . . Hey, Good Luck Out There does not follow a sensationalized rock-bottom-followed-by-redemption-arc of many addiction narratives, instead wandering a middle ground where recovery is an ongoing process, not a destination one arrives at." —Winnipeg Free Press
"Gritty and powerful. . . . Toews defies the reader's expectations for the story, dismissing easy platitudes in favour of the complex ambiguity of lived experience. . . . Hey, Good Luck Out There is a surprising, at times shocking, read. Toews writes commandingly not only of desperation and temptation, but of the world—and Toronto—as a whole. . . . Scarring and unforgettable, an essential reminder of our shared humanity, our common struggles." —Niagara Falls Review
What listeners say about Hey, Good Luck Out There
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2022-08-18
A real and honest window into to a dark and scary reality.
I like her voice and style. I laughed and cried. She doesn’t sugar coat recovery which is refreshing.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jade Troost
- 2023-06-13
Unflinching and sad
An humanizing story of a complicated topic addiction and the struggle to start life over. Beautifully written and brutally open. Tough listen at times but worth it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- carmen murray
- 2023-02-17
A glimpse into the experience of addiction
This story lets you glimpse the experience of addiction for a woman. The realities of burnt bridges and how the results of trauma impact families are laid bare. The author breaths even more life into all these characters by performing the story she wrote
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Aaron
- 2023-12-27
Great first attempt but leaves you wanting more.
The book was ok. The narrator could not create different personalities and voices to separate characters. Which made it hard to follow who was who at times.
The story started off well but went flat and became background noise well before the half way mark. The most exciting parts of the book was while she was in rehab. Everything after rehab felt rushed and disjointed. I went from really feeling for the main character to it sounding more like a fictional short story that was rushed.
Would I recommend? If you have an extra credit floating around and want something you can get through quicky sure thing.
If you want to be immersed in a journey and experience, than this is not the title for you.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- REBL HOUSE Inc.
- 2022-08-11
Hey, good luck on your next book
I told myself this book would get better, but alas… it kept getting worst. It went from mundane to boring. So many opportunities to build on a powerful story of addiction and bring me somewhere. The only place I got to was this girls hostel. I would not suggest this read. A title that I spent a credit for. Too bad.
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