The stories in SHOW DON’T TELL explore the topics Curtis Sittenfeld is well known for—marriage, friendship, artistic ambition. Her characters in this collection are mostly middle-aged, and I enjoyed their reflections on their lives so far and the way those memories often contradicted with the long-held beliefs they’re forced to confront. The character development is incredible; I felt like I knew them so well after just a handful of pages.

Reading these stories feels like you’re reading something that is, simultaneously, an experiment and a perfection of the craft. You can tell Sittenfeld is having fun in the way she plays with structure and theme and even in her line-level writing. But each one also felt very purposeful in its message. She goes deeper into timely political themes than her last collection; many of her characters are midwestern white women who either confront within themselves or within others the issues that the last ten years have dredged up, and as a midwestern white woman myself, I both identified with and recognized these characters.

My only real complaint about this collection is that by the end, the similar themes and characters started to meld together a bit. Although when I discussed this to @agrayreads, I realized that each story did have its own unique things to love; so I guess my suggestion is to read them with a bit of space; let each marinate in your mind before moving onto the next.

The final story, LOST BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, revisits the main character from Sittenfeld’s 2005 debut PREP. I turn grumpy when characters and stories I see as complete and perfect are resurrected (did we really *need* more Hunger Games books, Suzanne???) so this was not my favorite of the bunch, and I don’t think the overall collection needed it. But @agrayreads hasn’t read PREP and she loved the final story — I’m curious to hear others takes on it!

I enjoyed this short story collection. Each story was unique and offered a different perspective on relationships, friendships, and love, and felt both of the time and modern. I like how Sittenfeld is able to accomplish a lot within a story even in the short story format and doesn't leave too much out for the story to not make sense from start to finish. I especially enjoyed the story that called back to her book Prep, the one about the narrator remembering her time in a co-ed residence hall, and the one about the student serving as a nanny to a doctorate student. While I'm not usually a short story reader, I appreciate that you can read each story in a quick sitting and savor the book over time.

Thank you to Random House for the opportunity to read and review.

Sittenfeld’s second short story collection focuses on many of the same themes as her first – marriage, friendship, and class to name a few. Highlights include a story about a babysitter for a tech startup, a story about moms who banded together after their children were bitten by the same preschool bully, and a woman doing an experiment on whether a man and a woman can hang out socially alone together after they are married.

Why Kirsten likes it
As with most short story collections, I loved some of the stories, I found some unforgettable and I actually LOATHED one of them (it involved a poop schedule and I was just like…why?) If you are a Sittenfeld stan, you’ll notice the common themes of classism and you’ll be drawn into the vivid stories, but like me, you might find some forgettable.

Show Don't Tell is a collection of short with a strong female focus with themes of academia, social injustice, and marital crossroads throughout. Sittenfeld has an innate ability to write in a way that is intriguingly poignant but also easily accessible. I found this collection very entertaining and thought provoking. I especially enjoyed The Marriage Clock, The Richest Babysitter in the World, and The Tomorrow Box. While short, I found each story to be flushed out and well constructed, with characters that I either related to personally, or felt compassion for. Curtis Sittenfeld has quickly become an automatic read author for me, and I selfishly hope she continues to publish for many years to come!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

These dozen short stories are enjoyable trips into the lives of some very emotionally complicated characters. The author carefully crafts narratives that make you empathize with the subject as well as scrutinize their behaviors. Without issuing many spoiler alerts, it's hard to pinpoint one story or character that stands out or doesn't fit with the theme of the book. I believe you will enjoy each story; getting to know the characters and understand the human experience in each of them is a fantastic journey.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an unbiased review.

I love Sittenfeld's writings, with "Romantic Comedy" being my favorite. She writes GenX, middle-aged, white, Midwestern, cynical divorced mom-type characters that are hard to find in a cluttered sea of carbon-copy female millennial characters. But I'm not a huge fan of short stories. "Show Don't Tell" is an exception for me, because rather than feeling that there's not enough time in a short story to commit and connect to a character and plot, Sittenfeld actually accomplishes this. To be clear, there are some misses among the hits ("Tomorrow Box" was perplexing at best), but overall I highly recommend this collection.

Before a couple years ago, I had only ever read Sittenfeld's first novel, Prep, which is a truly bizarre but impactful novel about a Midwestern teenager who goes to an elitist East Coast boarding school. Prep is super weird but probably responsible for many 90s' kids' sexual awakenings (myself included, lmao). Then last year I read Romantic Comedy. which I LOVED. And then came this book, a short story collection, which is not normally my cup of tea. But I really enjoyed this one.

This is just a really delightful short story collection. Just like in Prep and Romantic Comedy, Sittenfeld's characters feel so real - they have the thoughts that everyone has but is afraid to voice, they have weird and conflicting desires, their past affects them in strange and lasting ways, and they make choices that don't always make sense. I especially loved "White Women Lol," which explores subtle racism in privileged communities; "The Richest Babysitter in the World," which seems to be a story about Jeff and Mackenzie Bezos before they got super rich; and "The Hug," which showcases the ways relationships change over time and how you might need different things from your partner in different phases of life. And of course, I loved "Lost But Not Forgotten," the last story of the collection, which picks up with our Prep protagonist Lee at her thirtieth high school reunion. Sittenfeld's voice is sharp and incisive in these stories, and each one caught my attention.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately I just think Sittenfeld’s writing just isn’t for me. I wanted to like this and I loved the idea of bite sized short stories but I struggled throughout. I think fans of her work will enjoy them! Thank you for the opportunity to read!

50/50 split for stories I enjoyed and ones I found odious. All were thought provoking, whether macro of the world overall, or micro of my own experiences and thoughts. It’s amazing the effort that is put into constructing an entire narrative, a connection to the characters, and this extensive and elaborate set-up, just to get you to really think about one singular idea, thought or perspective. At times this became tiring, absorbing so much ultra-specific information for just one point or demonstration and then moving on. This is not a book to sit down and read straight through; it needs to be little interludes from your other reading, one short story palette cleanser at a time.

I’ve enjoyed Curtis Sittenfeld’s writing so much ever since I read her debut novel Prep, which came out when I was in college, and I feel like I’ve grown up with her characters. This excellent short story collection (out February 25, 2025) has sharp and relatable musings on friendships, marriage and motherhood in middle age. I especially enjoyed the story where we catch up with Lee from Prep, and the story about a former babysitter for the family of the now-billionaire founder of an online bookselling startup.

This book is comprised by twelve different short stories. Each story is endearing in its own unique way. We follow different characters during brief yet meaningful moments in their lives—not transformative or life-altering events, but that’s precisely the magic of these narratives. They capture the nuances of daily life, revealing the humanity in their actions, thoughts, and perspectives on various issues.

This is a book I won't shut up about. It's my second read from this author, and I can already tell it's one of my favorites of the year.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for this eARC

Well written, but this book was not for me.
If I’m going to read a book of short stories, it needs to be stories that are somewhat captivating. By the time I was on story number 3, I had already forgotten what story number 1 was about. None of the stories made me want to pick up the book and keep reading. It was not what I expected from Sittenfeld. Rodham, Romantic Comedy, and Eligible are a few of her books that I’ve read, really enjoyed, and would recommend to others.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

Review: 4.5/5 Stars

Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld is a fantastic short story collection that showcases the author’s sharp insight into contemporary life, particularly the experiences of women navigating modern challenges. Sittenfeld’s writing is incredibly accessible—each story pulls you in immediately, making it easy to get lost in the world of her characters.

Several stories really stuck with me, especially one about a woman who finds herself “canceled” after a racist incident is caught on film and goes viral. Sittenfeld handles these timely and often uncomfortable topics with nuance, offering thought-provoking perspectives without being heavy-handed. Many of the stories focus on women dealing with relationships, ambition, social expectations, and the ways they are perceived by others.

Overall, this is a compelling, immersive collection that lingers in your mind long after you’ve finished. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fiction author Sittenfeld is back with a short story collection, written in her signature wit and style. Many of these are slice of life tales are about universal topics but written in a way that made them very readable and relatable. Like her previous books (many of which I've loved), this collection kept Sittenfeld on my must-read list. I liked that I could read a story, think about it, then read another.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

Quick short stories that grab you and then spit you out. I realize these are short stories but for some of them I wanted more. It might be that I’m just not into short stories.

I absolutely loved this collection of short stories. I've been a fan of Curtis since Prep and American Wife but this is far and away her best work. I loved each and every one of these stories and look forward to connecting this one with readers.

Short story collections are tough for me because I’ve never loved every single story equally. In this collection, I found that while I was overall underwhelmed, the ones I liked, I loved. Which was nice! But generally short story collections are a pass for me unless it’s horror.

I only picked this up because Romantic Comedy was one of my 2023 faves and I heard that one of these stories was about Lee Fiora. I read Sittenfield’s debut YA novel Prep all the way back when I was 11 years old. It was about a scholarship kid spending 4 years at a very bougie boarding school and I read that book to tatters. It stuck with me in a way books that transform your youth tend to do. So when I saw that one of the short stories was Lee’s 30th high school reunion, I smashed that request button.

My favorites: Show Don’t Tell, The Marriage Clock, The Richest Babysitter in the World, and Lost but Not Forgotten (I don’t think I would’ve liked this one though if I wasn’t familiar with Prep).

Sittenfield is a middle-aged midwestern white woman and that is the lens for the majority of the stories. Just a head’s up.

I read 'Prep' in high school, and it was my first introduction to 'adult literature' that seemed written for me. I've always held Sittenfeld's books in a special place because of it, but I've never read her short stories. Once again, she's writing stories that I can connect with, her characters are close to my age, living in a post pandemic (or current pandemic world depending on the story), and coming to terms with the ways they've grown and changed in their adult lives. I expected to come into this reading a story, then putting my Kindle down and coming back later, but I kept finding myself continuing through the next story and the next. Sittenfeld's writing appeals to me now just like it did when I was 16, in that the emotions on the page match where I am in my life, even though I don't have kids, I've never been to a high school reunion, etc. Reading 'Show Don't Tell' really has me wanting to go back to prior books, like Prep, and relive the experiences I had when I first read them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the review copy, Publication is scheduled for February 25,2025.

At some point in high school, I read Curtis Sittenfeld's book, "Prep" - I don't remember the year but it was within the book's first three years of release. In the 20 years since reading the book/its release - I can barely remember what happened in the book, but I do remember that reading it made me feel seen in ways that I didn't have the words to describe at the time. Although my high school experience and background was not identical to Lee's, the main protagonist of "Prep," (she was a white midwesterner, leaving Indiana to attend a New England boarding school and I am a Black woman who attended a private high school in the South), so much of her experience resonated with me. When I read that in this new book, 20 years after "Prep's" release - Sittenfeld, in one of the short stories, would revisit Lee and all that had happened in her life since graduating from boarding school - I was all in.

I find that short stories are a great way to get through a reading rut or to feel like you've made progress when a lot is going on and you may not be able to read every day. I went into "Show Don't Tell" thinking that I'd try to read a story a day, but I was pleasantly surprised that when I finished one short story, I'd still want to continue reading. What pulled me in was Sittenfeld's prose - her writing is clear and all of the characters are believable. These are people I've lived next to, worked with, and seen in my former Chicago neighborhood Facebook group. Even if I couldn't relate to every protagonist - I truly really enjoyed these stories of folks (mainly white women) navigating love, life after divorce, friendship, motherhood, mid-life crises, and reconnecting with HS and college friends.

Life (if we're lucky) is long. We grow and evolve...and hope that the people in our lives love and stick with us through every version of ourselves. Seeing who these characters had become - the ways they'd changed (sometimes in ways that they hadn't expected) and reading about how their partners and friends evolved with them or in some cases, grew apart from them, was sobering...but very real.

I've read some complaints that some people couldn't get into the book because it just seems to be about white women in the midwest. Maybe it's because I've spent ~13 years living in 3 midwestern states, but I wasn't put off by that. Several stories were set in places that I love dearly (Ann Arbor & St. Louis) and so any time I read well-written (key!!) stories set in cities/places that still have a piece of my heart, that brings up a lot of nostalgia for me.

Sittenfeld's writing is incisive, witty, and honest. She doesn't shy away from the cringeworthy aspects of her characters, which was refreshing and made her characters more relatable. For the most part, I felt satisfied at the end of each story and the plots were well-developed. I really loved that we were offered a glimpse into Lee's (main character from "Prep") life at her 30th year high school reunion. I think Sittenfeld did a great job in providing an epilogue of sorts for such an iconic character.

Here's how I'd rate each of the 12 stories -

My favorites, really enjoyed these stories:
Show Don't Tell
The Marriage Clock
White Women LOL
The Richest Babysitter in the World
Follow Up
A for Alone
The Hug
Lost but Not Forgotten

Loved these stories, but the endings fell flat/were disappointing:
The Patron Saints of Middle Age
Giraffe and Flamingo

Meh/Didn't enjoy them:
Creative Differences
The Tomorrow Box

This was a fun collection of stories - it makes me want to go back and read her first short story collection, "You Think It, I'll Say It." "Show Don't Tell" is out on February 25, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Curtis has an incredible and unbeatable knack for capturing seemingly obscure emotions or moments in life and expounding on them in order to create these memorable short stories. Typically I have a hard time connecting with short story collections, but this one was filled with so much hard. It’s a quiet novel that gives us little slices from each characters life. The magic in this collection is that the story doesn’t have to contain a huge, climactic moment. We sit with the characters and feel what they are feeling. It’s honestly immensely impressive.