You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld - Short stories by the master of character building. These were such easy reading - my favourite was the 'The Prairie Wife'. Sittenfeld's writing is always so comforting, but with an edge that means it's never boring.

…is that I find them totally hit and miss.

I think that a short story is a total different business to a novel.

You’ve got around 20 pages (sometimes more, sometimes less) to make me care about characters, pull me in, set the stage and get that voice spot on. It’s a tall order and I think my expectations for short stories are much higher than going into a novel.

They’re sometimes seen as something higher. The best short stories should stick with you for weeks, haunt you for days, and catch you off guard when they come back to you randomly every few months. But that rarely happens to me.

I adored Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery and Other Stories’ and ‘Treats’ by Lara Williams was one of my favourite books of 2016.

Right now I’m four stories in to ‘You Think It, I’ll Say It’, the debut short story collection by total legend Curtis Sittenfeld, and I’m totally in love with it. Not since Lara Williams’ debut have I read a collection and loved each story equally. There’s usually an up-and-down, back and forth across a collection, but there’s nothing I haven’t liked about this book yet.

It explores women in all situations: hapless students desperate for love, unsatisified wives, jealous friends and colleagues making snap judgements. Every character is complex and layered and real. Whether in 10 pages or 25, Sittenfeld creates a full world and a sledgehammer of a message, but not in a way that feels preachy.

All of this love has come from a collection where I’ve only read 4 of the 12 stories. I’m beyond excited to see what’s still to come.

My first encounter with Curtis Sittenfield was Eligible and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and when giving the chance to read her new work i leapt at the chance. She did not disappoint at all, it was so entertaining, funny, witty and just so believable and relatable i couldn't put it down. The pages couldn't turn fast enough and it grabbed me from beginning to the end.

Curtis Sittenfeld’s “You Think It, I’ll Say It” is a collection of ten stories. The protagonists are male and female, from all parts of the US. They are young, old, poor, affluent. Not all of them are even likable people. But the stories do capture your attention. And most of them - especially the last one - will resonate with the reader for a long time.

Sittenfeld has a way of writing a story from one voice but still multiple points of view. In “Bad Latch”, for example, the protagonist is Rachel. She’s a new mother dealing with her insecurities about motherhood and feeling guilt about not meeting societal expectations. She meets Gretchen in a support group. Most women know a Gretchen. She’s the person who Has It All Together. She’s so sunny and perfect she is annoying. By the end of the story, the reader realizes that this isn’t just Rachel’s story - it’s Gretchen’s as well.

There’s also commentary about modern celebrity. In “Off the Record”, Nina is an ex-journalist who re-interviews Kelsey, who has made it big since their initial interview years ago. Kelsey has a warmth that Nina conjectures could be genuine friendship. Through their conversation, Kelsey reveals a painful truth behind her latest breakup. Nina agrees not to print it, and then Kelsey shows her real acting prowess.

But the last story is the one that really sticks. That’s the one I discussed with my husband. The one that I want everyone to read. It’s entitled “Do-Over”, and is plants Sittenfeld alongside Alice Munro as my favorite short story writer. Clay is in his mid-40s. He went to prep school with a woman named Sylvia. The pair meet for dinner and discuss old times. They both ran for prefect in school with surprising results. Their dinner conversation spotlights how political correctness has permanently altered what used to be called “social niceties” or “pleasantries”. It discusses the delicate, overly pretentious minefield of a simple male-female conversation during the current era of Trump. There is a sarcastic tone to the words, almost a smarmy tongue-in-cheek which I loved. The more you let this one marinate, the better it gets.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for allowing me to read the ARC. It was a pleasure, and I look forward to more of Ms. Sittenfeld’s work.

I'm a huge Sittenfeld fan, so I was thrilled to see that she'd released a short story collection. There were a couple of shocking (in a good way!) stories in this collection. Sittenfeld masterfully reveals the plot in ways that leave me eager to turn the page to the next story. This collection reads super fast and it is a must for Sittenfeld fans. I'd also recommend this to short story newbies who'd like to dip their toes in the genre.

I loved this collection of short stories! It was so good. I am usually not the biggest fan of short stories because they are so quick and you don’t have a lot of time to get to know the characters, This collection is the exception to the rule. I enjoyed every story and the characters were all terrific. I love Curtis Sittenfeld’s writing.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As with most story collections, 3 or 4 were really good and the rest not.
In addition, i am weary of political rhetoric. I read for pleasure--just tell me a story.

Trust Curtis Sittenfeld to be the one to make me appreciate a collection of short stories. They still don't hold a candle to her best full-length fiction (see: Prep, American Wife, but really all of them are great) but her writing gets me every time, and I sped through this in about 3 sittings. I was going to list my favourites, but only one of them (Bad Latch) didn't work for me - the rest all contained her trademark sharp internal musings and social observations. A few also included flashbacks to high school or college, which I think is a particular strength of hers - I would have gladly read entire novels featuring some of these characters.

I can't claim to now be a total short story convert, but maaaybe I'll start giving more a chance -
though I can't imagine there are many that are quite as eloquent or readable as these ones.

Side note: I recently heard this collection is being turned into a television series produced by Reese Witherspoon and starring Kristen Wiig... how is that going to work? Black Mirror style with each episode taking inspiration from one of the stories? I'm a little skeptical, but of course I'll watch!

Thank you so much, Net Galley for the advance copy of this. I have loved Curtis Sittenfeld since devouring Prep 13 years ago. This may be my favorite yet. I love the nostalgia of high school/college in the 1990s, but her voice is pitch perfect in capturing the awkwardness that seemed so prevalent. Sittenfeld creates characters that have so many unlikable traits, yet are highly sympathetic and relatable if not entirely likable. Sittenfeld's voice works as a college freshman feeling lonely at Dartmouth just as effectively as a long term bachelor exchanging emails that seem sensitively out of character.

I did not want this collection of stories to end and enjoyed each one more and more. One of the best books I have read in months. I plan to go back and reread them all!

Full disclosure: NetGalley gave me an advance eBook copy of this in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed Eligible when I read it last year, as "The Prairie Wife" (which appears in this collection) when it appeared in The New Yorker last year. So I was primed to like this collection from Curtis Sittenfeld from the jump, though I totally didn't mean to devour it as quickly as I did. I kept going "one more story..." on my commutes until I ran out of book to read.

All of the stories are united in their discussions of relationships - the ways they can turn, the people we become and unbecome over time, how you can read something in another person that might not actually be there - which provides a nice unifying thread for the collection. All of these are sharply observed and feel very real in how they turn. A few stories had a point where I sensed where things were going or what a twist was going to be, but that was never a bad thing - sometimes the journey you take to get to an endpoint can be as interesting as the point itself.

This is all to say that this is a really nice collection of short stories, you should totally give it your time and attention, and I now need to read some more of Curtis Sittenfeld's back catalog.

I have enjoyed this author's novels in the past. These short stories were just not my cup of tea.

I've read all of the author's previous books and this collection of short stories did not disappoint. Very quick read, the stories are well paced and seem to end at the right spot. Enjoyed this quick read.

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for an advanced review egalley of "You Think It, I'll Say It"

I have long been a fan of Curtis Sittenfeld's sharp, dry wit and smart writing. Last year's "Eligible" and her prior published work ("Prep" and "American Wife") are among some of my favorite works. I've enjoyed her pieces published in The New Yorker - and so it is no surprise that I loved this collection of short stories.

Read over the course of a day I found Sittenfeld's latest offering to be just as sharp witted and smart as her other work. This is a cohesive collection of stories that I found to be thought provoking and at times slightly satirical in nature. A couple of my favorites were "Bad Latch" - a story about best laid plans gone awry and new motherhood. Another of the stories, "You Think It, I'll Say It" details the inner thoughts of a woman who wants to say what she thinks - but finds that she can't unless her thoughts are presented as part of a secret party game played with her husband's coworker.

Overall, a cohesive collection of short stories that are thought provoking beyond the last page.
If you're a fan of Sittenfeld's other work you'll like this as well.

From GoodReads: Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy from one of my all time favorite authors. This did not disappoint! Curtis Sittenfeld knows how to tell a story, whether it is in the form of a novel or in 20 pages. As quirky as the characters may be, I always seem to identify with some part of them. Great collection of short stories.

This is actually the first Curtis Sittenfeld book that I've read and boy, was it worth it. I was already hearing some hype for it at the end of last year and I love short stories so I decided to give it a shot and I ended up loving it. Usually with short story collections I can stop at bedtime easier because there's a definitive conclusion for each title; however, last night I had two stories left and I had to stay up to finish both of them because I was so invested in reading as much of it as I could. This book is going to be all over the place as far as reviews go and accolades go and I can't wait to put it into the hands of eager patrons.

I have loved everything Curtis Sittenfeld has ever written. Well, I liked the book about sisters, but I LOVED everything else. Her writing is strong, solid, and straight-forward while showing the depths of human emotions like shame and hope. I love that she manages all that without having to take her characters or her material too seriously. By that I mean, she can choose seemingly less serious topics while still conveying how people really feel and act. These stories are no exception. (Thank you netgalley.com for the review copy.)

Fantastic! I've loved every one of Curtis Siftenfeld's books and have been eagerly awaiting her newest one. It was definitely worth the wait and did not disappoint!

These short stories almost all deal with themes of interpersonal deception, often within complicated marriages, while not demonizing the characters. One of my favorites was “The World Has Many Butterflies”, about a man and a woman, both married but not to each other, who like to play the game that gives the collection its name, but have very different feelings about the connection that game engenders. “Vox Clamantis in Deserto” reminded me of the closed in sense of campus life I found so effective in Sittenfeld’s debut novel Prep, and “Do-Over” reminded me of its character work. Sittenfeld’s characters often feel recognizable, which serves to ground the stories in the real world in a way that I find very satisfying.

The stories are at their best when they honestly examine the protagonists' propensities for jealousy, and when they insightfully plumb the anxieties of what it means to be "not pretty" in a culture that venerates beauty.

This is a wonderful collection of short stories. Poignant, relevant, sad, funny, and cohesive. Another winner from the talented Curtis Sittenfeld.