Book Summary and Reviews of You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

You Think It, I'll Say It

Stories

by Curtis Sittenfeld

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  • Apr 2018, 256 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A dazzling collection of short stories from the New York Times bestselling author of Prep, American Wife, and Eligible.

Curtis Sittenfeld has established a reputation as a sharp chronicler of the modern age who humanizes her subjects even as she skewers them. Now, with this first collection of short fiction, her "astonishing gift for creating characters that take up residence in readers' heads" (The Washington Post) is showcased like never before.

Throughout the ten stories in You Think It, I'll Say It, Sittenfeld upends assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided. In "The World Has Many Butterflies," married acquaintances play a strangely intimate game with devastating consequences. In "Vox Clamantis in Deserto," a shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate's seemingly enviable life. In "A Regular Couple," a high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school. And in "The Prairie Wife," a suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie.

With moving insight and uncanny precision, Curtis Sittenfeld pinpoints the questionable decisions, missed connections, and sometimes extraordinary coincidences that make up a life. Indeed, she writes what we're all thinking - if only we could express it with the wit of a master satirist, the storytelling gifts of an old-fashioned raconteur, and the vision of an American original.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. As in her novels, Sittenfeld's characters are funny and insightful. Reading these consistently engrossing stories is a pleasure." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. In crisp, surprising language, these ten stories from novelist Sittenfeld (Eligible) put couples' foibles under the spotlight, offering damning details of banality to show how the slog of daily living knocks idealized romance out of its misleading No. 1 spot as the goal of pairing up." - Library Journal

"Starred Review. Masterfully plotted and often further gilded with mirthful twists, Sittenfeld's short-form works (half of which are published here for the first time) are every bit as smart, sensitive, funny, and genuine as her phenomenally popular novels." - Booklist

"The way we live now, assessed with rue and grace." - Kirkus

This information about You Think It, I'll Say It was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Cathryn Conroy

This Collection of Short Stories Is Simply Wonderful!
Zing! Each of these 10 original short stories by Curtis Sittenfeld has something special in it, something that gives it a zing, a pop, a punch. Sometimes it's a truly unexpected plot twist, sometimes it's just a brilliant observation, and sometimes it's something so totally bizarre that it will leave your mind reeling.

As I devoured this book, I realized that each story I read was the "best one." That is, even though the first story is sensitive, riveting, and delightful, the stories successively get stronger and more engaging. While the characters are, for the most part, either women in their 30s or women in their 30s remembering their younger selves, I—as a 60-something baby boomer—totally related to all the characters. That is a testament to the exceptional writing and masterful storytelling. Age is irrelevant. These stories are about the power of intimacy and friendship, betrayal and psychological wounds.

To put it another way: This collection is simply wonderful!

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Author Information

Curtis Sittenfeld Author Biography

Photo: © Jenn Ackerman

Curtis Sittenfeld is the bestselling author of six novels: Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, Eligible, and Rodham. Her first story collection, You Think It, I'll Say It, was published in 2018 and picked for Curtis Sittenfeld is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels including Rodham, Eligible, Prep, American Wife, and Sisterland, as well as the collection You Think It, I'll Say It. Her novels have been translated into thirty languages. In addition, her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Washington Post Magazine, Esquire, and The Best American Short Stories, for which she has also been the guest editor. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, and Vanity Fair, and on public radio's This American Life.

... Full Biography
Link to Curtis Sittenfeld's Website

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