Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Romantic Comedy

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Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

80 reviews

samcanuel's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.75

Did I like this book because I’m a cheese ball and I am a sucker for the celebrity rom-com trope? Yes. Did I somewhat dislike this because Sally, the narrator, and the modernity of it pissed me off? Also yes! However, I really did enjoy the concept of a late night comedy show writer falling in love with the celebrity guest/host of the show. I found the plot to be questionable and overall the book felt incomplete to me, but I would not dissuade others from reading it - it just wasn’t my cup of tea!

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rebecca_arielle's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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

A MAN THAT GOES TO THERAPY!!!

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ariana3's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.75

This book took me a LONG time to get in to. I was going to give up, but I stuck it out, and it definitely paid off in the end! This book is an easy, light-hearted, funny, beach-read type book. It was hard for me to get over some parts, but once I accepted the premise and knowing essentially how the story was going to go, it was much easier to read and I enjoyed the last two-thirds of the book! The book is split up into essentially 3 parts. The first part feels chaotic, with too many characters being introduced and confusing and slightly annoying. However, I was sucked in during the second part, and then I found myself being pulled back to the book to find out how it ends.
Plot summary:

Sally works at The Night Owls (TNO), which is so obviously a rip-off of SNL. This was the biggest part for me that was so hard to get over. It felt annoying and stupid that the writer would put this story within a show that is so obviously something nonfiction that it was irritating. However, I eventually got over this and just accepted it. Anyway, Sally has been a writer at TNO for the last 9 years. She's in her mid-thirties, has previously been married, and just doesn't date because she no longer trusts her instincts and has settled into the fact she won't find love. Noah Brewster, a mega-hot, mega-famous star hosts TNO and she spends a considerable amount of time with him for the week. She feels like there's a flirtation but she must be crazy. At the after-party, she thinks he's going to kiss her, so she freaks out and says something a bit snarky as a jab (since her coping mechanism is snarky comments/humor, obviously). He feels hurt, their flirty friendship ends, and that's that. BOOM - Covid hits 2 years later. The entire 2nd part is in the format of emails to each other back and forth. Noah reaches out to Sally to rekindle a friendship, it gets honest and emotional, as two people during the pandemic are longing for a human connection. It's raw, emotional, honest, and their feelings are shared. These emails span over 5 days, which then leads into the 3rd part. The 3rd part, Sally and Noah start Facetiming and speaking on the phone. It's still early covid times, and she agrees to go out to LA to visit him. When she gets there, its kind of a will we/won't we hook-up, what are we doing, confusing mess. However, the feelings and conversations are so adult and mature, and they're primarily initiated by Noah which is a refreshing take on heterosexual relationships. Sally eventually comes around and shares her honest feelings and thoughts with him instead of her snarky quips. So, they obviously sleep together, they confess they love each other, etc. etc. Sally's stepdad gets sick so she flies out there to nurse him back to health and make sure he's okay. Noah comes out to help, and that's when they both realize, I think, they want to be with each other. It was his "grand gesture" to her to show that yes he loves her, yes he wants to be with her, yes this is real. There's also an epilogue which says they get married a year later, and her stepdad and his beagle eventually move out to LA and live with them.

I think I just love how wholesome the book turns out to be. There's plenty of ways it could take a dark turn or end a little bittersweet, but everything ends so happy and lovely! I wanted to give this book a lower score initially, but that fact alone bumped it up at least another star once I finished the book. And then I came through and bumped it up another 1/4 star haha

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ash3687's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

For a book called Romantic Comedy, it was very different from the standards of the genre. The lay out of the book was refreshing. Just when I thought I had the book figured out, the author would switch it up. If you love SNL, this is the book for you. It’s wholesome, realistic, and hilarious. The ending was a tad rushed but I think it fit the flow of the book.

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stopprivatejets's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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siena_reads's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

This book made me think about storygraph’s “are the flaws of the main character a main focus of the book?” question because yes, absolutely. from the beginning, Sally cannot imagine anyone finding her lovable. it was sort of annoying but the plot and lightheartedness saved it! I liked the writing style. it was a cute and fun read

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sammietee's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

Cute!!!

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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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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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saramorris's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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? No

3.0

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