Funny Story by Emily Henry

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
 

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.
 

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
 

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads —Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?
 

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?

My history with Emily Henry’s books has been a bit all over the place so I was hesitantly optimistic picking up Funny Story. For context, my scale varies from loving Beach Read, frustrated and almost insulted by Happy Place, and finding Book Lovers competently solid in-between. Fortunately for me, Funny Story ended up on Beach Read’s side of the spectrum, even covering a few of Happy Place’s themes executed with more finesse (the fake dating trope + adult friendships). In many ways Funny Place feels like Henry’s most polished and cohesive novel yet that’s an easy read with mass appeal. I really enjoyed the story, although the title may be a bit deceiving as this novel definitely isn’t Henry’s funniest and is a much slower yet rewarding read compared to her past books (minus People We Meet On Vacation, the only one I haven’t read yet).

Henry’s books are always well-written works laced with clever modern humor, but my enjoyment of her novels tend to hinge heavily on each book’s protagonist and the central themes introduced; separate from the romance and core couple which I would imagine is often the draw for many of her other readers. Besides the obvious fake dating trope already covered in the synopsis, Funny Story also includes themes relating to adult friendships, isolation, detachment as a defense mechanism, relationship expectations and dynamics, and taking control of one’s life. These secondary focuses besides the fake dating trope add a lot of substance to pad out the novel’s relatively sparse plot (an upcoming Library community event has much lower stakes than Beach Read’s draft novel deadline, Nora’s career in Book Lovers, or Happy Places’ last group vacation of their lives setup). Emily Henry has attempted in the past to add more character growth to each of her novels to varying degrees of success ranging from decent but underdeveloped in Beach Read, mixed in Happy Place (pretty good for Harriet, terribly done for Wyn), and finally well-meaning but poorly paced in Book Lovers. Funny Story fixes that from the get-go, immediately drawing you into both Daphne’s devastation/rage at Peter’s betrayal and her insecurities and isolation (previous books typically introduce these secondary themes much later, if at all).

What I found Funny Story to be surprisingly great at is its portrayal of modern adult loneliness. I’m sure a lot of us have friends who make their significant other their entire personality, being, and life, but if things don’t work out, what do you have that’s left? After inadvertently allowing her fiancé Peter’s life to overtake her own, she’s left with a massive hole in her heart and her entire life. Her friends became Peter’s friends and now they’re stuck between both sides, unwilling to pick one over the other. She’s evicted from their shared house, which is in Peter’s name only, and is forced to move in with Peter’s new fiancé Petra’s ex-boyfriend on short notice. She uprooted her life to move to the scenic yet unfamiliar town of Waning Bay (loosely inspired by Traverse City, Michigan) where she knows nobody except for her coworkers who she maintains professional relationships with only. The internal turmoil and realization that she has almost nothing left in Warning Bay is a harsh reality, and I loved the way the book shows her struggles and growth over time. Yes, there are quite a few situations that are heavily facilitated and pushed forward by Miles, but at the end of the day, it’s up to Daphne to take control of her own life. This all comes full circle with the book’s satisfying resolution.

Another theme and area Funny Story covers well is the unconscious tactic of defensively protecting yourself from emotional harm. This was one of the main themes of Book Lovers’ second half that I originally critiqued as being jarring and messy in execution. Funny Story takes a much quieter, less dramatic approach that has a better setup and resolution. Daphne spends most of her time (and really most of her life) keeping friends and family at an emotional distance, as it’s often the ones that are closest to us and those you trust the most who can hurt us with disappointment or betrayal. This personal demon of Daphne’s is a recurring theme that looms just under the surface and is the primary factor contributing to the book’s climax and eventual resolution. Henry does a great job with Daphne’s slow growth and trust in others (both romantically and platonically) after the pain she experienced from Peter and other family members. By the end of the book, it’s hard not to root for her as she turns her life and relationships around by being vulnerable and putting herself out there. Miles likewise has a similar, albeit less developed growth (as expected for a love interest vs the protagonist), of allowing himself to express how he feels after years of suppressing personal wants or things he feels he doesn’t deserve.

If the summary above sounds serious or too touchy-feely, there’s nothing to worry about as Funny Story generally stays light and sunny. Despite the romance genre and fake dating trope, a lot of Funny Story reads like a slice of life book as Miles shows Daphne the best of what Waning Bay has to offer. Scheduled weekly outings that could act as potential dates instead serve as quiet opportunities for them to get to know each other, occasionally going through the fake dating motions to get revenge on their exes. While Daphne has a wandering eye (and nose for Miles’ spicy signature scent), this isn’t an explosive passionate romance but instead a slow and meticulous one that feels organic. Her relationship with Miles is seamlessly interwoven with her job as a librarian (the obligatory book-related focus, every Henry book has one somewhere) planning for a fundraising/community event night and her navigating around her ex-fiancé, often in hilariously awkward situations. While it never feels like Funny Story hits the intense page-turning of some of her other books, I found the novel quickly breezing by. There’s an underlying optimistic “I got this” feel even when Daphne feels like all hope is lost, and that gave it a very comfortable, cozy feel to me while reading.

As for the characters, Daphne and Miles are easily some of my favorites of Henry’s. I sometimes felt January and Nora were a bit on the extreme ends of the spectrums while Daphne feels a bit more grounded and realistic (I’m going to skip Happy Place’s characters which I found to be consistently mediocre). Miles is also a nice departure from Henry’s go-to pretty boy holding underlying trauma with an edgy and pessimistic outlook on life trope (both Augustus and Charlie). He’s described to be the opposite of her usual as a scruffy, disheveled young man covered with terrible tattoos who can connect with everyone, despite looking like he could be a drug-dealer (courtesy of Ashleigh’s description). Both Daphne and Miles feel like regular people rather than romance novel tropes and the way they converse, while less laugh out loud funny like in past Henry couples (Nora and Charlie come to mind), has a lot of lowkey witty banter. The cast is also rounded out by Daphne’s intimidating coworker and recent divorcee Ashleigh and Miles’ young and unhinged 23 yr old sister Julia.

What makes Daphne and Miles relationship work well is that they function more as a friends to lovers trope underneath the fake dating trope. There is romance and two(?) steamy sex scenes in Funny Story, but the characters take a while for their feelings to grow beyond a surface level physical attraction. These two are strangers that are suddenly thrown together for monetary convenience’s sake once Daphne is evicted, and Henry goes to great lengths to show how awkward and uncomfortable it is to get to know someone, especially if you social insecurities like Daphne. They’re both also recovering from having their hearts broken by their exes, readers expecting them a steamy romance from the get-go need to have their expectations checked. The challenge with social interaction is also on fully display as Daphne gradually befriends Ashleigh outside of work which was lovely to read about. In general, Funny Story does a considerably better job with its portrayal of platonic relationships than whatever went so horribly wrong during my read of Happy Place, and that was supposed to be a novel focused on a core friend group. Another reviewer also commented that in order for each character to love each other, they have to learn how to love themselves first. That takes time to do, as well as skill and finesse to portray well.

While I did find the plot to be entirely predictable and I could call the ending, I didn’t find it disappointing as the actual execution was well done. If I have to find some faults in Funny Place, one would be that certain key plot threads felt like they weren’t quite capitalized on. The premise’s wedding between Peter and Petra feels like a missed opportunity for huge comedic horrors (though I understand that would’ve affected the original plot’s resolution) and while Miles’ backstory with his family is good on paper, it feels underdeveloped. I believe Miles’ family problems are meant to compliment and mirror Daphne’s family problems with the takeaway that nobody has the perfect upbringing in contrast to Peter’s, but the point gets a little lost with how much the book tries to do at the end (a confrontation with Miles’ mother could’ve been a huge moment for his character). Speaking of the end, I personally also felt that the book’s climax was too brief. Covering only about 3 chapters out of 38 chapters, I got the impression that the book sacrificed digging deeper to keep the book accessible and easy to read for its intended readers (which I’m not likely one of). The resolution, while satisfying and well planned, also felt a bit rushed, though the library night event was a great concluding chapter. And for a book titled Funny Story, perhaps it could’ve been funnier? I don’t think the story is the problem here, I think the title sets an inappropriate expectation that the book will be laugh out loud funny. It is quite humorous at times, but not Henry’s funniest or craziest story.

As whole, Funny Story could potentially be my new favorite Emily Henry novel. While I loved parts of Beach Read (particularly Agustus’ cult and dark research element), I found Funny Story to be far more cohesive and better executed. I’ve seen some reviewers comment that they found Funny Story’s romance and plot in general to be boring, slow, or criminally unfunny. While the last statement I can slightly get behind, I personally appreciate how slow-paced and deliberate Funny Story is. Perhaps it’s because I read a variety of genres and do not consider myself a pure romance reader, but I loved how many different themes Emily Henry is able to pack into this sub-400 page book. I would go as far to say that Daphne and Miles’ romance could be second to Daphne’s personal growth throughout the book; she unquestionably has the best journey and character development of all of Henry’s protagonists that I’ve read so far. And that’s what I liked to see in my kind of romance novels, dramedy or romance books that aspire to be more.