I love reading, so obviously I’ve heard of Emily Henry. Her name has become its own subgenre of romance books (seriously, I’ve heard someone describe a new release as “Emily Henry-esque”), characterized by her artsy covers and swoon-worthy book boyfriends. Ironically, although I’ve heard so much about Emily Henry, I’ve never read an Emily Henry book in my life. See, I love reading, but I’m not a romance reader. I like classics and literary fiction, anything with history, creative nonfiction, and practically every genre under the sun—but not romance. The romance genre often seems entrenched in pink, fun, flirt, and a little bit of delusion, something I’d like to push back on. If being a reader of romance demotes being feminine as something without depth, what does that imply about women in general? While I’ve never particularly liked reading romance, I’m obsessed with rom-coms on film. Does it make sense? Probably not, but there’s something about the faster pace of the fluffy ones and the misrepresented nature of the more symbolic ones that makes it the perfect genre. It was only when I watched the movie adaptation of one of Emily Henry’s most popular novels “People We Meet on Vacation” that I realized romance books could also have complexity as well as make you believe in love. I found out Tom Blyth and Emily Bader would star in the film in 2024 and, as I had seen and enjoyed previous projects by both, I was thrilled. Bader had already worked with romance, and I had no doubt Blyth would be an excellent leading man in a romantic comedy, although I wasn’t sure of what a romance book adaptation would yield. The day the movie premiered on Netflix, I jumped at the chance to watch it. Even with an Andover student’s busy schedule, I have continued to rewatch “People We Meet on Vacation” every weekend, including this Sunday with my roommate, when I realized I had to write about it. After so many Friday movie nights rewatching 90s and 2000s romantic comedies, reminiscing on a time I can never claim, I have a 2020s rom com to call my own. “People We Meet on Vacation,” you will always be famous. “People We Meet on Vacation” is a highly realistic love story, which lends itself to coming across beautifully and poignantly on both the page and the screen.
The first time I watched “People We Meet on Vacation,” I was slightly nervous. I had never been a fan of romance books because I felt I couldn’t focus on a romance for hundreds of pages and found the many that were recommended slightly shallow. I had given them a try many times because I was a firm believer that books, as opposed to movies, provide more detailed and more vivid portrayals of stories. If I loved rom-coms on film so much, why couldn’t I love their literary counterparts just as much? However, these initial feelings melted seeing one of my favorite actors Tom Blyth on my computer screen, portraying Alex Nilsen, the practical, seemingly boring and uptight, male lead of the movie. I had never experienced Alex before, as would the readers of Henry’s book, but I thought Blyth personified awkward apprehension and seemed so in love with Emily Bader’s character Poppy. The key dynamic of “People We Meet on Vacation” centers on Poppy’s outgoing and exuberant personality and her love of exploration and travel in contrast with Alex’s aforementioned personality and rooted lifestyle in their hometown of Linfield, Ohio. The movie flashes back and forth between the past, where every summer, Poppy and Alex met for an exotic trip to commemorate their friendship, and the future where they reunite at Alex’s brother’s wedding. The masterful portrayals of the two contrasting personalities that seemed to jump off the screen by Bader and Blyth felt so human, something my roommate pointed out to me during her first watch this Sunday.
However, I felt the main reason Alex and Poppy felt so human was Emily Henry’s style of writing them. They were just normal people. That’s when I realized what her appeal was. Emily Henry books must not be shallow, stupid, commercialized romances, but stories that real people can see themselves in. There’s no delusion to Emily Henry—in a way, she’s telling a story that could very well happen to me or you. There’s a line Alex says in the movie that resonated with me. “Love was never our problem.” Alex says this to Poppy as he breaks up with her before leaving her on the dance floor alone. Poppy is devastated, but of course, he’s right. The pair spent years as friends, with romantic feelings lingering under the surface. They had always loved each other, even when they were friends, but they were interested in different and often conflicting, lifestyles. The story then results in compromise and acceptance, with Alex and Poppy reveling in their differences and how they compounded into love, and creating a life that fit both of them. It is the most realistic love story I have ever experienced, and I owe it to Emily Henry, the pinnacle of the modern version of romance I disliked.
My hope is that “People we Meet on Vacation” will also teach people that stories about romance aren’t always some fluffy, girly fantasy. Sure, there are elements of that, but love is one of the most realistic representations of the human experience and something universally understood, although never perfectly described. Alex and Poppy from “People we Meet on Vacation” are about as close as we can get to a textbook definition on true love, love that’s real and relatable. Women who read romance books or watch rom-coms, whether they’re stupid or meaningful, should be free to enjoy them, without being stereotyped as lacking intelligence. Rom-coms are back and better than ever, all thanks to romance books which have grown in quality as the quality of romance films has declined. This bridging of worlds brings me, a movie rom-com lover, into the fray of the romance novel world, and hopefully introduces strictly romance book lovers (no pun intended) to the domain of movie rom-coms. This coming weekend, you can find me in my room as usual, but instead of watching “People we Meet on Vacation” for the umpteenth time, I’ll be reading it.
