Book Review: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

I’ve been a huge fan of writer Curtis Sittenfeld ever since I read her first book Prep back in 2005. And I really loved her collection of short stories You Think It, I’ll Say It, which I reviewed several years ago. So when I cam across Sittenfeld’s latest novel Romantic Comedy, I was really excited. Sadly, my excitement soon abated after reading this book.

Romantic Comedy begins in 2018. Sally Milz is a writer for the late night comedy sketch show “The Night Owls,” clearly a take on the long-running “Saturday Night Love.” As the novel commences, one of writers, schlubby Danny Horst, has fallen in love with a guest star on “The Night Owls,” Annabel, a famous and beautiful actress. Sally wonders if a a hot and famous guy would ever fall in love with a schlubby female writer. Sally is about to find out when musician and songwriter, Noah Webster, guest stars on “The Night Owls.” Sally, who was married and divorced in her twenties and currently has a booty call relationship, finds herself connecting with Noah. But she thinks she’s just too plain and dorky for a hottie like Noah. And even though Sally and Noah seem to have a connection, nothing really happens between them other than a wee bit of a flirtation.

Fast forward two years to 2020. Yes, we all know what was going on in that dreaded year, Covid. Sally reconnects with Noah when he sends her an email out of the blue. Sally is back in her hometown, Kansas City, Missouri, looking after her elderly stepfather, Jerry, and Jerry’s dog, Sugar. Noah is holed up in his LA mansion with a couple of servants. In these emails, Sally discuss trying to get by in the time of Covid, and there is some talk of Black Lives Matter and the Trump presidency. But mostly, Sally and Noah learn more and more about each other, and that initial connection on the set of “The Night Owls” grows stronger.

Despite Covid, Sally decides to road trip to Los Angeles to visit Noah. Their connection turns to romance, and yes, they consummate their relationship. Noah seems to truly be into Sally, but of course, Sally has her doubts even when he travels to Kansas City and helps Sally take care of her stepfather when he contracts a serious case of Covid (spoiler alert: Jerry survives). Sally realizes Noah truly loves her and their relationship can go the distance.

I truly wanted to love Romantic Comedy but I was so underwhelmed. The beginning of the novel, where Sally and Noah meet, spent far too much time focusing on writing for “The Night Owls.” I usually love a behind the scenes look at working on a television show, but too many details bogged down the flow of the novel. And though I’m no prude, I really didn’t appreciate the potty humor. I can handle fart and poop jokes from a twelve year old boy, but not from a grown ass woman like Sally. Plus, I think the details about writing for the show never gave Sittenfeld a chance to develop any initial chemistry between Sally and Noah.

Which made me wonder why Noah would seek out Sally via email two years later when no chemistry seemed to be in place. But I guess we wouldn’t have a novel. Plus, do we need to rehash Covid? I found a lot of the emails between these two kind of boring, and the social issues and political stuff just seemed crammed in.

And then there is the section where Sally and Noah fall in love. I didn’t feel any chemistry between the two. Sally was written as a drip. Sally had no self-confidence and the way she was written you would have thought she was the ugliest dog on the planet. However, there are no descriptions of Sally’s looks? Is she blonde, brunette, a redhead? I kept picturing her looking like Tina Fey who is very attractive. And Noah was written as too perfect. He always did the right thing and always knew what to say. Sure, this makes him sound like a dreamboat, but it wasn’t very realistic.

Look, I know the pandemic was hard on all of us, and maybe Sittenfeld was on a strict deadline, but Romantic Comedy just didn’t do it for me. The romance was so flat, and never once did I get any humor. I’m hoping this is just a small hiccup in Sittenfeld’s writing career and her next effort will be topnotch.

Book Review: You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

I’ve been a fan of author Curtis Sittenfeld ever since I read her debut novel Prep several years ago.  Since then Sittenfeld has written several critically acclaimed books. Now she’s back with her latest release, a collection of short storie, called You Think It,  I’ll say It.

In You Think It, I’ll Say It, Sittenfeld chronicles the lives of men and women in our modern day, both the mundane and the complex.

In the opening story, a man and a woman (married to other people) play a game called You Think It, I’ll Say It. It is their way of coping with their less than ideal relationship issues and marriages that have known better days. Little do they realize their little game just might lead to dire consequences.

In Gender Studies, Henry elopes with his student Bridget. Left behind is Henry’s longtime former girlfriend Nell. At first, Henry thinks he has done the right thing leaving Nell, for he has enough with her smugness. But has he found the ideal woman in a less “affected” woman like Bridget? Or is he just with her because of her youth, and what he believes is her less than formed identity?

In Bad Latch, a new mother struggles with breastfeeding and the judgmental attitude of mothers. Is she less than a mother because breastfeeding isn’t this magical bonding moment and she might have to turn to (oh horror), formula? In Bad Latch, a “Breast is Best” activist character is a hilarious highlight.

In Off The Record, entertainment reporter, Bridget copes with new motherhood while on a business trip to interview an up and coming actress. The actress reveals a juicy tidbit asking Bridget not to put it in the article. But finding this actress a bit of an obnoxious twit, Bridget wonders if she should put in this detail in the article out of spite. Should she she? Hmm, maybe she should.

And clearly The Prairie Wife is based on The Pioneer Wife (and other lifestyle bloggers) and a total hoot in all its snarky bitchiness.

Pretty much all of You Think It, I’ll Say It is a tremendous collection, written in Sittenfeld’s sharp voice that makes her such a singular voice her generation. I highly recommend it.