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.

I’ve never read a short story collection like this before, and I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. Usually, I even lean towards series over standalones, so I get more time with the characters. However, the author did such a great job packing in character development, plot arcs, and resolutions into each story! I was pretty quickly hooked, but also felt satisfied at the end of each one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I enjoyed this series of short stories. I loved the writing and found myself wanting to keep reading.

4.5 I loved this collection of short stories. I enjoy everything Curtis Sittenfeld writes, short stories or novels but this collection had me going through all the emotions.
I took my time and thought about each story and its characters after reading. I formed an attachment to some characters more than others but the ones I thought about most were middle aged, experiencing a life transition, reflecting on the past and focusing on what they want going forward. Sittenfeld writes about life long friendships that stand the test of time, the complexities of marriage, feeling out of place in a world of privilege and the loneliness of celebrity.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A great collection of short stories that show how amazing Sittenfeld is at seeing the grey shades of humans and their behavior. I love how complex her characters are even in stories. A masterclass in tight storytelling.

I received a digital advance copy of Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld via NetGalley. Show Don’t Tell is scheduled for release on February 25, 2025.

Show Don’t Tell is a short story collection with entries exploring marriage, friendship, fame, artistic ambition, and shifting sense of self.

Each of these stories lives up to the name of the collection, presenting us with well-developed characters in situations that challenge them. The characters response to the people and events in the world of the story allow the reader to draw conclusions and gain insight without the author telling them what to think or feel about the situation.

Overall, Show Don’t Tell is a solid collection that challenges the reader to examine their own inner lives.

I admit that when I began this book, I didn’t realize it was a collection of short stories, While I’m a fan of Sittenfeld’s writing, I struggled with the stories, The center mostly around the romantic relationships of the respective narrators, as well as the financial and professional lives they choose. The writing is lovely, and my sense is that any one of these stories would make a good novel, but often I felt like I’d been left hanging, and that’s not how I like to read. Of the collection, I found Lost But Not Forgotten to be the most satisfying, but that’s probably because I got to see more of the character’s full arc, Other’s may love the opportunity to read in smaller bites!

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

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the chance to review this ARC.

I’ve been in a real reading rut and this collection of short stories broke me out of it. This collection is filled with characters (mostly women) who are trying to figure out the right thing to do (and getting it right only sometimes). Some feature flashbacks to the past that I especially enjoyed, as a way of understanding their modern selves. A real variety of settings, no skips.

Curtis Sittenfeld is such a wonderful writer, and this latest short story collection is pitch perfect. Each of these stories focuses on people who have believed untruths about themselves, followed by moments of self discovery. They are funny and smart and real. I think this will appeal to so many readers, and I can’t wait to sell it!

I have to say that I remember reading Prep years ago and have a soft spot for it. Show Don't Tell features a story about a grown up version of the teenage character of Prep so I was excited to receive an advance copy of this.

Show Don't Tell is a collection of short stories and there were some I enjoyed immensely and others I didn't care for. I will say I felt that some of the stories felt quite similar and I thought there could've been more variety amongst them. In particular, there were stories about knowing someone before they became famous and almost having an affair that just seemed too similar. I wanted more variety than what was offered but did like quite a few of the stories. A highlight was of course returning to the school featured in Prep. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants an easy to read collection of short stories!

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest collection of short stories focuses on friendship, middle age, and privilege. The writing is witty, funny, thought-provoking and touching at times. There are a couple I was so invested in that I’d love to see fleshed out into novels.
4 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy.

No one captures the beautiful messiness of life the way Curtis Sittenfeld does.

𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗟 is a compelling and clever collection of short stories. They're observational explorations of daily life, mostly about middle-aged Midwestern women, and the insights into their lives and their inner and outer dialogues are so real and raw. I loved every page.

In many cases, the stories seem so simple that it's easy to overlook the complexity and nuance of Sittenfeld's writing. It's one of the reasons I'm so glad I read this one with my eyes instead of listening - I found myself re-reading what seemed like the most basic sentences because they packed such a punch just to see just she crafted them. Whether she's examining marriage, fame, friendship or privilege, I was touched by the often profound revelations and unexpected humor that she mined from what could otherwise be considered mundane.

If you've read Sittenfeld's backlist, there's a bonus for fans of her debut novel, 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽 - Lee Fiora returns to Ault for her 30th reunion in the story "Lost But Not Forgotten."

Whether you read short stories often or not, this is one collection you don't want to miss.

Thanks to Random House for the copy to review.

I love this author, and I enjoyed all of the stories, but none of them stuck with me. Short stories just aren't my thing!

A collection of short stories. As is the case with a collection of short stories, some are better than others. I particularly liked The Tomorrow Box and The Marriage Box. Some of the stories seemed to end rather abruptly.

Show Don’t Tell is an engaging collection of character driven short stories that explores topics like love, marriage, and more. I enjoyed reading this collection. My favorite of the stories was “The Patron Saints of Middle Age”. While not always likable, the characters were well developed. I would definitely recommend this collection to those who enjoy reading short stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for access to an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.