Review | Emily Henry flexes romance writing superpowers in ‘Funny Story’
After amassing an adoring fanbase, the author releases her 8th book, titled “Funny Story.” Photo collage by SIMRAH AHMAD, Staff Photographer
Whether you’re tanning on a sunny beach, curled up under the covers of your bed or tucked into the corner of a café, “Funny Story” should be the book you have in hand.
If your TikTok feed has led you to Book-Tok sometime since the summer of 2020, chances are you have heard of romance author Emily Henry. On April 23, Henry’s eighth book, “Funny Story” was released. Her newest installment follows a woman named Daphne whose ex-fiancé Peter broke up with her. Now, her ex is dating his best friend, Petra (the woman he told Daphne not to worry about), and Daphne is living in the spare room of Petra’s ex-boyfriend, Miles.
As an avid reader of Henry’s books, with “Book Lovers” and “Happy Place” being my favorites, reading the news that she would be releasing a book featuring the forced proximity trope immediately made it my most anticipated release of the entire year. A few popular favorites that follow this trope are the film “The Proposal”' and the book “The Unhoneymooners.”
Henry’s distinctive writing voice is consistent throughout her body of work. Through metaphors, alliteration and similes, Henry elevates simple sentences into lines that read like poetry. She transports the reader to small Michigan beach towns, quaint cities in North Carolina or my personal favorite, the fictional town of Knott’s Harbor in Maine. In “Funny Story,” Daphne has just moved from Virginia to Michigan after completely uprooting her life for Peter, leaving her feeling even more alone following their split.
Daphne, like Henry’s other female protagonists, comes with her lovable quirks. She’s socially awkward when meeting new people, dresses like a librarian and is a librarian. But once confined to close living quarters with Miles, Daphne quickly shows signs of wanting to be an open book (pun intended).
After both receive invitations to Peter and Petra’s wedding, Miles and Daphne mischievously decide to RSVP to the wedding, posing as a couple in an attempt to make their exes jealous. It’s not long before the lie spreads, and the unlikely pair have to maintain their faux romance.
Miles is the epitome of an ideal male character written by a woman. The description of his sexy tattoos, endless skills in the kitchen and his heartwarmingly optimistic approach to life are just the beginning of the list of reasons why Miles is a picture-perfect fictional boyfriend. His tenderness with Daphne and selflessness with his younger sister Julia all showcase the many reasons Henry wants readers to fall in love with Miles.
The romance in this book is definitely a slow burn, but it’s worth the wait. The tension builds between the characters, and the classic forced proximity trope plays out perfectly as the roommates move closer and closer to being more than just friends.
Although the romance may burn slowly, I appreciate the way their relationship started as friends immediately. Miles wasn’t the mysterious, dark roommate that Daphne was pining to learn more about. From the beginning, their friendship is almost destined to be due to their shared miserable heartbreaks.
Despite always being blown away by her writing, I found my ability to relate to Daphne and Miles to be much harder than when I read my favorite book of Henry’s, “Happy Place.” With “Happy Place,” I felt personally connected to the characters – crying when they did and thinking about them for days after the book ended. “Funny Story” was different.
I didn’t feel the same emotional connection to Daphne that I had to Nora or Harriet. Her characteristics weren’t as relatable, meaning I cared just a bit less about what happened to her. I was still rooting for her, but nothing started the waterworks like her other books.
Yet, unsurprisingly, Henry hits the mark again for crafting a beautiful love story, and I will be waiting in anticipation for a year until her next book is released.
