Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Title: Romantic Comedy

Author: Curtis Sittenfeld

Publisher: Random House 2023

Genre: Romance

Pages: 309

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Quarter of a Century - 2023; Romanceopoly - Festival Barn

Where I Got It: Library

Spice Rating: 4.5

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every 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 actress 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 if 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, Curtis 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.

Oh goodness. I truly disliked this book. My main issue with the book is actually the format and writing style. The “Dear Diary” style of relating the week at the non-SNL production got old really fast. It felt super immature and distracted from the characters. The second section of emails was tired and repetitive. I couldn’t even imagine having to listen to that on audio. Thank goodness that I was reading it with my eyes. The third section was the only part that I was okay with. It’s written with first-person narrative, but seems normal. My other issue with the book is the story itself. There’s an attempt to show a story focused on insecure woman as she attempts to not fuck up a New Romantic relationship. I appreciate the attempt, but found Sally so unlikeable and annoying in many ways. I would have liked to see so much more between her and Noah, but instead we don’t get them together until the 70% mark of the book. As an extra note, I hated reading the COVID section. The entire section where Jerry contracts COVID seemed out of place and took my out of the point of the book. This is going to be interesting book club.

Next up on the TBR pile:

You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

Title: You Think It, I’ll Say It

Author: Curtis Sittenfeld

Publisher: Random House 2018

Genre: Short Stories

Pages: 223

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love

A suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie. A high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school. A shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life.

Curtis Sittenfeld has established a reputation as a sharp chronicler of the modern age who humanizes her subjects even as she skewers them. Now, with this first collection of short fiction, her “astonishing gift for creating characters that take up residence in readers’ heads” (The Washington Post) is showcased like never before. Throughout the ten stories in You Think It, I’ll Say It, Sittenfeld upends assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided.

This is the Girly Book Club selection for August and it was a dud for me. I finished this collection of short stories a while ago, but had to sit with my thoughts to really understand my problems with them. My initial reaction was: Human beings are trash. After thinking more about it, I am going to stick to that statement. Diving deeper, I was left with a very depressed cynical view of humanity after every single story. I don’t need “happily ever after” stories, but these seemed so incredibly pessimistic about life and relationships. I thought that “Gender Studies”, “Bad Latch”, and “The Prairie Wife” were very interesting stories, but my goodness they were bleak. Once I thought about the stories even more, I realized that almost all of the characters featured were upper middle class and white. There was so much privilege inherent in all their lives. I think I might be over stories that focus on this demographic (full disclosure: I am part of these demographic). I am wanted to read about a variety of stories and situations. I don’t think I will have very charitable things to say about these stories at book club. But I have to admit that these stories are very well written.

Next up on the TBR pile: