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★★

Introduction

Romantic Comedy is a 2023 novel by Curtis Sittenfeld. I’ll be honest: it wasn’t my favorite novel. I definitely went in with some high expectations, which could have influenced my outcome. However, there’s always an audience for something, and it may just not have been my cup of tea. Below is my honest review of what worked well and didn’t work so well so that you can decide for yourself.

Summary of Romantic Comedy

Sally is a writer at The Night Owls, aka SNL in a parallel universe. She loves her job and the people she works with. Enter Noah Brewster, the guest for the week. He’s both the main and musical guest, and Sally automatically detests him because she thinks his pop music is sappy and meaningless, and that he must only date models, etc. However, as they work together to come up with material for the show, some chemistry is sparked. Told in three parts over about three years, this book traces the relationship between the two in a world that focuses on fame and beauty.

Context

Romantic Comedy is a book by Curtis Sittenfeld, an American author who tends to focus on women and their stories. Sittenfeld has been a published author since 2005, and many of her stories have taken place at the intersection of feminism and politics or cultural events (i.e., Rodham). Romantic Comedy is her seventh novel. According to this article, Sittenfeld was inspired to write this novel while her family watched SNL during the pandemic, which is pretty clearly reflected in the story. I’d actually highly recommend this Variety article, as it gives some interesting insight into her inspiration and gives you an idea of how the characters came to be.

Romantic Comedy Review

Like I said, this wasn’t my favorite book. Honestly, I found it pretty hard to keep going, and I only finished because 1) I wanted to see if it was going somewhere, and 2) I was committed to finishing what I started. By the end, I was wondering what was up with the title, as I didn’t find much romance or comedy. Instead, I felt like I was dragging through to the end. Again, could just be me!

I’ll start with what worked.

I think that my main problem was that I loved the premise, but found the execution to fall flat.

I could tell that Sittenfeld was very educated and very passionate. Even if the book was a little overly pedantic at times, I appreciated the attention that she took in adhering to proper grammar rules. It did read a bit like an English teacher wrote it (spoken by an English teacher), but I never got frustrated about bad writing. If the characters had had more life and been more likeable, the book would have had a lot more promise for me.

Additionally, she is clearly a great researcher. If she were to write a book about the making of SNL, I think she would be super successful. Her effort was very clear. She also tied in the pop culture trend of average SNL guys dating beautiful celebrities, which I could appreciate. Once more, it was the execution that was lacking for me.

Finally, I like that she tried to make mature characters. Noah reads very much like Rafael Solano after the midseason hiatus of Jane the Virgin season three: Zen, mature, not problematic—almost to an annoying degree. I did appreciate that the book didn’t have some explosive, dramatic fight that was the result of a simple miscommunication (i.e., the general rom com plot). The characters (overall) communicated like adults, even if I think it became stilted and exaggerated, as I will explain below.

Now here’s what didn’t work.

I think my problem started at the exposition and continued with the structure. Romantic Comedy is told in three parts: 2018, some emails in 2020, and then another section in 2020. By three parts, I do literally mean three chapters of 70-100 pages each. For me, this was a questionable structure choice, and it made it difficult for me to keep reading. Without the chance to breathe, reflect, and build suspense at the end of each chapter, it felt like it dragged along. I usually have a good attention span, but I struggled to read this over several sittings.

The first part contributed to this the most. While it did pick up during the second half of the book, half of the first section (35-50 pages) explained Sally’s job, her day to day, and things like salaries and daily schedules for her coworkers. “Show, don’t tell” felt like it was thrown out the window, and I felt more like I was reading a behind-the-scenes of SNL than a romcom. Sittenfeld obviously did a fantastic job researching, and I did learn a lot about SNL. However, it felt more like a flex of how much she’d read than actual plot building at times.

The Characters

After we learn all about the show, we start to learn more about Sally herself, aka alternate-universe Amy Schumer. She is in her late 30s, writes jokes about bodily functions, and despises relationships. After a failed “starter marriage” and a guy who she thought was her soulmate rejected her, she has sworn off dating and stuck to friends-with-benefits situations. Her insecurity is very clear, as she goes on many times about how she is plain and funny and not a model. Throughout the 300 or so pages of the book, she does not really develop.

The entire premise of the Romantic Comedy is that Sally’s friend, aka alternate-universe Pete Davidson, dates a starlet who is prettier and more successful than him. This has happened often in TNO, and Sally is frustrated that attractive and successful women go for average men (and not the other way around), so she tries to make a skit about this. Noah (the guest) disagrees with this concept, and thus begins the plot.

As far as characters go, I can’t really say that there was one that I truly loved. Jerry, Sally’s stepdad, was the most likeable, and their relationship was nice, but it didn’t go very deep. I suppose the female friendship aspect was nice too. I would have to re-read to tell you if it passes the Bechdel test.

Our two main characters, however, fell very flat. Sally is a pick-me girl. The main problem with this is that she’s not an insecure 14-year-old, but is instead an insecure almost 40-year- old. Don’t get me wrong—everyone has their moments of insecurity, and it would be fictitious to make her without flaws. However, there wasn’t enough depth or likeability to her character to make her believable or enjoyable. Her constant complaining and self-pity about how she’s not hot enough for Noah and how he must not like her felt very high school.

Then it felt like overcompensation. Noah sounds like he is a dream prototype man written by a late Gen X or millennial. He is “sensitive” and “mature” and “conscious about the world.” All of these are, of course, good things.

However, all of them together made him feel like a Ken doll in a girl’s Barbie game. He was written to be the perfect man, and even his (obligatory) vices are meant to make him more likeable and perfect. He had a drinking problem, then he fixed it. Now, he meditates, abstains from alcohol, thinks about social consciousness, and writes songs. For no discernable reason, he is crazy about Sally. This could theoretically be plausible, but it felt more like a fantasy to me.

Honestly, all of their conversations reminded me of when I had to create conflict resolution role-plays to teach kids how to react in various situations. It was healthy, yes, but nothing about the way that Noah and Sally talked felt organic. There was no real conflict or chemistry. I will be the first to tell you that a romantic comedy doesn’t need to follow the typical structure (meet cute, fall in love, misunderstanding and separate, back together for HEA) to be a true romantic comedy. However, this one essentially had no conflict, and it left me confused what the whole point was.

This brings me to what it did feel like the point of Romantic Comedy was.

I’m not a very political person, but I found myself annoyed throughout Romantic Comedy. The author makes no secret about hiding her (or Sally’s) political views. Sally is your quintessential millennial Hillary Clinton sycophant. There’s nothing wrong with putting your political views into a book if it’s relevant to the plot. What annoyed me was that this felt irrelevant, exaggerated, and preachy. If you’re like me and you don’t love political views being pushed at you, even if you agree with some of them, you’ll probably be similarly frustrated.

For example, during the 2020 email section (Section 2), Sally and Noah have a conversation that drags out about BLM and Karens and white feminist women who miss the mark. First, this did very little to advance the plot. Second, Sally is exactly the type of person she’s talking about. She is nothing but judgmental, both with this and with everything else. However, for reasons beyond me, Noah is into it, and she is quickly driving across the country to be with him and advance their relationship. From there, it’s history.

Naturally, because it’s written in 2020, there is also talk about masks, restrictions, and the climate of the time. Personally, I don’t know why anyone would want to remember that year. However, the author made such a point about the masks and following the restrictions to the point where it is confusingly unnecessary. It felt more like a pedantic user guide of how you should act–published three years late. From detailed descriptions of masks to the protocol the characters were following to talking about pods (“we’re in a pod now, so I think it’s okay to take off the mask”), it was too much.

Mostly, I didn’t understand the reason why. The plot sort of revolved around the pandemic, but loosely so. The main influence the pandemic seemed to have was them wearing masks, Sally moving, Noah getting Covid and contemplating his life, and another character getting it and (very briefly) struggling with it. Most of this honestly wasn’t pandemic-dependent and could have occurred closer to when the book was published.

As I finished, it felt very full circle. Just like at the start, I was confused by the pacing. I had to look at the page count toward the end, because I genuinely could not believe that it was ending. I won’t spoil it, but essentially what happens is that most of the drama occurs within the last 15 or so pages.

Again, I’m sure that there’s an audience for this book, and my high expectations may have influenced my final perception of the book. I think that with more interesting, lively characters and a less pedantic tone, this book would have gone much further for me.

Recommendations A La Carte

Takeaways/Conclusion

It’s clear that Romantic Comedy was not the book for me. I’ve seen other reviews that have heralded the author’s breakaway from genre stereotypes, loved the chemistry, and appreciated the dialogue, so it really depends on what your cup of tea was. Personally, I believe that the general idea was awesome, but the execution wasn’t for me. I wouldn’t recommend this book, but I do definitely think that it has an audience that will love it.

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