How did Humor Me end? (spoilers and ending explained) | Cat Shook

This review contains spoilers for Humor Me by Cat Shook, where I explain the ending and talk through my thoughts on the full story. If you are looking for a spoiler-free review, I’ve got that covered as well!

What is Humor Me about?

Presley Fry is a talent bookings assistant at the Late Night Show. She avoids seeking romantic connections, though she harbors a crush on her good friend and colleague, Adam. When Presley runs into her later mother’s best friend Susan Clark, she feels awkward. Susan’s husband Thomas was just publicly humiliated over sexual misconduct at work, and he happens to be the head of the network where Presley works.

Susan isn’t looking for info on her husband, she’s looking to take her best friend’s daughter under her wing and step in as her found family. She also hopes to set Presley up with her son, Lawrence, who couldn’t be further from Presley’s type. Presley is on a journey of self-discovery, but will she find happiness in her career, life, and love by the end?

Is this a romance book?

My opinion on this is that it isn’t a romance book—it’s contemporary fiction. Despite the romance plot (which I enjoyed—I’ll get to that), I didn’t think that the romance was the most prominent storyline. The common thread in the book is Presley, who is the one taking a journey of self-discovery. Presley goes through the stages of a romance plot (meeting the man who is wrong for her, trying on a man who is almost a good fit, and finding the one who is the right fit), but these characters don’t enter and leave in a linear way. Presley’s story is about grieving her mother, finding a way to keep her alive, advance her career in the stand-up comedy world, accept that friendships evolve as our lives evolve, and to cut out things that detract from these goals.

Do Presley and Adam work it out?

I keep thinking of all the cheesy sayings about opening yourself up to new connections (when life closes a door… etc.) after reading this book. Despite rolling our eyes at the saying themselves, their message is true. We always have options, and sometimes it isn’t life that is trapping us, it’s ourselves. Presley is closed off; she has crafted a narrative about herself that she doesn’t do relationships. But does she actually believe this, or is it because of her crush on Adam?

I’d argue it is the latter, because we also don’t see Presley engaging in casual flings in the book. She isn’t looking to meet anyone as long as Adam is still an option. I honestly thought this was going to be a story about Presley and Adam coming together. This was the best kind of trick, their story kept progressing and I was ticking off the rom com boxes. Adam gets a girlfriend? Check. Adam questions if he likes her? Check. Adam breaks up with girlfriend? Check. Adam makes a drunken blunder that offends Presley? Check. Presley cuts contact with Adam? Check. All of this should be leading to Adam realizing what a mistake he made, and that he wants to be with Presley. The two should be ending the book happy that the best relationships start as friendships, right?

That isn’t the case, though. The story I thought we were in was entirely different from the one we were actually in. This wasn’t a story about Presley and Adam realizing their feelings were real, and getting over the baggage holding each of them back. This was a story about Presley realizing that Adam was using her as a backup option and relying on her sticking around because frankly, she likes him more than he likes her. Oof. We’ve all been there or at least been adjacent. Know your worth, Presley! I was proud of her for setting boundaries after she realized this.

So, who is Presley’s love story with?

The next most logical person would be Susan’s son Lawrence. And we see a glimmer of how this might develop. Color me shocked when in the final quarter of the book, a drunken hook up with Susan’s other son, Clark, takes the lead in the race for Presley’s heart! Who? I liked Clark throughout the book, but I didn’t see it coming. It was nice to be surprised—I didn’t really see her and Lawrence as a match, and I started losing faith that Adam would ever realize what a jerk he was (as far as I am concerned, he never learns this and that just confirms that he would have continued to use Presley).

Clark swooped in and in a strange way, they make sense. Clark states clearly what he wants out of a relationship with Presley, which alone makes him a king. Couldn’t be Adam! My opinion of Adam kept falling. We’ve all known an Adam. Several Adams, if we are honest about it. Clark is hot and rich, but most importantly, he’s a clear communicator with transparency about his feelings. And he happens to be the son of her stand-in mother-figure, Susan!

What happens to Susan?

Let’s talk more about Susan! She’s a great character, isn’t she? I liked that she defied stereotypes. She’s the wealthy wife of a media conglomerate who was accused of sexual misconduct at work (where he is the head of the network). Susan is generous, kind, and gravitates towards people from her former social circle before she was in the upper echelon of society.

Susan makes the decision to allow her husband Thomas back into their home and their lives. Presley calls her a cultural guinea pig—how should a disgraced wife of a media mogul respond? Susan chooses her family and to believe that people can grow and change. Presley is confused by this decision. Does he deserve to have the support and love of a family he didn’t consider when he made those decisions that broke them apart? Susan chose a path of forgiveness, and I liked the message that our worst mistakes don’t have to define us. This story worked because it was about Susan’s decision to extend grace to someone she loves. Thomas never appears as a character for us. He’s an off-stage catalyst that impacts the events of the book, but we are never confronted with his presence and therefore it’s easy for the reader to not have our own strong feelings about him.

What did I think overall?

I felt this book was mis marketed, but not in an egregious way. The teasers for the book present it as a romance book and a love story to the New York stand-up comedy scene. I liked both of those elements to the story, but I don’t think either is the most prominent. An engaging contemporary fiction with a sweet story about two women supporting each other through difficult challenges in life and the grief over losing someone close to them both.