Hey Harry, Hey Matilda

by Rachel Hulin, Ari Fliakos (Narrator), Kristen Sieh (Narrator)

"Hey Harry, Hey Matilda" is the story told entirely in hilarious emails of fraternal twins Harry and Matilda Goodman as they fumble into adulthood, telling lies and keeping secrets, and finally confronting their complicated twinship.
Matilda Goodman is an underemployed wedding photographer grappling with her failure to live as an artist and the very bad lie she has told her boyfriend (that she has a dead twin). Harry, her (totally alive) brother, is an untenured professor of literature, anxiously contemplating his publishing status (unpublished) and sleeping with a student. When Matilda invites her boyfriend home for Thanksgiving to meet the family, and when Harry makes a desperate and unethical move to save his career, they set off an avalanche of shame, scandal, and drunken hot tub revelations that force them to examine the truth about who they really are. A wonderfully subversive, sensitive novel of romantic entanglement and misguided ambition, "Hey Harry, Hey Matilda" is a joyful look at love and family in all its forms.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Adult Fiction, Adult, Humor, Family Drama

Audible Audio

First published January 17, 2017

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hey Harry, Hey Matilda is photographer and essayist: Rachel Hulin's debut novel in fiction. The story follows the dysfunctional, codependent relationship between two fraternal twins. This novel I think was intended to be a mixture of comedy and indecency, creating something that would fall into a witty type of humor category. While the dialogue was in fact very clever most of the time and even the characters' various situations made me internally chuckle, I didn't find the "indecent" parts very funny at all. I'm not a prude and I'm certainly one that can see satire when it is presented to me, but in my opinion, Ms. Hulin jumped the shark so to speak with her slow integration of sibling love, aka incest is never actually spelled out but it's pretty clear.... Secrets were revealed that might end up making this element OK for some readers but unfortunately not for me. The ending is left open but based on how these characters' familial relationship ebbed and flowed throughout the story, it is easy to presume a certain future for these two that honestly made me regret my reading involvement. On a positive note, I did like that this novel is a series of correspondence. This writing style has never failed to entertain me (ie: Love, Rosie, Attachments, Illuminae, Gemina...). They have all excelled at engaging, palpable storytelling by nothing more than organizing dialogue in a thread of documents presented to the reader. Hey Harry, Hey Matilda succeeded in this respect as well. My only complaint related to the audio experience is that having each letter begin with "Hey Harry" or "Hey Matilda" became annoyingly redundant after a while. However, I saw that the print book offers some visuals that may be worth a peek. The author has an instragram account located here dedicated to these characters with visuals (obviously). Since I listened instead of viewed, I don't know if the instagram visuals are the same as in the book but it was still nice to browse through and gave me an idea of how talented a photographer Ms. Hulin is.

Hey Harry, Hey Matilda ended up being an OK read for me (2 stars). There were positives and negatives based on my personal reading experience. In summary, read the synopsis and various positive and negative book reviews then proceed at your own risk. I should note that Hey Harry, Hey Matilda is a short reading experience so there's that.

My favorite quote:
"Family's what you make it, you know what I mean? There's much more plasticity in families than people really want to believe. People should just choose who they want to be their family, and that should be the end of it."

[Stefanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weirdest book I've read in ages. Just when I thought it couldn't get weirder, it would.

It started so funny, then just spiraled out of control. I need to cleanse my brain.

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doubleday Keep Turning Pages group chose this for our February read and I was fortunate enough to win a copy of the book in their giveaway. Thank you once again, Doubleday!

The book has an interesting format: Harry and Matilda Goodman, fraternal twins in their early thirties, correspond with each other through emails. Harry is an English professor in the small town where he grew up. Matilda is a wedding photographer in NYC. Neither are married; both are somewhat neurotic, and both have some dreams of being a writer.

We get to know each person a bit better through the questions Matilda poses--what is your favorite childhood memory, describe your worst trait, why did mom and dad get divorced. Both get involved in some major screw-ups in their lives, get caught in lies and finally learn they are not who they thought they were. What does this mean for their sibling relationship?

Humorous, inventive, and pretty unique. Would it have been better told as a story? I'm not sure but I have to say I enjoyed it more than I expected to. The author's photographs at the beginning of each part add much to the enjoyment.

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok what did I just read??
Definitely reminiscent of Where'd You Go Bernadette.
At first, I felt like it was just okay... then it picked up some substance and funny exploits began to occur... then things got a little weird, and as a reader I felt that they were hinting at incest but I told myself "nooo, I'm definitely just reading this wrong." but then that was confirmed. So yeah. Tone/style of Where'd You Go Bernadette but with less genius and more incest.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved reading this book! Within a few pages, I was hooked and was finding every free moment I could to keep reading. I loved the back and forth between the twins and how the story unfolded in unexpected ways. In addition to the storyline, the cultural references were spot-on. I also really enjoyed the prose and how Hulin expertly crafted the exchanges. I highly recommend this book to people who are looking for something fast-paced, engaging, novel and humorous.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Talk about a huge disappointment! I thought I was getting a fun, quirky novel about e-mails exchanged between a pair of twins that dealt with their dysfunctional family. Instead I got a novel about incest. Thank goodness this was so short - I pretty much skimmed the entire thing.

more thoughts to come in January.

[Kellye · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. Don't read this. It has a disturbing element that left a very bad taste in my mouth. What appears to be a light-hearted series of communications between twins is, at its heart, pretty gross. No, thank you.

[Grace {Rebel Mommy Book Blog} · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Rebel Mommy Book Blog

[Gary Branson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous. No depth. Just inane emails that have no meaning.

[Kinga]

nie było to warte moich 10 zł

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book didn't move me all that much, and I didn't like Matilda much. Harry kind of reminded me of a friend I used to have who has dropped me three times now--a vaguely similar quirky outlook on life. I miss the friend, and I think that's most of the reason I finished the book.

I like the format of emails going back and forth, but these emails somehow didn't convey feeling, even when they talked about difficult subjects, things that would be upsetting, or one of the characters actually feeling upset. Also, there were a few places where the author clearly felt a need to include more feeling and detail that didn't fit the pattern of the rest of the emails, so she had an email quote pages and pages of a journal entry or someone else's fiction or something. That felt like a kludge to me.

I also didn't like the ending. It's left a little ambiguous, but it appears that Harry and Matilda ride off into the sunset together as a couple. Really? That just seems sad to me. They're still brother and sister, even if they're not twins like they thought. But even if they weren't, is there really no hope that either of them could grow up, become more mentally healthy, and find someone better? It seems like they're each other's only choice, simply because they're the only people who are screwed up enough to click with each other's damage. That's not romantic, that's depressing.

[Kirby Rock · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this book... I don't know. More like 1.5 stars. I heard an interview with Rachel Hulin on the Lit Up podcast and thought this novel (told in a series of emails between brother and sister twins) sounded intriguing. Turns out, it is not great.

First, I forgot that I don't really like epistolary novels. Something about reading a bunch of emails just doesn't really resonate with me (but this is just a personal preference, obviously). Plus, creative liberal arts people are often unbearable over email (I'm including myself in this) (i.e. reading old emails that I wrote to my friends in my 20s is nails-on-chalkboard awful!!).

Second, it's too dramatic. I know everyone has secrets and everyone lies, but every significant character in this book tells a crazy, massive lie at some point.

Also, you probably already know this if you have heard anything about this book, but it includes twincest and the way it's sprinkled throughout via poems and numbered lists of occurrences, like Buzzfeed or something, is just a little too cavalier and cutesy... it's like they're dropping breadcrumbs and it feels like a cheap way to discuss something very serious and un-funny, especially given that the siblings were in their teens when it happened.

Good things about this book: it is kind of funny. I read it one sitting. It's a page-turner. That's about it.

[Kathy Bringardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I laughed my way through this book, and didn't want it to end. This entertaining book is a series of emails between siblings, and a story emerges as they are striving to become successful adults. I loved the humor, the warmth and honest emotions that play out in this book. It is a fun read.

[Mary Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me 99 pages to get in to Harry and Matilda's story. Written like an email log between twins, this book delivers on laughs and a unique style of writing. I felt voyeuristic at times, like I was snooping through a friend's personal email account. Basically, Harry and Matilda are exchanging emails about the daily grind, cosmic thoughts, personal triumphs, failure, dating, parental disappointment, and everything in between. Matilda lives in the big city. Harry lives in the country. He's on his way to tenure. Matilda, well, she's on her way but isn't exactly sure where. Dysfunctional. Codependent. Found myself laughing out loud. Matilda is a hot, angsty mess. An entertaining read, but it may not appeal to everyone. I liked it. The ending though. What just happened? Didn't see that coming. Now that I'm finished reading this I'm going to have to check out other reviews to see if I'm on track with how I think it ended.

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2



Received a copy through the Goodreads group, Keep Turning Pages. As always, many thanks. Always enjoy the monthly selection.

[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book from the opening emails .At times I found myself hysterically laughing at other emotionally involved with the crazy things that these twins get involved in.A wonderful unique novel.

[Squirrel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging, absorbing, engrossing. Straight to the heart via the mind, a great read.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the Doubleday Goodreads Keep Turning Pages group, I received a free copy of this book, but that never affects my ability to render an honest review. :) While I cannot say I LOVED this book, I can definitely admit the format made it a very unique read. We learn of Harry and Matilda and their relationship from emails sent to/received by each other while they are in their 30's. They are fraternal twins, though they lived apart for much of their childhood following their parents' divorce, him with his mother and her with her father. The format was similar to that of Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon. I believe the epistolary novel I most enjoyed reading was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. But I digress. This was definitely an interesting read--on many levels.

This is the second book I've read where I could kinda buy siblings' incestuous relationship. Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively was the first. It seems the information when reading Wife 22 and this novel where email messages are used, is dispensed in much terser terms with many fewer words. There were several times while reading this book that my jaw literally dropped as information was meted out.

This was a quick read and I was rather hopeful for their respective romantic relationships by book's end. I would read another book written by Hulin. In fact, if I discover the time and motivation, I would read her first book, Flying Henry, which is a children's book. Who knows? That might be a good addition to my grandchildren's libraries!

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry, but what the heck did I just read?! This book was so boring at first, then it got unbelievable, and then it just got yucky. No thanks, hard pass on this one!

I guess the author used Instagram to tell this story originally. Link to an article about it. Better format to tell the story but I'm still uncomfortable with the story itself.

It did fulfill a requirement on my reading challenge though!
Pop Sugar’s 2017 Reading Challenge - A book of letters
I found a better book of letters to use for my challenge this year: Letters to the Lost

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, fun read. Loved the first three quarters, but then there were major plot elements that were thrown in haphazardly toward the end without giving a sense of true closure. Certainly not a life altering masterpiece, but the characters are delightfully quirky and fun to follow... even if they make some pretty terrible choices without seeming to face much remorse or repercussions.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book and kept reading until I was done in the same day. It was a riveting book about twins who communicate with each other entirely through emails. Exceptionally well written with a great deal of humor in it. Highly recommend it !!!!!

[Alice Paterra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the format, quick read. Enjoyed the book until the last several pages when it became sick and disturbing. Now I wish I hadn't read it.

SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***







People who share even only one parent are still siblings.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first 2/3 of this book wasn't bad - I found the reference to Windham High School interesting! But the last 1/3 was just ... well, weird. Relatively unrealistic with an abrupt ending.

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love epistolary novels but this one grated. also the twist is really weird lol

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read. I liked the email format. The incest suggestions were a bit creepy but not overly so.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reasons I picked it up:
1. Epistolary novel (I like them)
2. Story about a sibling relationship, not a romantic relationship
3. Read some pre-pub reviews that interested me

It was okay, the messages back and forth make it a quick read though at times frustrating because you are a third party eavesdropping and you don't necessarily know what they are talking about. Harry & Matilda both seem self-destructive, self-absorbed, a bit stunted. Way too late in the game, you are privy to hints of their little secret and then way too little is said about it.

It was okay. Right now I can't think of anyone I'd recommend it to. Kind of sorry I added both the print and the audio editions to the library's collection, but live and learn.

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, So tedious.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

*I receieved a DRC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Looking for more book reviews? Check out Rachel Reading for more like this.

I originally found myself totally stoked for this book just based off the summary. One of my favorite books of all time is “Feeling Sorry for Cecilia”. And yet, this book fell flat almost immediately for me. I really enjoyed things like “Attachments” by Rainbow Rowell which was similar to this (written through emails), but the characters in both the aforementioned books had depth and I actually found them interesting.

This one not so much. Parts of it were charming, I guess, and they reminded me of two of my friends who are close siblings, but I didn’t really care about either of the characters. I felt like I was reading the emails of two siblings just talking about life (which is obviously what this book is supposed to be about), but when I reach for a book I want there to be what feels like a plot, and this book seemed to lack it unfortunately.

Maybe this book gets better later on, I bailed about 1/4 of the way into part two, but it wasn’t something I felt like I could continue to read without it being one of those “Life is too short for bad books”. I’m sure this book will be great for others, and the author started an Instagram for the characters which I found really cool. The rest of this book however, just wasn’t for me.

[Patty Getsla · Rating 2 out of 5]

What the heck did I just read? Did it really end how I think it ended?

I picked this book at a local book store in Greenville, SC while on vacation. It was the first time I’d seen books labeled as “blind date.” The book was wrapped in brown paper so you wouldn’t see what the title was, and it came with a blurb. So, I bought it based on this short blurb:
- the story of a brother and sister, both unhappy with their lives, told via email
- “weird, witty, and clever”
- “just when I thought it couldn’t get any weirder, it did”

And this is why you don’t go on blind dates. I was cat-fished by a book. I just feel like I can’t take enough boiling showers to feel clean after that. Why?!?!? I thought it was supposed to be a brother and sister emailing over their dysfunctional family. Nothing in this description lead me to even think that that was the direction the book was headed.

I did decide on 2 stars instead of 0 because I did enjoy the format and actually found good portions clever and witty.

[Denver Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, although I think I liked the premise more than I liked the actual book. The idea of writing a book through emails exchanged by Harry and Matilda was fun, although I kept losing track of who was writing what. This would be a good one to listen to!

Get Hey Harry, Hey Matilda from the Denver Public Library

- Leslie

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written in an epistolary format, emails, between a set of fraternal twins. The twins, Matilda and Harry, were in their thirties and separated by distance. Most of their correspondence, in my opinion, was worthless, often making no sense. Over and above their everyday humdrum, a couple revelations were brought to light later in the book. Nothing startling, but possibly surprising.

I did not like any of the characters in this book. The twins were thirty going on thirteen. I found this set of twins to be very self absorbed, neurotic and clueless. I was also not extremely over joyed with the writing style. I did not care for the format, and was ready to quit the book by about page 30.
I could not in all consciousness recommend this book to anyone. Rated 2.5 stars.

Thank you to Doubleday and Turning Pages for the free book.