Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

A comedy writer thinks she’s sworn off love, until a dreamily handsome pop star flips the script on all her assumptions. Romantic Comedy is a hilarious, observant and deeply tender novel from New York Times–bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld.

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?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.

Published by Random House
on April 4, 2023

Review:

I know I’ve said this before, but cutesy romances aren’t typically my jam. I like some grit. I want to see people have to work for it. Meet-cutes and friends to lovers tropes really do nothing for me unless it’s a Hallmark Christmas movie – in that case I can watch that shit all day, but in a book – not usually my thing.

I read this one because my New Year’s resolution was to read every book on Reese’s book club pick this year and then pick one book from one of the other big book clubs (Read with Jenna, Good Morning America or Oprah) each month. When I saw this was the pick for April, I wasn’t super thrilled, but decided I’d give it a shot – I might be pleasantly surprised. I didn’t have super high expectations, but the summary implies it intends to break the mold – and maybe it did. I just wasn’t into it enough to really care. I tried – I really did, but in the end it fell flat to me.

The book is comprised of only three chapters and an epilogue. The first chapter is separated into days and times and takes place over the course of one week in the life of Sally Milz – a writer for the sketch comedy show The Night Owls (Think SNL). Over the course of the week, we get a play-by-play of a week in the show from pitching sketches, to drafting, polishing, rehearsing and then performing the show. During this particular week, Sally meets Noah Brewster, a very prolific pop/rock artist who is acting as both the host and the musical guest that week.

As the synopsis tells us, Sally writes a sketch which looks at an issue (at least an issue to Sally) that mediocre men on the show tend to land these really hot women – case in point one of her best friends and writing partners on the show recently got engaged to a gorgeous woman who was recently a guest on the show. She feels like this would never happen to a plain jane woman because famous men only date models. But then she meets Noah, and she finds herself charmed by him, but despite feeling as though the feelings may be mutual, she says something to mess it all up at the cast party and the two go their separate ways. But then two years later, during the pandemic, Noah reaches out via email, which sets off chapter two, which is a collection of email exchanges between Noah and Sally. The third chapter and the epilogue are all about Sally and Noah dating and what happens with their relationship.

While I liked how the book was structured, and it was fun to see the behind the scenes of how a show like Saturday Night Live is pulled off, I didn’t ever connect with either of our main characters. They felt extremely flat. There was little to no growth across the entire book. I honestly didn’t care whether or not they got together.

I also felt like there was a lot of telling in the first chapter of the book and, to an extent, even in the third chapter. Also, a lot of the emails written in the second chapter were so looooooong. Part of me was thinking, “Just pick up the damned phone and call him already. He’s never going to read this epic novel of an email.”

When it came to the supporting characters, I liked them way more than I liked either Sally or Noah. I was honestly more invested in their relationships and wanted to know more about them.

I know a lot of people are loving this one -I’m obviously in the minority here. I guess I just wasn’t that into it.