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A review by stormessed
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
4.0
i came in expecting nothing and i absolutely devoured this book until 1am last night
it's, in a lot of ways, the most mature romance book i've ever read. very often it feels like the author makes characters certain ages randomly, but the characters being almost 40 here does lend itself to a very mature and grow-up relationships in a way that i don't find very often. the characters have depth and they're easy to relate to, and noah is actually a sweetheart who's too good for her. surprising thing to say coming from a misandrist, but sally is kind of an asshole for a lot of the book
i do think it would have been better had it not been stuck in the formulaic genre of romance and been allowed to be its own thing. all of the miscommunication tropes, the third act breakup, the "taking care of my sick family member with my situationship" are all staples of romance, but in here they read a lot more childish.
i also really disliked the middle part with the emails: they were too long and, while i understand they were supposed to build characters and whatnot, they were extremely self indulgent because the author came up with all these details that didn't have a place in the book and had to had them in somehow, if you're going to make the email section that long, at LEAST have it span more than a week. seriously, what the fuck?
ignoring the insta love, the cliches, and the fact that this ended up being a lot more formulaic that i thought it would be (for its detriment), i had a fantastic time. 4 stars
it's, in a lot of ways, the most mature romance book i've ever read. very often it feels like the author makes characters certain ages randomly, but the characters being almost 40 here does lend itself to a very mature and grow-up relationships in a way that i don't find very often. the characters have depth and they're easy to relate to, and noah is actually a sweetheart who's too good for her. surprising thing to say coming from a misandrist, but sally is kind of an asshole for a lot of the book
i do think it would have been better had it not been stuck in the formulaic genre of romance and been allowed to be its own thing. all of the miscommunication tropes, the third act breakup, the "taking care of my sick family member with my situationship" are all staples of romance, but in here they read a lot more childish.
i also really disliked the middle part with the emails: they were too long and, while i understand they were supposed to build characters and whatnot, they were extremely self indulgent because the author came up with all these details that didn't have a place in the book and had to had them in somehow, if you're going to make the email section that long, at LEAST have it span more than a week. seriously, what the fuck?
ignoring the insta love, the cliches, and the fact that this ended up being a lot more formulaic that i thought it would be (for its detriment), i had a fantastic time. 4 stars