The Romantic Comedy Book Club
For fans of SNL or television parodies such as 30 Rock or Studio 60, this is the perfect book for you! New to Curtis Sittenfeld, I was so impressed by her talent in creating (what seemed like) a recollection of her real life experiences that I actually stopped to see if she, indeed, worked on SNL. While her biography is very intriguing, she in fact did not. This leads me to believe she either binged on 30 Rock (like I have) or simply created a plausible universe that one could easily believe. In either case, to walk the halls of TNO along side Sally Milz was thrilling. I couldn’t put the book down (once I finally got into the groove).
Sally Milz has only ever wanted one thing in life, to be a writer for The Night Owls, a Saturday night show filmed in front of a live studio audience. When the dream that manifested in the 5th grade came true, Sally answered the call! Fast forward one divorce and nine years later, Sally still can’t believe she gets paid to do what she loves day in and day out. Prepping for yet another show with yet another host (who is also the musical guest), Sally finds herself in a pitch meeting staring at one of the most gorgeous men she has ever seen. Believing deeply in the Danny Horst Rule, Sally doesn’t give Noah another thought and continues to prep for the show, following the rigorous routine that has yet to let her down. To her surprise, Noah approaches her to ask for help on a sketch he is writing and her 1:1 pow wow quick turns two strangers into friendly acquaintances. A walking disaster in love, relationships, and all variations in between - Sally has no idea what, if anything, is happening between her and Noah but with less than a week before they never see each other again, she just has to keep it together before he is but another past guest and distant memory.
What I like about it: I loved this book! I have read a lot of romantic comedies but when you can make me say “Aww….” out loud AND giggle with fondness, I applaud you! This book was just adorable. No scratch that, Noah was absolutely adorable! He makes you want to throw every preconceived notion you have about celebrities right out the window. Yes, the story is fictional but Curtis’s writing is just that convincing!
I absolutely LOVED how she wrote Sally. She wasn’t just some “seemingly” independent woman who’s life was all over the place until the right guy came along. In fact, she actually makes fun of that! She was a brilliant, successful, award winning writer that was doing what she loved in life. She had already had her rocky start and was standing firm and owning life. What thrilled me is that THAT is what attracted Noah to her in the first place. Her confidence, her ability to own a room, her intellect, and her raw talent. She wasn’t model gorgeous, she wasn’t secretly a 10 disguised as a 4. She was a normal every day woman with normal insecurities and one heck of a sense of humor!
What I love about it: I honestly believe what I loved more was how Noah was written. You had the Noah you expected him to be (gorgeous, playboy, egotistical, god complex being a celebrity) and the Noah we meet within the pages (sweet, humble, kind, genuine, intelligent, and down to earth). Along with Sally, you keep tripping over your own misconceptions of who he is while simultaneously waiting for the other shoe to drop. No one can be this kind, no one that looks like that could be this sweet. You find yourself waiting until finally, FINALLY Noah says something so gut wrenchingly beautiful that you concede to him being as real as it gets (shout out to the power of therapy!).
It took me awhile to get into the groove of the book. Split into three chapters, the first chapter took the longest to get through because, initially, I didn’t understand what was happening, or better yet - the point of what was happening. As the story unfolds, you realize the day to day is important for knowing and understanding Sally. While we only witness a week, this is her life - wash, rinse, and repeat. It is even more apparent when you enter Chapter 2. Chapter 3 was just magical and made these two characters more human that anything I ever read. That is what I enjoyed about Curtis’s writing - it felt real! What was thought versus what was said, the anxiety, the overthinking, the self doubt - so relatable!
As for the heat, while the book was not steamy per se, it was blatantly descriptive in some parts that if you don’t want to read anything remotely sexual, you may be slightly offended but again - it isn’t the act as oppose to recognition of something that happens that is of a sexual nature.
A book that makes you think, feel, and chuckle, Romantic Comedy is a treasure find for those who are just looking for a really good book to dive into this year. I look forward to going through Curtis's omnibus and being awed by her magnificent talent yet again.
