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A review by bethreadsandnaps
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
5.0
I absolutely LOVED this book!
First of all, I'm not a person who loves romances in general. They are usually too cheesy, and the characters are very two dimensional. As in, the main female character has one flaw, one friend, has a meet cute, lots of coincidences, gets together with the guy, has a misunderstanding with him and breaks up, and then there's a cheesy ending where they get back together. It's all very Hallmark Movie Channel. However, for various reasons (FOMO, book club, etc.), I occasionally read these and rarely give more than 4 stars because there's usually some sighing and suspension of disbelief.
If you're like me, give this one a chance! I find Saturday Night Live fascinating, so the deep dive into a "week in the life" of a SNL-type show (The Night Owls) was incredibly interesting. I know there's a lot of memoirs out there from SNL cast members, but for sure I thought the author must have also interviewed former writers or cast members. Based on the acknowledgements, it looks like she just read a bunch of memoirs and podcasts, like WTF. The research paid off.
Our main character Sally is a writer for The Night Owls in 2018. That week's musical guest and host is Noah Brewster. He impresses Sally by wanting to give his all that week, and she impresses him. While they exchange info, nothing comes of it because they have an awkward interaction at an after party.
I really enjoyed the second part of the book where Sally and Noah exchange emails, epistolary style, during the pandemic. The connection truly comes through in these parts, and I am a sucker for epistolary.
And then the third part is when they get together during the pandemic. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Others in their reviews didn't enjoy Sally's self-consciousness and insecurity. However, if you as an average woman were dating a famous musician, I think it's very true that you would show some insecurity when you consider that the guy you're dating has previously dated models, famous people, etc.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought this would be a satire of a romantic comedy, so I wasn't really interested in reading. But after a few good reviews, I decided to try it and found that it has instantly risen to the top of my list because it's not only a romantic comedy but also an insider's view of SNL in addition to an epistolary romp.
First of all, I'm not a person who loves romances in general. They are usually too cheesy, and the characters are very two dimensional. As in, the main female character has one flaw, one friend, has a meet cute, lots of coincidences, gets together with the guy, has a misunderstanding with him and breaks up, and then there's a cheesy ending where they get back together. It's all very Hallmark Movie Channel. However, for various reasons (FOMO, book club, etc.), I occasionally read these and rarely give more than 4 stars because there's usually some sighing and suspension of disbelief.
If you're like me, give this one a chance! I find Saturday Night Live fascinating, so the deep dive into a "week in the life" of a SNL-type show (The Night Owls) was incredibly interesting. I know there's a lot of memoirs out there from SNL cast members, but for sure I thought the author must have also interviewed former writers or cast members. Based on the acknowledgements, it looks like she just read a bunch of memoirs and podcasts, like WTF. The research paid off.
Our main character Sally is a writer for The Night Owls in 2018. That week's musical guest and host is Noah Brewster. He impresses Sally by wanting to give his all that week, and she impresses him. While they exchange info, nothing comes of it because they have an awkward interaction at an after party.
I really enjoyed the second part of the book where Sally and Noah exchange emails, epistolary style, during the pandemic. The connection truly comes through in these parts, and I am a sucker for epistolary.
And then the third part is when they get together during the pandemic. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Others in their reviews didn't enjoy Sally's self-consciousness and insecurity. However, if you as an average woman were dating a famous musician, I think it's very true that you would show some insecurity when you consider that the guy you're dating has previously dated models, famous people, etc.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought this would be a satire of a romantic comedy, so I wasn't really interested in reading. But after a few good reviews, I decided to try it and found that it has instantly risen to the top of my list because it's not only a romantic comedy but also an insider's view of SNL in addition to an epistolary romp.