Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Years ago I picked up an early book by this author, Curtis Sittenfeld, which was a collection of short stories called You Think It, I’ll Say It, published in May, 2018. I read about half the stories in that collection and returned it to the library.

This week, I decided to do the same with Sittenfeld’s latest collection of short stories, Show Don’t Tell.

Are these two books well-written and tightly crafted short stories? Yes indeed. Is Sittenfeld a skilled writer who has observed society and the human beings who inhabit it with a laser? Yes indeed. Yet, I just couldn’t connect with them. I can’t really put my finger on the reason why, but after getting half-way through both of them, my level of discomfort while reading the stories had risen to the level that I wasn’t enjoying reading them. Maybe my discomfort is what Sittenfeld was shooting for, especially with the story “White Women LOL.” Again, I’m not really sure why I DNF’d this book.

Maybe it’s the format of Sittenfeld’s short stories that doesn’t work for me as I’ve enjoyed two of her full-length novels, Eligible and Prep.

I attended a book signing and discussion event for her latest novel, Romantic Comedy, and while I have my signed hardback, I haven’t read it yet. I will be doing so soon.

I also want to read American Wife and Rodham, which both are based on former First Ladies.

So, while I thank NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of Show Don’t Tell, I don’t think I was the right audience to appreciate this latest by Sittenfeld. On to more of her work!