The short story is my favorite form of writing and this new collection by Katherine Heinz has to be by far one of my favorite books of at least the past year.mothered is so much wisdom in these stories that I found myself nodding my head while reading many of the passages-something I’ve never done before. The humour in the writing is incredible and the tough sarcasm and some of the characters brought to mind the painful,acidic thoughts of many of Dorothy Parkers women. I learned a long time a goth at it is most fret I’ve not to read a book of stories in a short span of time as with a novel,but with this collection I would sit and read three or four at a time.,The narrative voice was so powerful,and there is so much incredible intelligence in the work. I can’t remember the last time I read a book and kept thinking ow incredibly intelligent is the author. I was in a book store today and I wanted to tell the staff to order this book because it is such a great read. I will definitely mention this title to my reading friends n I I’ll now start to read the other work written by Katherine Heiny. I fin so much contemporary fiction such a chore to read-I’m currently in the middle of a work by one of the most famous contemporary American writers-and it’s so silly and boring. Reading this book made me fall in love 20th reading again.Just a wonderful book by an enormously gifted writer. The best.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I am a big fan of slice-of-life literature featuring everyday characters, so this was right up my alley. I'm happy to say I enjoyed it overall! My favorite short stories in this were "Chicken Flavored and Lemon Scented", "Damascus", "Twist and Shout", and "CobRa", but that being said, there really weren't any weak points. Heiny has very effectively captured the messiness of what it means to be human while ensuring that no story is left without a touch of lighthearted humor. Definitely a collection I'd recommend, and one I'll be thinking about for a while.

I’m not normally a lover of short stories, I like to spend time with the characters and really get to know them. However, Games and Rituals gave me the short story with the feel of a full length novel. I devoured these short stories in an afternoon.

Each story had raw emotion and honesty, they had ups and downs, and they were even funny in a humorless way. The stories were just a brief slice of life but packed a multitude of emotions, regrets, and disappointments. The writing is wonderful and I feel like everyone could relate in a way with at least one or more story in this collection.

A few of my favorite stories were: Chicken-Flavored and Lemon- Scented, Twist and Shout, Turn Back, Turn Back and King Midas.

GAMES AND RITUALS is an eclectic collection of short stories that are smart, funny, and some at times, down right sad. I would enjoy reading a novel to dive deeper in the characters in the first story, "Chicken Flavored and Lemon Scented." I found the stories having very real reflections of life and relationships. With it being short stories, it makes for an easy, quick read. Some of them have open endings leaving it up to the reader to decide how it ends. First time reading this author's work and look forward to seeing what her novels are like.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

This collection of short stories is well written and easy to follow, it contains stories that are this “slice of life” type and present mundane lives of different people.

It wasn’t bad, but also I had a hard time trying to get into it (hence why it’s taken me over 2 months to finish it…). If you enjoy short stories then you might definitely fall in love with Games and Rituals, if not then better skip this one.

I have loved everything I've read by Katherine Heiny and was excited to dive into her collection of short stories. I enjoyed every story and chose to read just one a day so I could savor them. The writing is excellent and each story provides insight into families and relationships. Highly recommended!

I’ve never been a fan of short stories but this really has changed my view. I love that there are so many different characters life with the ‘rituals’ forming a cohesive backbone.
Also like the real life of Covid 19 being slotted in. Such a light read and what I needed.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Really recommend this to any lovers of realistic, relatable and funny stories!

Whimsical prose and characters with depth are what keep this book afloat. Unfortunately, I started each story excited for what was coming and always grew bored about halfway through. I don’t believe that any of this was due to anything except my own personal preferences!

Heiny is one of my favorite short story authors! She draws you into the inner lives of the characters so quickly and intensely. CobRa was my favorite from this collection, mixing humor with a very relatable story of a seasoned marriage. Thank you Net Galley and Knopf for the ARC.

Not a massive fan of short stories but love giving anything a go! This had lots of different stories that were very relatable, there was even one regarding the pandemic.
Being short stories I could read one in between a stand alone which I loved!
The authors writing style was easy to read too!

Katherine Heiny's short story compilation "Games and Rituals" definitely had me hoping for more. Certain stories really got me, certain stories didn't really feel as though they resonated with me as much. I would have read certain of these as books, but I was left hanging and wanted for more.

‘Games and Rituals’ by Katherine Heiny is a short story collection following the lives of ordinary people dealing with life and the funny, sad, inconvenient, and chaotic situations. These 11 short stories focus on relationships with humour and heart.
All the stories are so different but the standouts were the story of the woman whose father ate his $4000 hearing aid mistaking it for a cashew, and the story of a man who is afraid his Marie Kondo-ing wife shall find that he sparks no joy and discard him.

I rarely read short stories but I was able to get this from Netgalley (thank you Netgalley and Knopf for the copy) and I was flying for a few hours. So what's better than reading short stories on the plane? Definitely did not regret that decision because I enjoyed this book so much. Each story somehow feels like a full one, I could relate with some of the characters and felt like I understand their motivations. I haven't read Katherine Heiny's other books but I'll add them to my TBR now for sure!

Waste of my time. Short, not credibly good stories. Author uses current political social media references with my least favorites -- Trump, Markle and profanity. I read for pleasure, and I find it responsible for such things to be poignantly brought up in fiction. The storylines were mundane.

Published: 04/18/23

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf for accepting my request to read and review Games and Rituals.

Perfect bite sized stories to consume you in single sittings. The stories were relatable in the shimmering way you can relate to someone you have nothing in common with. I've got Heiny on my must-read list now!

Games & Rituals by Katherine Heiny
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 stars

Thanks for the ARC @netgalley and @aaknopf !

Publication date: 4/17/23

Synopsis: The beloved author of Early Morning Riser ("The funniest novel of the year." --The Washington Post) brings us eleven glittering stories of love--friendships formed at the airport bar, ex-husbands with benefits, mothers of suspiciously sweet teenagers, ill-advised trysts--in all its forms, both ridiculous and sublime.

Thoughts:
-A darling collection of short stories
-very entertaining and varied
-really enjoyed and can’t wait to revisit some of these

4 stars!

"Games and Rituals" by Katherine Heiny is an interesting, visceral, confounding series of short stories that I really enjoyed reading. They are powerful, heartbreaking, introspective, absurd, and myopic. They show the best and the worst of what humanity can be. These stories tackle a gamut of emotions through an array of subjects, including political arguments, the COVID-19 pandemic, infidelity, creepy bosses, assault, motherhood, substance abuse, relationships between exes, mundane work, exciting jobs, etc. My favorites included "561" (my favorite, so depressing but so important), "Pandemic Behavior" (dear god, did Katherine Heiny write this short story about me and my time during the pandemic?!), “Turn Back, Turn Back“ (the way this story took me on a journey, my god, it is so so good!), “CobRa,“ and “Twist and Shout“ (I am sure this accurately describes sooooo many boomer parents, this one made me so, so angry but so, so sad). Please give this awesome collection a read. It's got something for everyone!

Thank you to NetGalley, Katherine Heiny, and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for providing me with an ARC copy of this book! All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my review.

My review appears on Boston's ArtsFuse.

https://artsfuse.org/272344/book-review-katherine-heinys-games-and-rituals-charmingly-amusing-stories/

I do not award stars -

What a fantastic collection of short stories. I knew nothing about this before beginning to read and am obviously a little slow on the uptake as it took me 2-3 stories to realise that each one was going to be about a different character’s life with the ‘rituals’ forming a cohesive backbone.

These rituals include mundane acts like making a late night phone call outside an NY bodega, the types of student driver each driving examiner takes, a woman Kondo-ing her whole house…so they’re delightfully diverse. While plenty of the themes are serious there’s a playfulness to the book, perhaps because of the rituals and games of each character, which made it really enjoyable.

The writing is great and the storytelling even better, achieving that rare result of wanting more about each character while being satisfied with the ending.

I enjoyed this book of short stories, which I rarely like. Of course, like any good short story, I'm still wondering about what happened to some of the characters.