The New Guy, and the angsty cliches we need to leave in the 90s
- Polly Angelova
- Sep 10, 2020
- 5 min read
If you think you've seen angst, think again. The New Guy delivers on all the romance cliches, dragging out the misunderstandings and insecurities all the way to the very last chapter, in an extremely Ross and Rachel fashion.
The only difference is, instead of a lanky, neurotic nerdy guy falling for the popular girl, we have a broody, buff guy falling for the powerful woman in charge.
Which, obviously, is a source of angst in and of itself for our macho man protagonist, because Heavens forbid the power balance in the relationship is upset and he cannot exert his outdated patriarchal view that he has to be at least as rich and successful as his other half.
Piling on the dumpster fire of 90s stereotypes for what masculinity looks like, we have our hero (Ryan) thinking that he has to keep his feelings hidden, and must not appear anything but tough. Things like being bullied as a child, missing out on socialising to stay home and care for his mum, or anything even remotely resembling a vulnerable part of his personality must be kept hidden away, because obviously it's going to make him appear weak and therefore less attractive.
Ryan, of course, only has two modes - sexy or grumpy. If he's not butt-hurt about something messing with his loner mojo, he's thirsting after Sam*. I've read many romances where the characters are attracted to each other and get raunchy, but I have never has so much dirty thoughts thrown at me. It's not just Ryan that's guilty of it either - Sam is just as horny! I get it guy, you wanna bone. I still find it hard to believe that they'd be thinking about having sex with each other quite so much!! Especially not in highly stressful or emotional moments. But what do I know, eh?
Oh, and obviously, Ryan doesn't have time for any of the teamwork 'mumbo jumbo'. Giving software engineers and men in general a bad name, he locks himself in a room to stare at his code and snaps at anyone who dares interrupt, despite the fact that they're all a team and supposed to be working together. Now I love some peace and quiet while I work as much as the next introvert, but never in my whole career had I been stroppy with a colleague who came to ask for my help. It is literally part of your job in a company to collaborate with others.
*Sam, of course, is a female character deliberately given a gender ambiguous name for the sake of plot. We have the cliche of both Ryan and then a sleazy journalist assuming that Sam is a man, only to be proven wrong in dramatic ways. The only redeeming quality of this particular trope is that I have personally fallen victim to the ambiguity of the name Sam, so I can't judge.
At the other end of the spectrum we have 'Sunshine' Sam (again, I love me some cheesiness as much as the next romcom fan but that nickname given to her by Ryan made me gag), who is the epitome of ... a normal person? She's a good friend, a great boss who cares for her employees beyond just making sure they can earn her money, and just an all-around great person. Our 'hero' eyerolls at her for a big chunk at the book because she is chatty, smiley and optimistic (because apparently his views on what women should be like are also stuck in the 90s). I don't know about you Ryan, but these are all great qualities in my books.
Sam is also clever and a woman in charge. She started her own company fresh out of uni and turned it into a success, without falling into the bitchy boss trope-trap. Despite working hard alongside the rest of her team, she's not a workaholic - another romcom cliche we've seen many times - which made her even more relatable. It shows that hustling for the stuff that's important to us doesn't mean not having a healthy work-life balance (crunch time at work being the occasional exception).
Kudos to the author as well for creating a cool ass lady, who didn't consider getting back with her toxic ex who came crawling, but instead stuck with her decision to pursue a relationship with the wholesome man who'd been there for her. Plus, she has a very insightful piece of internal dialogue about relationships taking work, and honestly, Hallelujah! If only they'd nailed the communication earlier on instead of going through 300 pages of angst!
Oh the angst! I could write a whole review just on the angst of this book. The levels of miscommunication, insecurities and hurt feelings in The New Guy are on par with the tellenovellas my grandma and I would watch when I was a child. (Or, as I pointed out earlier, Ross and Rachel from Friends).
I am so unused to such drawn out build up, it was incredibly frustrating to read; the majority of romance novels I read nowadays have the characters come clean about their feelings before the midway point, then carry on to throw other obstacles at them. Not The New Guy though. Kathryn Freeman makes the greatest obstacle to Ryan and Sam's romance themselves, and let me tell you, it reaches cringe-worthy heights.
The writing quality itself isn't great either - a few chapters it, it was clear that Freeman is more storyteller than writer, and likely not working with an editor. While I'm not snobbish enough to turn my nose up at a book over a few typos, there are some phrases that simply grate with their, well, wrongness. For one, 'male' is used to mean 'masculine' multiple times, and each time it made me shudder - it sounds incredibly out of place in a non-fantasy setting where everyone is human.
There are also some problematic expressions, such as emotionally retarded, which legitimately made me do a double take - it's the 2020s, even the most oblivious authors should know better! And, speaking of knowing better, the whole novel has an undercurrent of casual homophobia despite trying to pass off as anti-homophobic.
The writer makes a big deal about people's outrage when Ryan makes a comment about the gay character dressing like a fruit, even though he means a legitimate fruit rather than a slur (which, by the way, is dated in itself). Then she proceeds to write him as being mildly uncomfortable with his friend's sexuality.
Now don't get me wrong, I know there are still a lot of homophobic people out there and including them in books makes the narrative realistic. That doesn't mean I want one of the protagonists who has their own point of view to be homophobic, as I very much do not want to associate with such thoughts, even indirectly.
Also, very minor, but super jarring, there's an instance where we actually see 'WTF' written down exactly like this, and honestly, it was the most un-writer thing I've seen an author do in my years of reading. It was not as past of a text message or anything - it was literally part of Ryan's internal monologue. I can't even.
Between the angst, the 90s cliches and the unpolished writing, this book is a bit of a mess. But the plot itself was gripping enough to keep me going, and I got it for free on Kindle, so I don't have that many regrets about reading it!
2/5 stars
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