Have we reached a point where the novel should aspire to be like the best Hollywood romcoms? That’s the intriguing question that animates Curtis Sittenfeld’s Romantic Comedy. Sittenfeld is best known for her complex portrayals of first ladies in books that are more like tragedies in their probing of regret – 2020’s Rodham, 2008’s American Wife. Here, she throws all the ingredients of 1930s Hollywood into modern America.
The book opens in New York in 2018. Sally is a confident, witty writer on the fictional equivalent of Saturday Night Live. She’s confronted by Noah, a hot pop star who’s guest-starring that week and wants her to help him refine the sketch he’s written. Huddled over her computer together, she’s surprised by how kind and thoughtful he is, and finds herself developing “a consuming, imbalance-inducing crush”. He’s so delighted by their collaborative sparring session that his concert that afternoon turns into a way of serenading her.
