I have previously enjoyed Curtis Sittenfeld's work, so I was excited to pick up her newest book, Show Don't Tell, which is a collection of 12 short stories. While reading this collection, I realized that I don't particularly enjoy short stories because I prefer exploring characters in greater depth than what is typically offered in shorter formats. Sittenfeld's writing, however, is very engaging and well-crafted. Even though I didn’t love the shortness of the stories, I appreciated her writing style and can't wait to read her next novel.

I am a huge fan of Curtis Sittenfeld's writing and this short story collection is no exception. She writes about middle aged women and their marriages, friendships, memories, and work so realistically, honestly and with humor. I'm so impressed how she can create emotionally resonant, complicated and messy characters and stories in such a short amount of time. I really loved each one, but standouts to me are: Show Don't Tell, The Richest Babysitter in the World, White Women LOL, A for Alone, Giraffe and Flamingo and Lost But Not Forgotten. I am a Sittenfeld completist and I will continue to read anything she writes. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy. 4.5 stars

If you think you don't like short stories, you will if they are written by Curtis Sittenfeld! I consider myself a super-fan, I've read all of her books, and these short stories shine by showing off some of the most ordinary aspects of everyday life and turning them into beautiful and relatable vignettes. I found myself so deeply entrenched in each of the characters. Revisiting the character of Lee from Prep felt like the cherry on top - I loved this collection!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House and NetGalley for this ARC.

I really appreciate a solid short story collection (it’s the writing major in me, which is also why I cackled at this book’s title) and these are exquisitely done. Sittenfeld has a masterful knack for packing a lot of development into a few pages. Despite only being with them for a brief time, each character felt whole and real to me, and I loved getting a glimpse into their lives.

Weirdly the only story that didn’t click with me is the one most people seem to be excited for - “Lost But Not Forgotten,” which revisits the world of Prep. I think my issue is that it’s been so long since I read it that it almost felt like work to remember who was who, and because of that it didn’t flow as naturally for me.

Other than that, this was a perfect collection and one I think even people who are hesitant about short stories will enjoy!

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for this ARC. Show Don’t Tell is out today!

4.5/5

I typically shy away from short story collections, but this one is authored by Curtis Sittenfeld (!) and concludes with a novella where we reunite with Prep’s Lee Fiona at an alumni reunion at her boarding school. Sittenfeld’s short stories are topical, witty and delve into universal themes, including marriage, friendship, fame, ambition, and domestic and professional turmoil.

In “White Women LOL” Jill attends her friend, Amy’s fortieth birthday party and confronts a group of stylish Black people who Jill knew were not Amy’s guests, proclaiming, “there is a private party going on in this room.” One of the patrons, who Jill later learns is a curator at the contemporary art museum, posts the encounter on social media with the comment: “Committed the crime of drinking $16 cocktails while black last night . . . white women LOL.” Jill, now dubbed on social as “Vodka Vicky,” worries that the video will go viral and that she will be the target of an online mob. She seeks to redeem herself by catching Kiwi, a lost and elusive Shih Tzu, who belongs to a neighbor, Vanessa Johnson, the beautiful Black anchor on the evening news. In “Giraffe and Flamingo,” a family’s move to a neighborhood called Olneyville conjures up an unpleasant association for Emily, a professional violinist, of a man she knew in college, Jack Olney, who made Emily so embarrassed when she used the coed restroom that “[h]e’d succeeded in driving me out of the dorm to empty my bowls.” The recollection causes Emily to reconnect with her college roommate who discloses Jack’s fate.

Sittenfeld has remarked that her “goal in my short stories is to give the reader the feeling of going for a walk and having a long, juicy conversation with a close friend.” With this new collection, she has succeeded. Thank you Madison Dettlinger at Random House (who consistently offers me the best ARCs) and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this outstanding collection from an author who never misses.

I have loved Curtis Sittenfeld since I read her debut novel, Prep, many years ago. I have read most of her books and I particularly loved American Wife and Rodham.

Sittenfeld’s latest release is a short story collection (her second). These stories are diverse and absorbing and most enticing to me was a short story revisiting the main character in Prep all these years later! The story that stood out to me the most was one about a young girl that babysits for a family in which the Dad later becomes a Jeff Bezos like figure. Sittenfeld explores some fun to imagine situations as well as some that raise some difficult questions. I thought it was a great collection.

This month was full of new books by favorite authors and I capped the month off with Sittenfeld’s new collection. I’ve loved everything else that she’s written and was happy to return to her world. This collection is largely about women (and a few men) in their 40s looking back on a specific situation that defined, in some ways, their lives. In many of the stories women also have brushes with powerful men who could have changed the trajectory of their lives, but at what cost? Sittenfeld’s signature writing style is present throughout this whole collection. It’s insightful, astute and digs into the inner lives of her characters in such a breezy way.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars

Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld is a brilliant collection of short stories that capture the complexities of womanhood over the past few decades. From motherhood, friendship, and love to privilege, class, and career choices, each story offers a glimpse into the quiet but defining moments that shape our lives.

Standout stories include:
📖 The Richest Babysitter in the World – A former babysitter reflects on the choices that could have led her to a very different life.
📖 Giraffe and Flamingo - a mother reflects on her college experience and how her own mother's storytelling taught her about life.
📖 Follow Up – A poignant look at friendship and love in the face of a life-changing diagnosis.

One of my favorite quotes from the book:
"A story about how precious it is to deeply adore two people in the world, even if neither of them is your spouse... Isn't this, after all, two more people than anyone is guaranteed?"

This collection lingered in my mind long after finishing. Sittenfeld’s sharp storytelling makes everyday moments feel profound. Highly recommended!

Instagram Review
✨ Motherhood. Friendship. Love. Career. The choices that shape us. ✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5/5)

Curtis Sittenfeld’s Show Don’t Tell is a sharp, observant collection of twelve short stories exploring relationships, ambition, aging, and the often-unspoken tensions of everyday life. While I typically prefer her novels—where her wit and character depth have more space to unfold—I still found this collection engaging, with moments of brilliance that reminded me why I always return to her work.

Sittenfeld has a rare gift for capturing perspective and emotion, and she does so here with her signature mix of humor and insight. The protagonists, mostly middle-aged women, navigate everything from creative ambition to strained friendships, marital dissatisfaction, and the ghosts of their younger selves. The much-discussed Prep update was a fascinating inclusion, though I had some mixed feelings about how Lee Fiora’s past was reinterpreted.

As with most short story collections, some stories resonated more than others. Standouts for me included Show Don’t Tell, The Richest Babysitter in the World, White Women LOL, and The Hug. However, the collection as a whole felt somewhat repetitive in tone and voice, which made certain stories blur together rather than stand apart.

Overall, Show Don’t Tell is a thoughtful, well-crafted collection that will appeal to longtime Sittenfeld fans. While I didn’t love every story, I appreciated the themes and the way she peels back the layers of her characters’ lives. If you enjoy her writing style and are open to short fiction, this is worth picking up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

I enjoyed reading Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

ARC BOOK REVIEW

Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
5 STARS

Thank you, Random House, for the #free eARC of this book!

SYNOPSIS: “In her second story collection, Sittenfeld shows why she’s as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels. In these dazzling stories, she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends, laying bare the moments when their long held beliefs are overturned.

In “The Patron Saints of Middle Age,” a woman visits two friends she hasn’t seen since her divorce. In “A for Alone,” a married artist embarks on a creative project intended to disprove the so-called Mike Pence Rule, which suggests that women and men can’t spend time alone together without lusting after each other. And in “Lost but Not Forgotten,” Sittenfeld gives readers of her novel Prep a window into the world of her beloved character Lee Fiora, decades later, when Lee attends an alumni reunion at her boarding school.

Hilarious, thought-provoking, and full of tenderness for her characters, Sittenfeld’s stories peel back layer after layer of our inner lives, keeping us riveted to the page with her utterly distinctive voice.”

REVIEW: This was the first collection of stories I’ve read by Sittenfeld, though I have read her novel Romantic Comedy and simply adored it.

Each story in this collection is well crafted and engaging, and I have been recommending it to nearly everyone since I finished.

This is a clear 5-star collection. Well done!

Publisher: Random House
Pub date: 2/25/25

A compilation of contemporary short stories, tied together while also being completely different. If short stories are your thing, Sittenfeld will not let you down with this one!

Short stories are, unfortunately, not my thing-my least favorite part of books are the beginning!-but I was able to sink into these bite sized stories in a new type of reading method for me. I took one a day, with my coffee, and enjoyed each of the characters differently. Some stories hit so close to home I wondered if there was a secret camera following me on my day to day, while others only slightly resonated, but hit hard enough that I almost didn’t care. There are pandemic and other current events tied to this story, so no distance on the issues presented by the author may make this a tough read for some. Excited to see this author do something new, and challenge me in new ways!

Thank you for the publisher for this free copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and of course Curtis Sittenfeld for sharing this advance copy with me in exchange for my honest review. Show Don't Tell is available now!

I have spent the last decade being a true Curtis Sittenfeld fan - especially of her short stories. I don't know how to describe this love, other than that I feel most 'like myself' when reading them. They have stuck with me over the years (like the couple who stopped being vegetarian, separately), and this collection, Show Don't Tell, is no exception. The first story, with the POV and perfect time shift, had me hooked. It is expansive and perfect and I could not recommend more.

Thank you, Curtis, for this gem of a book that I will treasure.

As an intermittent Curtis Sittenfeld fan, I read her collection of short stories in SHOW DON'T TELL with curiosity, wanting to see how a vaunted novelist handles a much shorter form. I dipped into the stories now and again, which was a satisfying way to absorb the people, events, and journeys through relationships, aging, what it means to live a good life. Not all the stories held my interest, same as the characters which intrigued and repelled and also elicited great empathy, just like real life. However, I did enjoy what she does on the smaller stage with less freedom to roam -- and still draw us in to her perceptive stories about who we are at heart, even when we have no idea what we are doing. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.

This is a collection of short stories focused primarily on women in their midlife. Several contained parts where the story time jumped between the teen or early twenties and midlife. I imagine there was meant to be a reflective quality to these time jumps, but I continuously found one timeline to be significantly more interesting compared to the other, usually not the younger one.

Overall, these were “deep” stories meant to provide a level of introspection, for me they felt meandering. Not every story, some were interesting without pandering for a greater meaning to be found. Maybe it was the sense of blandness in the mundane aspects of life portrayed in these stories that didn’t speak to me. The lack of passion or enthusiasm made this book a trial to get through.

I do appreciate this author’s works, but perhaps short stories are not my preferred method to consume these works.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I’ve been a huge fan of Curtis Sittenfeld ever since Prep came out – I read every book she writes, and that’s not true for any other author. So I was very excited to receive the arc for this!

Throughout the stories, Curtis draws on her signature style of exploring the subtle details and dynamics of interpersonal relationships, and as always, she pulls it off beautifully. I love living inside her characters’ heads. And I appreciated all the ties to the modern day. (Covid, Trump, etc.) It made it all feel extra real.

If I have two critiques, it’s 1) that all the stories felt like they had roughly the same narrator with roughly the same voice, which made them blur together a bit. Though then again, I understand that this is the type of narrator that Curtis excels at, so in that regard it makes sense. And 2) In the follow-up to Prep, Lee recalls something she did in high school (that we never saw in Prep) that just felt very unlike the Lee I remember. And if she’d really done this thing, there’s no reason why she wouldn’t have shared it with us in Prep. So in that sense, it felt like history was being rewritten in a way that seemed a bit too out of character for me. BUT I remain Prep’s biggest fan ever, and it was truly a pleasure to get to revisit those characters all these years later.

After liking Romantic Comedy m i was excited to be sent the widget for this new book, but this was not one i enjoyed at all. None of the stories had likeable characters and most of the stories, despite supposedly being short, felt long and wordy and drawn out. I was expecting sharp wit and instead it felt like a collection of unfinished thoughts. I think they were supposed to provoke thoughts and feelings, but all I felt was “when will this end?” Not what I expected at all
Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

Show Don’t Tell is classic Curtis Sittenfeld. These stories have characters who, if they aren’t likable, are at least self-aware. Or if they’re neither, they’re at least entertaining. I seldom know how one of Sittenfeld’s stories is going to end and it’s pretty much always better than I could have imagined. These are best enjoyed one or two at a time, with time to digest and think about them in between. Sittenfeld’s writing is so observant and almost accidentally funny at times. It’s definitely an acquired taste but I love it. Can’t wait to recommend this collection.

Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld is a compilation of twelve sharp and witty short stories that delve into themes like marriage, friendship, fame, and artistic ambition. Notably, the collection revisits Lee Fiora, the protagonist from Sittenfeld’s novel Prep, as she attends an awkward school reunion decades later. Other stories explore scenarios such as a woman visiting old friends post-divorce and a married artist embarking on a project to challenge societal norms. Sittenfeld masterfully peels back the layers of her characters’ inner lives, revealing moments when their long-held beliefs are overturned.

I wish I had read Prep so I could have enjoyed the callback more!

🖋️ Sittenfeld's unique and sharp voice
👥 Complex relationships and stories that make you think
📖 A collection tied together by powerful themes

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

Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld is a good collection of short stories. I enjoyed some stories more than others, but overall this is a good collection of a variety of different characters and stories. I have been a fan of Sittenfeld's writing for many years, so I enjoyed the different format of shorter more bite size stories. I will definitely re-read certain chapters again when I want to re-visit their story. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy!