The beauty of Katherine Heiny is in the writing and knowing someone gets the everyday things that you, too deal with. Games and Rituals is no different. You have stories of financial woes, wondering if there is more, and people from all walks of life. I always feel a bit uplifted after reading one of Heiny's novels.

Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny
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This is a group of short stories that I was able to read over a couple of days.
They were each entertaining to read and I enjoyed the whole book!
I think Damascus was my favorite, it surprised me in ways I wasn’t expecting.
I like reading short stories but there were several were I was like “wait, that was it?” at the end. I was expecting the story to go on. 😅
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3⭐️⭐️⭐️ These were good, I can just tell I’m more of a fan of regular length stories.

Heiny never disappoints, and this collection was exactly what I always hope for from her! She is like a modern Nora Ephron or Laurie Colwin, documenting the everyday dramas of domestic life with humor and an acute eye.

I'm not typically a big short story reader, but Heiny's are bighearted, fun, tender, and fly by. A few favorites were:

Twist and Shout
CoBra
Pandemic Behavior
King Midas
Sky Bar

No one can write a short story like Katherine Heiny. She does a great job of turning something that seems insignificant into something. Heiny's writing is easy to follow but it definitely packs a punch. I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to read this collection of short stories and will continue to read anything and everything she releases.

First things first: I adored this immensely readable short story collection. It covers topics like love, loss, marriage, infidelity, parenthood, reinvention, and self-evolution, all explored through intriguing stories full of keen observances. I read this over several weeks, taking time to absorb each story and appreciate Katherine Heiny’s observant writing. It left me at times laughing aloud, at times nodding along, at times deeply cringing, and always eager to know what happens as the stories are revealed. Heiney’s writing feels timeless, which makes me think this will have staying power among short story collections.

As always with collections, I had some favorites: “Twist and Shout,” a humorous yet gutting story about an aging and ailing father that reflects happenings in my extended family in recent years; the titular story, “Games and Rituals,” which follows the cycle of a young relationship; and “CoBra,” where a wife ruthlessly tackles a house using the KonMari method while the husband reflects on the evolution of their decades-long marriage.

Games and Rituals showcases Katherine Heiny's insightful writing about the human experience through wonderfully, maddeningly flawed characters. If you enjoy short stories or just sharp yet lovely writing, this collection is a must read.

My thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very okay collection of stories. Some stories I loved and the rest either felt incomplete or were forgettable. I read Heiny's Early Morning Riser pretty recently and I liked how she wrote the characters and how she can turn mundane human lives into a compelling story. Although, the way she describes how other people look (people of different sizes, races, or just different in general) felt unnecessary and came off really weird to me. I was hoping that Games and Rituals was different and turns out it isn't. The writing is still okay overall and I still enjoy the mundaneness.

This is a beautifully written collection of short stories -- I found everyone to be a winner! That is rare for me to like every single story in this collection but I did. The author was able to effectively embody different characters - mothers, single women, daughters of and elderly father, mistress (turned wife). All of them had some level of humor and I laughed a lot at the story of a wife using the Marie Kondo method on her house and her life. The author is able to capture the essence of each character in a few pages and that is why this is such powerful writing. I definitely look forward to reading more of her work. I highly recommend these stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an ARC and I left an honest review voluntarily.

w o w. Katherine Heiny really knows how to write intricate, detailed characters in just a few pages. Reading these stories is like opening a window in the mind of your fellow train passengers, and you get a glimpse of their daily lives outside of that train. Incredibly vivid, credible stories of actual people.

There were more depictions of infedelity in here than I am comfortable reading about, but even those are written with a nuance from several perspectives that it is nothing short of (pun intended) a great collection of stories.

Here are some thoughts on the individual stories:

Chicken-Flavored and Lemon-Scented
I swear my driving instructor also always let me drive through the McDrive for a coffee and a McEgg!!! Incredibly realistic.

Damascus
A tale as old as Damascus, of parent trying to prevent kid from making the same mistakes as her.

Twist and Shout
Buckets of tears. Incredible writing, and an incredibly painful but all too recognizable depiction of a father-daughter relationship.

Turn Back, Turn Back
Hauntingly depressing. A fairytale nightmare I felt chilled by.

Games and Rituals
I love how life actually is a series of games and rituals, and this was the 'holding up a painfully accurate mirror game'.

CobRa
Probably my favourite tale, as this is exactly what I hope the love of my life will come to realize after a marriage that long too!! (Though I hope not to be as sexless OR ever threaten to get rid of books. Horrible perimenopausal woman.)

561
ANOTHER FUCKING NIGHTMARE, but then from the perspective of the nightmare herself. I never hope to be such a vindictive bitch but I can totally see why Barbara sticks to the 561 nickname.

Pandemic Behaviour
A relatable fucking pandamic tale if I ever saw one.

Bridesmaid, Revisited
This might be my favourite too. She did Rhonda dirty but I am here for it. Hilarious.

King Midas
Ugh, Oscar is the worst.

Sky Bar
Surprisingly funny with a hint of desperation. Enjoyable story to conclude the collection!

All of the short stories in Games and Rituals are winners - there's not a bad one in the bunch, which is highly unusual for me. What I loved about each short story was that I was satisfied with the length and the character development in each one. And I appreciate that I was immediately able to identify the thread of games and rituals in various relationships that carry through in each story. Early Morning Riser has been on my TBR since it was published, so I can't wait to dig into it now!

Ya’ll why aren’t more people talking about this book?! It’s so good! It’s a collection of short stories. I don’t usually love short story collections because I find myself wanting more from the characters in each story, and then I find it jarring to just switch gears to knew characters and situations. And while that was true to some extent with this (I wanted MORE from almost all of the characters) I ended up loving each story so much that I was simply delighted to see what each new story was going to bring. These characters are flawed and stumbling through their days just like the rest of us. And, these stories are funny, empathetic, and kind, and they get right to the heart of how life can be both messy and incredibly mundane all the same time.

Did I mention that it’s funny? Funny in the same way it’s funny when you leave your house and realize your still wearing your slippers. Or, funny like all those times you tried to brew a cup of coffee in the morning but forgot to put the coffee pod in the machine and just ended up with a steaming mug of light brown hot water (or is that just me?).

Go buy this, or borrow it from the library, or do whatever you have to do to get it into your hands. And then come back here and talk to me about it. If you’ve already read it, or if you end up reading it, tell me…which was your favorite story?

(Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.)

3.5 stars. This was a book of eleven short stories with different themes of love, friendship, family and other complicated aspects of life. There were some stories I really enjoyed and others that fell flat. There were many stories that I wanted to know more or that deserved its own 300 page book. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received this from Net Galley and I'm so thankful. I loved this collection of stories that were funny and touching. She captures what real life sometimes feels like.

I am a fan of Katherine Heiny and enjoy her style of writing. Games and Rituals does not disappoint! An anthology of short stories that are funny, witty, poignant, and real. A rare collection in that I loved each and every one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

I absolutely adored Katherine Heiny's book "Early Morning Riser," so I was excited to get this ARC of short stories. I unfortunately did not enjoy this book. It started out fine and then became a total disappointment for me. The stories were random, but the subject matter surrounded things that just didn't hit the mark for me. (Abortion, drug use, affairs, etc.)

I am so bummed! I will still keep this author on my watch list because the last book I read of hers was a true gem

2.5 stars.

Games and Rituals was an incredible story collection. The stories were funny but also poignant. I loved her writing style of really digging deep into characters. Every character had some kind of flaw, but that also made them more interesting and relatable.
My favorites were "Twist and Shout," about the frustrations of caring for an elderly father, and "Chicken-Flavored and Lemon-Scented" a character study of DMV driving test examiners.
I certainly will be checking out Heiny's recent novel, Early Morning Riser!

🪥Games and Rituals🪥

A belated happy pub day to Games and Rituals (out 4/18)!

This was a sweet short story collection that follows people through the prosaic day-to-day life.

This was a cute, quick read! Many of the stories were a little quirky, but relatable. I enjoyed a few more than others: Chicken-Flavored and Lemon-Scented, 561, Sky Bar and Pandemic Behavior. I like the idea of short stories, so I keep picking them up, but I also struggle with not fully getting to know each character.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for this eARC! Games and Rituals is out now!

Katherine Heiny is one of my favorite authors and she did not disappoint with this short story collection! Heiny's writing is witty, smart, and she treats her characters with care. While this book isn't light, her characters are each dealing with difficult things, Heiny has a way of bring levity to her writing and making me actually laugh out loud. I loved this short story collection and could not stop turning the pages! This is perfect for readers who are interested in trying a short story collection, fans of Laurie Colwin, or want to explore literary fiction that feels accessible.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for gifting me a digital copy of the new short story collection by Katherine Heiny - 5 stars!

I typically am not a huge fan of short stories but absolutely loved this collection involving all things human, told with a sense of humor and love. I think there's a story here that everyone will relate to. My favorite was Twist and Shout, the story of a woman dealing with her elderly father. I also loved Damascus, dealing with parenthood, and Chicken Flavoured and Lemon Scented, a hilarious look at driving test examiners. 561 is the story of exes still being somewhat involved in each others' lives and had a very poignant side story. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for an eARC of this short story collection in exchange for an honest review.

Having never previously read any of Heiny's work, and though I'm not usually a fan of short story collections, I was pleasantly surprised by the original and poignant stories. Each story had the perfect blend of humour and meaning - although I did have some favourites, and some that were simply okay for me. Each story contained a different aspect, experience and take on life with some that left me wanting to follow the characters past the ending, and with some sufficiently resolved.

My favourites, in no particular order, were:
- Twist and Shout
- Turn Back, Turn Back
- 561
- Sky Bar
(Special mention to Pandemic Behavior for being SO relatable)

Absolutely LOVED this one! Book of the summer for sure. Highly recommend. Could see it being book club picks.