Review: Like This, But Funnier

Like This, But Funnier

Author: Hallie Cantor

Simon and Schuster, 2026

ISBN: 9781668088586 (hardcover)

$39.00 CAD (hardcover)

304 pages

Ages: 16 years and up

 Like This, But Funnier, is ironically but appropriately titled. It could have been funnier. Caroline Neumann is a comedy TV writer whose career never really took off. After four years spent out of work developing stories to no avail, her abysmal self-esteem and major insecurities have rendered her a complete shell of herself. All that changes when she stumbles upon session notes from one of her therapist husband’s patients and turns them into a pitch that sells to a major network. As Caroline digs her heels deeper and deeper into this doomed path, her personal and professional relationships come into direct confrontation and she will do anything other than confess to salvage them.

Where Cantor sets up the stage for interesting character dynamics and conversations, she introduces a character who alienates herself from everyone around her, leaving readers wanting more. The author writes a painfully self-aware character who overly relies on self-deprecating humour to carry her through the plot. The protagonist’s lack of agency becomes a studio note she gives herself; the lack of a likeable woman to centre the story, a ‘problematic’ edit in the post-#MeToo era. Some passages stand out, however, particularly an email chain between industry professionals highlighting the absurdity of the character’s job. This novel would make a good addition to collections centred on comedy and contemporary stories.