Book Review: Funny Story by Emily Henry
Rating: 3 stars of 5
Funny Story is the second book I have read by Emily Henry. The first one I read wasn’t a good fit for me (I think I gave it 1 star), but I’ve been wanting to give her books another chance, so I picked up a copy of this one on release day and started reading it almost immediately.
What I liked:
The bright, colorful cover, the pink book cover underneath it, and the cheery spine. It’s a very aesthetically pleasing book and it looks great next to the used hardcover copy of Happy Place that I found at a secondhand store.
Emily’s writing style is easy to read.
The way female friendship dynamics are explored throughout the book. I can’t elaborate on this much without spoiling anything, so I’ll just say that I liked how certain relationships throughout the book required effort and intention to maintain and grow.
Miles’ character - but only up until a certain point in the storyline.
What Didn’t Work for Me:
I didn’t feel attached to the characters or find them very memorable.
I found myself feeling bored and thinking that nothing was really ever happening pretty often as I was reading.
I had some issues with the writing in certain places.
Maybe it’s a me thing, but I’m just not down for most miscommunication / lack of communication tropes. When major plot points wouldn’t need to exist if two adults would just have a normal conversation with each other, it leaves the whole book feeling deficient at best.
I’m used to seeing profanity in modern books in this genre, but it’s not really my thing. I find it distracting and don’t think it adds anything relevant to the book.
Overall, I didn’t hate it. The reading experience was okay, and I did end up rating it much better than I rated People We Meet on Vacation, but I did feel that it was a very flat, middling type of book.
I still have a few other Emily Henry books that I haven’t read yet, so I’ll try to keep an open mind going into those (I’ve heard really good things about two of them), but right now, it’s looking like she might just not be the author for me.
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