Reviews with content warning for Classism - Romantic Comedy

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Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

2 reviews

ariana3's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book took me a LONG time to get in to. I was going to give up, but I stuck it out, and it definitely paid off in the end! This book is an easy, light-hearted, funny, beach-read type book. It was hard for me to get over some parts, but once I accepted the premise and knowing essentially how the story was going to go, it was much easier to read and I enjoyed the last two-thirds of the book! The book is split up into essentially 3 parts. The first part feels chaotic, with too many characters being introduced and confusing and slightly annoying. However, I was sucked in during the second part, and then I found myself being pulled back to the book to find out how it ends.
Plot summary:

Sally works at The Night Owls (TNO), which is so obviously a rip-off of SNL. This was the biggest part for me that was so hard to get over. It felt annoying and stupid that the writer would put this story within a show that is so obviously something nonfiction that it was irritating. However, I eventually got over this and just accepted it. Anyway, Sally has been a writer at TNO for the last 9 years. She's in her mid-thirties, has previously been married, and just doesn't date because she no longer trusts her instincts and has settled into the fact she won't find love. Noah Brewster, a mega-hot, mega-famous star hosts TNO and she spends a considerable amount of time with him for the week. She feels like there's a flirtation but she must be crazy. At the after-party, she thinks he's going to kiss her, so she freaks out and says something a bit snarky as a jab (since her coping mechanism is snarky comments/humor, obviously). He feels hurt, their flirty friendship ends, and that's that. BOOM - Covid hits 2 years later. The entire 2nd part is in the format of emails to each other back and forth. Noah reaches out to Sally to rekindle a friendship, it gets honest and emotional, as two people during the pandemic are longing for a human connection. It's raw, emotional, honest, and their feelings are shared. These emails span over 5 days, which then leads into the 3rd part. The 3rd part, Sally and Noah start Facetiming and speaking on the phone. It's still early covid times, and she agrees to go out to LA to visit him. When she gets there, its kind of a will we/won't we hook-up, what are we doing, confusing mess. However, the feelings and conversations are so adult and mature, and they're primarily initiated by Noah which is a refreshing take on heterosexual relationships. Sally eventually comes around and shares her honest feelings and thoughts with him instead of her snarky quips. So, they obviously sleep together, they confess they love each other, etc. etc. Sally's stepdad gets sick so she flies out there to nurse him back to health and make sure he's okay. Noah comes out to help, and that's when they both realize, I think, they want to be with each other. It was his "grand gesture" to her to show that yes he loves her, yes he wants to be with her, yes this is real. There's also an epilogue which says they get married a year later, and her stepdad and his beagle eventually move out to LA and live with them.

I think I just love how wholesome the book turns out to be. There's plenty of ways it could take a dark turn or end a little bittersweet, but everything ends so happy and lovely! I wanted to give this book a lower score initially, but that fact alone bumped it up at least another star once I finished the book. And then I came through and bumped it up another 1/4 star haha

Content Warnings

thecriticalreader's review

Go to review page

hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Blurb:

Sally Milz is a thirty-six-year-old sketch comedy writer with a reputation for writing about feminist issues and themes. She takes a cynical view toward her lackluster love life and frequently ruminates over the tendency of conventionally attractive female celebrities to couple up with less conventionally attractive male comedians—noting that this sort of coupling rarely occurs if the gender roles are reversed. She’s forced to reconsider her philosophy when she meets Noah Brewster, an attractive superstar who takes an interest in her.

Review:

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld takes place in three stages. The first half of the book takes place during the week leading up to a late-night live show (called The Night Owls in the book, but which is VERY clearly a stand-in for Saturday Night Live, down to the smallest details). The next part is an email exchange between Sally and Noah, and the final section of the book follows the protagonist as she meets the love interest in person during the COVID-19 pandemic. The structure contributes in large part to the main issues I have with this book. The first half of the book takes place in a week span, but only a handful of scenes actually contribute to the main plot. The rest is chock full of details about how the live show works, Sally’s coworkers’ lives, and other minute details. As a huge fan of Saturday Night Live, I appreciated these details for adding a sense of realism to the story, but they are purely superfluous from a storytelling perspective. Even outside of this section, Romantic Comedy consists mainly of expository details that add to the story’s realism, but that detract from its momentum. In other words, this book is in need of editing and restructuring.

One thing that I appreciate about Romantic Comedy is that the romance between Sally and Noah feels much more healthy, developed, and mature compared to most relationships in romance books. The main characters communicate their feelings and expectations, and their attraction to one another forms equally out of their respect and admiration for each other as their sexual attraction. That being said, Sally is much less mature than Noah. For the first half of the book, she’s insufferable—her only real personality traits are that she likes her job and that she’s a feminist. She unfairly judges others and treats people with disrespect. Moreover, it’s unclear why Noah finds her attractive. The conceit of the book is that her relationship with Noah switches the gender roles in a common dynamic in which a conventionally attractive, female superstar falls in love with a less conventionally attractive comedian for their humor and charm. The problem with this is that nowhere in the book is Sally shown to be funny or charming. Sure, she supposedly writes hilarious sketches (although a lot of her sketch ideas sound awful on paper), but she displays none of that humor or wit in her actual personality. She’s a wet blanket of a human being, and poor Noah is forced to act as her therapist because she’s not emotionally mature enough to act like an adult in their relationship.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like Romantic Comedy if:

· You love comedy and/or Saturday Night Live, and want to read about how a show like SNL is put together AND

· You are looking for a romance built on shared interests and communication more than raw attraction

You might not like Romantic Comedy if:

· You don’t want to read about the COVID-19 pandemic

· You are looking for a traditional rom-com book (this book leans more toward literary fiction than traditional romance, contains very little humor, and is not "smutty")

· You like fast-paced, efficient books that don’t dwell on unnecessary details

Content Warnings

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