These lovely short stories are the best kind of short stories- ones you want to continue, to find out what happens next. Each vignette can be seen as an introduction to further narrative.. It' is only afterward that the reader figures out that the setup IS the narrative. Katherine Heiny excels at the art of the short story, and this collection of hers is possibly my favorite.

I’m a goal-oriented person, which means that even when I’m enjoying a book I’m always looking forward to the next one. I rarely find myself approaching the end of a book and wishing that it would keep going. Katherine Heiny’s latest wonderful collection of short stories, Games and Rituals, made me do just that. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know that Katherine Heiny is one of my absolute favorite authors. Early Morning Riser, released last year, was my favorite book of 2021 and probably the book I recommend most often to other people. Take this as my call to you to read this book if you somehow have not. It is rare to find an author who is so gifted at creating the fullest, funniest, most relatable cast of characters who you root for even if you don’t agree with all of their choices. As a result, the characters in all of Heiny’s books are definitively the stars of the show, not the plots.

When I saw that her next publication would be a collection of short stories I was simultaneously excited and nervous - what if the brevity of a story meant that I wouldn’t have time to fall in love with her characters? I shouldn’t have been worried. Games and Rituals is one of those rare and remarkable collections where every one of the eleven stories is as captivating and enjoyable as the next. While they are not necessarily connected, each story contains themes of love, friendship, the follies of youth, and reflection on past choices. In one story, a mother considers her behavior in her adolescence while simultaneously trying to figure out if her sweet seventeen-year-old son is doing drugs after work. In another, a woman reflects on her complicated relationship with her father while she cares for him after he mistook his hearing aid for a cashew and eats it. In one of my favorites, a woman’s life unravels over the course of an evening after she discovers a series of clues about her actor husband’s behavior that don’t add up. I was sad as I came to the close of the book, because I knew that soon there would be no more of Heiny’s complex and fulsome protagonists to discover.

I love everything Katherine Heiny writes, but I think she is particularly a master of the short story form. Each story in this collection was perfectly judged, and there was at least two lines in every one that made me go OH I need to underline that! She has a way of distilling a character or an idea down to a single sentence that is so instantly clear and funny and perfect; I honestly think she is a genius.

I received a copy of this collection from the publisher via NetGalley.

I am not usually a big fan of short stories, but for Katherine Heiny I will make an exception. These are, as her writing always is, quirky, funny, and honest. I particularly enjoyed the first story, set at a driving examiner's office, 'Damascus' about a mother and her son whose behaviour turns out to be better than hers, and the sad 'Turn Back, Turn Back'.

Recommended.

This is heartfelt and perceptive story collection looking at all different types of relationship -- romantic, familial, and platonic. One story examines a marriage on the verge of collapse, and another discusses how a husband and his second wife continues to interact with his first wife. One examines a mother figuring out the best way to take care of her son, and another tells the story of an adult daughter trying to take care of her ailing but still vigorous father. Yet another looks at the relationships formed by people stuck at a small airport when a story grounds all flights. The author is one of the best writers about small things in interpersonal relationships that capture greater forces in one's lives and in society more generally -- each of the stories is great and, taken together, may well prompt you to reflect on the important relationships in your own life.

Highly recommended!

Katherine Heiny is an auto-read author for me and though this collection of short stories was different from her typical novels (I personally prefer novels to short stories), her signature eclectic voice and quirky characters were prominent. I absolutely love how she takes people in fairly ordinary situations and describes them in such a way that they are entirely understandable and completely one of a kind.

A handful of the stories touched on extramarital affairs, which I found interesting, and a few referenced Covid. My favorite was Chicken-Flavored and Lemon-Scented, a story about folks working as driving examiners at the DMV.

This is a quick read with some peculiar and completely enjoyable characters. If you’re a fan of Heiny, this collection is sure to delight. Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.