Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Romantic Comedy

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Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

15 reviews

scfrederick33's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

4.0

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kyriannaj's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

This book heavily deals with COVID in the immediate summer of 2020 with uncertainty, anxieties, and all other political events that happened in the US during that time.

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manaledi's review

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emotional reflective slow-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

3.5

Despite its title, I didn't find this book particularly either a romance or a comedy but rather a somewhat intense exploration of the gendered politics of attraction and expectation. It felt inspired by why are all these successful beautiful women dating Pete Davidson and at times verged too far into I promise I did my research about what SNL is actually like. But there were funny and poignant parts of it and I quite liked the middle emails.

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kristapeters's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.75

Title: Romantic Comedy
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Genre: Romance
Rating: 2.75
Pub Date: April 4, 2023

T H R E E • W O R D S

Observant • Light • Clever

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for "The Night Owls," the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?

💭 T H O U G H T S

Well, well, well if Romantic Comedy isn't the first 2023 release where I fell complete victim to an intriguing title, catchy cover, and false marketing. This book was not on my radar until it started to pop up absolutely everywhere and was selected as a BOM pick. And I'll be the first one to admit it sounded promising - not the case!

What I like:
• characters in their 30s. It was a breath of fresh air to be introduced to more mature, thriving adults.
• a healthy romance. Sally and Noah's relationship felt mature with open communication, and a mutual respect and understanding for one another.
• the email corresponding. I am here for epistolary (in this case emails) novels every. single. time. As someone who communicates better in written form, I appreciate this aspect in a new relationship.
• the friendships. There are some seriously strong friendships sprinkled throughout and I liked these better than the actual romance.

What I didn't like:
• the chemistry. I definitely wasn't convinced. Maybe it was the structure. Maybe it was my lack of caring about the two characters involved. I'm really not sure. The romance definitely takes a back seat.
• the structure. There's a prologue, three 'chapters' and an epilogue divided over 300 pages. Even without doing the math, it's easy to tell those aren't really chapters! Each section jumped in time and it felt scrambled and rushed at times. It just didn't seem to work.
• it's not all that funny. A couple of funny lines from characters with cameo appearances and that's about it.
• the extensive detail. There's so much detail on the creative process and behind-the-scenes of working in the industry that I just didn't need or enjoy.

A solid plot idea but very poorly marketed and executed. Additionally, at this point in time I am just not sure I'm ready for novels with a focus on the pandemic as a central theme and plot. If you're looking for a book with romance and/or comedy this likely isn't it.

**Reminder to self: falling victim to the buzz surrounding books not already on your radar rarely works out.**

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• SNL fans
• readers looking for a take on modern love

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"It was a belated realization to have, but it occurred to me that perhaps this was how grown-up conversations worked—not that your communication didn’t falter, but that you both made good-faith attempts to rectify things after it had."

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sebradley29's review

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3.5

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thecriticalreader's review

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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

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lindseybarnett's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

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sarahyjackson's review

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emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I love SNL send ups and I love romantic comedies and I love folks wondering about their behaviors and I love partners choosing each other and that sometimes looking/feeling/being incorrect.

Also, this was my first commit to a pandemic plot line and I found it was, for me, the right tone AND mood.

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meredith_williams_'s review

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.5

I requested this as my BOTM in April. I’d heard some hype about the book, but sadly I don’t think the story lived up to it. The premise of a late night comedy writer falling for the musical guest was intriguing, but ultimately I found the main characters to be unlikeable and unrelatable. By the end of the story, the female lead had, in my opinion, very little growth while the male lead remained stagnant the entire book. Additionally, I didn’t love the constant reference to current events. I found that it took away from the escapism of the genre, and often felt performative on the author’s part. The only time I felt it served the story was the middle portion in which the two main characters email back and forth during the pandemic. However, the fact that they had more chemistry over email than any of the dialogue in the book should tell you everything you need to know about the romance aspect of this book.

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