Hallie Cantor's first novel, Like This, but Funnier, is a hilarious and brutally honest send-up of comedy writing for television, a serious consideration of the woes of modern womanhood, and a compassionate telling of one woman's fumbling journey.
After a relatively successful and socially engaged stint in New York writing for a sketch comedy show, Caroline Neumann moved to Los Angeles to write for a sitcom, which was then canceled. She's been working from home for the past four years--if you can call it "working" when she's mostly doing unpaid "development." Her husband, Harry, used to be unhappy at work, too, but now he is a therapist. Dubiously employed and depressed, Caroline navigates lonely, work-from-home desperation, while Harry nudges her to consider motherhood.
Propelled by work-related frustration and curiosity about Harry's favorite therapy client, whom she knows only as "the Teacher," Caroline indulges in a tiny bit of snooping. When she happens to mention a tidbit from the Teacher's life in a meeting with a producer, however, events snowball beyond Caroline's control, until she finds herself working on an actual television script featuring the confidential details of a woman's life that she has no business knowing. And just to keep things complicated, she assents to freeze her eggs for possible future motherhood. What could go wrong?
Cantor brings her experience writing for Arrested Development and Dollface to Caroline's often excruciating story: despite the considerable pathos, these conflicts are deeply funny. This protagonist is, against all odds and her own fears, uncomfortably easy to relate to. Like This, but Funnier is winning, awkward, and unforgettable. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia