Thank you to the publisher and author for a copy of this book.

I have absolutely enjoy Sittenfield's prior work and I mainly read this for the story about prep, one of her first books. It was therefore my favorite because that book had always felt incomplete and unjust to me.

However, I have realized that is her way of writing. While she writes largely about white people and is a social commentary, it is easy to slip into their skin and hover about for days and wonder why they wonder.

Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
Short Stories: literary fiction
3.5 stars

This collection of short stories explores human behavior, emotion, interaction and insecurities. The characters in EVERY story have something relatable about them because Curtis Sittenfeld writes situations that are so real life and are such an observation of everyday social interactions and individual interactions WITH society. I found the perfect mix of cynicism and insightfulness in these stories that were about just plain regular life, often with female protagonists that have some "experience," under their belt. I did feel, in two-three of the situations, that I wanted some sort of epilogue, but again I loved the easily perceived characters. 

TL;DR: I often end up LOVING lit. fic, and especially family and friendship drama, but sometimes the pay off feels like a lot of work for a full length 300-400 page book. That said these stories were the best version of lit-fic: in bite size form.

In her new short story collection, Show Don't Tell, Curtis Sittenfeld brings her signature style to the world of short fiction, offering up bite sized stories that are easy to devour, but will leave you thinking afterwards. It is a fun set of stories that will work well for Sittenfeld's fans, and are a good introduction to her style for those who would like to sample her writing.

As I read this collection, I was conscious of the fact that I should be getting bored. Despite Sittenfeld's dedication to overly specific details in crafting the lives of her characters, at the core they were all essentially the same. Nearly every narrator was a middle-class, straight, white woman. She was either in academia, or spent lots of time thinking about her college days. Nearly all of them were either divorced or in unhappily practical marriages, but were embarking tantalizing new sexual trysts. And the narrative voice of each subject was nearly identical. All of these factors had me thinking that the stories should feel repetitive; that I should be getting bored. And yet I couldn't help but be drawn in.

Because although Sittenfeld does apply the same narrative voice to everything, it is one that completely draws me in. It is witty, and she manages to poke fun at her narrators even though the stories are written in the first person. While she only writes about privileged white women, that means she has perfected it. She is able to write with extreme emotional clarity about the lives of these women, the things that consume them, and manages to allow the reader to emotionally connect with her subjects while simultaneously elucidating the ridiculousness of their lives.

It is, I think, difficult to tell what about Sittenfeld's work is satire; when we are supposed to believe what the narrator is saying and when we are supposed to recognize they are being ridiculous, sometimes even racist or homophobic. While I had no issues when reading Romantic Comedy, I thought Eligible went too far. In this collection, I again thought the lines were relatively clear.

My favorite stories of the bunch were "The Richest Babysitter in the World" where a college student babysits for a man who will eventually become Jeff Bezos, "Follow-Up" about a woman who bonds with her teenage son while awaiting breast cancer screening results, and "White Women LOL" where a white woman becomes obsessed with finding a lost dog in order to win the favor of the only Black family in her neighborhood. This collection is witty and insightful, even if it is only insightful about a small group of people. I know this book will be for everyone, but if you are a fan of literary fiction and Sittenfeld's other works, then I do think you will enjoy it.

Overall a very solid short story collection. I found myself wanting more out of most of the stories which I think is a good thing. I found them easy to get into each time.

One of my personal favorites of the collection is the richest babysitter in the world - I could have read a full length novel about these characters!

I love a good short story compilation, and read and enjoyed Sittenfield's last anthology (You Think It, I'll Say It), but this one unfortunately I just didn't love. Several of these stories I found entertaining, and her writing is impeccable, but most of them left me confused about why I spent time reading it, and thus wondering what the point of the story even was. Upon further reflection though, perhaps that was in fact the point...to really think and ponder about what I had just read. 

I also found almost all of these stories to be about middle-aged women, and while I did just turn 40, I don't find myself to be in that category yet, at least in terms of these themes, and thus didn't relate to many of them. I found the stories to be a bit monotonous with those same vibes. Lastly, I was frustrated because the stories I did find intriguing seemed to end abruptly, and those I couldn't get into, just seemed to keep on going.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy to read and review.

I’ve heard great things about this author’s writing, and while I agree…excellent, thoughtful and engaging, I’ve decided I’m just not a huge fan of short stories. I would however, be most interested to read more of their work.

I’m not really a short story reader but Curtis Sittenfeld is one of my favorite writers and this collection did not disappoint. I really felt like I got a full narrative arc in many of these stories, maybe I am a short story reader now! Maybe it’s because I’m a middle aged midwestern woman like many of these characters in this book, but these stories felt true to me. I enjoyed all the stories but enjoyed some more than others. And as a Sittenfeld fan I most enjoyed revisiting characters I met in her first book, Prep.

This was okay! I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I liked Sittenfeld's You Think It, I'll Say it, and I really liked Romantic Comedy, but Show Don't Tell just didn't hit the same as other work of hers that I've read. The stories weren't as memorable and I found it hard to pick this back up and continue reading.

I will say — I really love Sittenfeld's writing and that was no different in this collection of short stories.

I'll continue to read more of her work in the future, this just wasn't a favorite of mine!

Short story collections can be hit or miss depending on the writer, but Curtis does not disappoint. I love her writing, I would read it in any genre. I had to request this one when I saw the title and was instantly transported to my creative writing courses in undergrad. It was peak disassociation to step into each of these uniquely different characters and their respective worlds. I would recommend this to anyone looking for something funny, insightful, and at times poignant.

A preface to my review - Sittenfeld's first short story collection "You Think It" isn't billed as a "Trump book," nor is it, but so many of these stories show the conundrums---social, sexual, professional---of this singular political moment. I'm tempted to reread it.
In her latest collection of short stories, Curtis Sittenfeld presents eleven stories that explore the complexities of relationships, fame, artistic ambition, and the ever-shifting dynamics of modern life, often in an academic setting. With her characteristic wit and insight, Sittenfeld creates characters who feel so authentic that reading their stories is like remembering experiences from your own life. Highly recommended.

Writing is great, some stories felt more memorable than others but I loved the final story that continues from her novel, Prep. If you read Prep, you need to get “Lost But Not Forgotten”. I also really liked “A for Alone” and “The Hug”. Target audience is really women in their 40s-50s.

A collection of short stories featuring a bunch of characters you will love to hate. I’m still not completely sure whether this is a good or bad thing.

I loved this author's last book Romantic Comedy. This one is a collection of short stories - but even in a short story there's a lot packed in. each one was unique and made you think. I enjoyed this, and loved a quick short story read.

What a great book to start the year. I loved reading this book in chunks because once I started a story- I didn’t want to stop. They were all so different and I ended up talking to my husband about all of them upon finishing. I really liked this format and haven’t read a short story collection like it since Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld is a good collection of stories from the author of Romantic Comedy. I didn’t love all of the stories but I feel that Sittenfeld is greatest at creating ideas and concepts but needed a novel to flesh them out.

One of my favorite things about Curtis Sittenfeld's writing, in both short stories and her novels, is how the voices of her main characters carry the story forward. The characters over-explain to the listener (reader) in such a relatable, conversational way that it's like sitting face to face and experiencing life through the character's dialogue. These stories in Show Don't Tell are almost all middle aged women (a couple of men narrate, as well). The women are also privileged and they will tell you this. But it's the specificity of detail that delineate one story from another, and Sittenfeld is skilled at making us care for them all. There are rocky marriages, parents who get along well with their children and want to make a better life for them than they had, some stresses that break alliances down or perhaps strengthen them. For the most part, this is post-Covid domesticity in distillation, so if that's one of the kinds of stories you like, this will likely delight.

Every story in Curtis Sittenfeld’s collection gripped me harder than the one before it. With her consistent humor, intelligence, and honesty, she creates characters so believable that I feel I’ve met every one of them. Many of these stories focus on middle-aged female characters, their relationships, their regrets, and their complex inner lives. She has the remarkable ability to bring the small nuances of day-to-day life into such sharp focus that you feel you’re living in the story with the characters. In the final story of the collection, the main character of her first novel, Prep, goes back to boarding school for her 30th reunion—a sequel fans have hoped for for the past 20 years.

Sittenfeld’s distinctive style never disappoints, and her short stories pack just as much depth as her novels. I typically prefer novels to short fiction, but I absolutely loved this book. No one does it better than she does.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've seen a lot of reviews say that this is very relatable to them as middle-aged women....and to that, this middle aged woman asks, why are you all so sad?!

If you:
-like slice of life lit-fic
-don't mind an inconclusive ending
-like to ponder your stories afterwards
-like things to be vaguely sad and anxious

Then I think you'll like these stories, and that's great. I was hoping for a little more from each of these characters and tended to leave each story with more questions than answers in a way I found disatisfying. But Sittendfeld is clearly a master of the written word and the quality of her prose cannot be disputed.

The best story in the lot was "The Hug" - while it is a story of marital discontent in a full volume of stories featuring marital discontent, this also captured a lot of our early pandemic social fears in a way that not much literature has.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love Curtis Sittenfeld!! I'm so glad I asked for the Romantic Comedy arc a few years ago and that led me to discovering this author. She writes such small, magnetic slice of life stories that feel so viscerally real that multiple times I was questioning if this was autobiographical. Would really recommend this one!

This was my first read from Curtis Sittenfeld and usually I'm not a fan of short stories - they usually leave me feeling disappointed and wishing there was more. This collection of stories however did NOT disappoint! While I would always welcome to read more about some of the characters "Vodka Vicky" for example, I thoroughly enjoyed each story as they explored relationships, intimacy, connection, nostalgia and regret - all things which make us human. Curtis Sittenfeld does not fill in all the holes for her reader allowing for interpretation and space to consider. This might not sit well for some readers but it landed solidly for me. I loved that it was socially relevant for the times we are in and encourages the reader to reflect on some of the complexities of our day to day life. More please Curtis Sittenfeld! Big thanks to Random House and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.