Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Romantic Comedy

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

31 reviews

lujisa's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

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

1.0

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tigertheory's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.25

Didn’t realize this book was in large parts about Covid. That’s fine, but too soon for me. Character descriptions are good but also overall rather boring, and for a book of this title, it’s really not that funny.
Alright read, I guess.

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taylorc19's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

This is such a great concept for a book but I found myself rolling my eyes at many different parts. I've compiled a list of pros and cons because I don't want to come off as too negative in my review. I did enjoy bits and pieces of this book, however I feel very...passionate about the parts I disliked.
Pros:

I like the premise. A comedy writer who chooses to write a sketch about the phenomenon of wildly attractive female celebrities dating (for lack of better terms) mid-tier men is a really great idea.
The characters felt fully developed and like they could have been real people.
The so-called "third act break-up" was based on insecurities that were totally valid for the female main character to have, and I think I would have done the exact same thing she did if I were in her situation.

Cons:

There is absolutely no warning that this is going to be a pandemic fiction novel. I don't want to read about the COVID-19 pandemic. Like, ever. Maybe in fifty years when I forget the enormous toll it took on our lives, or maybe when I want to reminisce on my high school experience and remember how I never had a senior year, I can come back to pandemic novels. But right now? No thank you.
- A subsection of this: I'm sure there are people who want to read about the pandemic and enjoy that as a setting for a novel, but for God's sake at least mention that the pandemic is a part of the book in the blurb.
I don't think either of the main characters were supposed to be overly political, yet this book was inherently a political book. For example, when Danny Horst and his girlfriend break up he says something along the lines of "Remember in the 2016 election when we thought the worst thing would never happen and then it did?" or when talking about her friendship with Danny, Sally remarks that they bonded while sobbing in each other's arms on election night 2016. Is that really necessary in a romance book? Parts of this book felt like it was straight from a "How to Be a Social Justice Warrior in 2020 for Beginners" guide. Which maybe some people like, but again, give some indication in the blurb PLEASE.
- Another example of this is during the emails section of the book, Sally and whatever the main boy's name is (literally can't remember for the life of me) talk about masks and going to BLM protests. Sally also talks about systemic racism and racism in healthcare, which fair enough but also maybe we don't have a straight white woman protagonist preaching about it? Also I read the acknowledgements section and the author cites an article as her one source for racism in healthcare. It almost feels like she was just collecting woke Infinity Stones and sprinkling them throughout the book. Pick something you care about and develop that; otherwise, your commentary on these topics feels disingenuous and under-researched.
Sally is supposed to be funny and she simply isn't. She's a long-term writer for an SNL-type show and is supposed to be insanely witty and funny, yet none of her pitched skits or jokes landed for me. Sorry I don't find fart jokes funny.

Overall, this book missed the mark for me. If I had known it was set during the 2020 pandemic, I never would have picked it up. If you're into political pandemic novels this might be a great book for you, however I'm not and will probably never be.

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daniofthewood's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

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kyriannaj's review against another edition

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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 against another edition

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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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emilymazzara's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

This was such a fun read! As someone who has never sat and watched a full episode of SNL, weirdly enough, this has made me want to. The way the author portrays working there has given me a whole new appreciation for the crazy work that they do at that show. Not only that, but the entire portrayal of life in and on the fringes of fame is insightful, realistic, and impeccably charming. I especially adored the way the natural insecurities, anxieties, and neurosis Sally has are written (partially because I feel SEEN and partially because they were done with such an exacting attention to detail).

The love story here was beautiful in all its messiness and flaws. I can’t help but applaud the balance Sittenfeld was able to strike between the MCs communicating like adults and miscommunicating like humans. Truly just delightful from beginning to end!

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brebooks_'s review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-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

3.75

Love the realistic depiction of the 2020 struggles and concerns.

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abidavisf's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

Sexy, funny and deeply heart-warming, Romantic Comedy is a triumph.

This story reads like a conversation. It is not filled with drama and action, but raw human emotion and interaction. I’ve never read prose like this before and I loved it. I listened to the audio book and found myself giggling at my desk at the end of Chapter 2.

I’ll now be buying the physical copy because I need to read this again and desperately need to make notes!

Two of my favourite lines:

1. “If you were a musician, you got to be viscerally magical.”
2. “When I’m talking to you, I’m a funnier and smarter version of myself because you are funny and smart.”

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danikajoan's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.0

I enjoyed the second and third parts of this book much more than the first, and I trudged through the first part because I’ve enjoyed other books by this author so I was hopeful it would redeem itself, which it only sort of did? My main issue with the first part of the book is that I didn’t find the main character (or most of the sketches she was pitching) funny, with the exception of the dog internet searches. The behind-the-scenes SNL stuff was interesting but I prefer to read Amy Poehler or Tina Fey’s memoirs for that.

later, I really enjoyed the emails and the start of their relationship, but there are so many communication issues and unhealthy dynamics that it was hard to root for them as a couple.

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