Eleven short stories that perfectly capture how mundane, sad, joyful and downright absurd life can be. This collection is not to be missed. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I adored the author's books Standard Deviation and Early Morning Riser so decided to give her latest a try, which is a collection of short stories.

This isn't my favorite genre, but there are exceptions. Some of the stories I loved, others not so much, but overall I'm glad I read it and recommend for fans of the author and/or genre.

I’m not a big short story reader, but these stories pulled me in quickly and I enjoyed every one of them. The stories are mainly about relationships of all sorts (from lovers to child/parent to roommates to coworkers and so forth). A few of the stories reference the pandemic and one, titled Pandemic Behavior, brought back memories of the early days when no one knew what to do and people were sanitizing their grocery packages. They are slice of life stories, both funny and poignant. I will never again think of the DMV without thinking of the people who make their living supervising driving tests for people who want to get a driver’s license (“Chicken-Flavored and Lemon-Scented”). Another story deals with an elderly father who mistakes his hearing aid for a cashew (“Twist and Shout”).

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

3.75 stars, rounded up. Games and Rituals is a collection of short stories. I really enjoyed them! Katherine Heiny is a talented author, and dives into many unique life experiences with an objective lens, and elevates everyday experiences with enviable creativity.

The cover is so pretty also! I’d enjoy having this book on my coffee table while working my way through the short stories. It would also be a neat book to have in a guest room.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I found this collection of short stories to be very charming. Most of them were character studies, and they felt like the perfect length; none of them were so short that they left me wanting more or so long that they felt like they dragged on.

I especially liked the fact that they were commenting on a wider topic it seemed like but didn’t try to be tooooo profound, which is what I think some short stories fall into the trap of. These were the stories of so many different types of people in so many different types of situations but the author was still able to tell each story with the same amount of skill and to keep my interest.

Loved this one! I’m a huge fan of short story collections and this was an example of a really good one. Each of the stories had me interested, some more than others. Even though my time with all of the characters was short, I felt like they were fully fleshed out. I wanted more from all of them! And I don’t think of that as a bad thing. The stories were heartbreaking and beautiful. Perfect little slices of life. The writing was so beautiful and almost poetic. It allowed me to be swept away into each of these little vignettes. I blew through this quickly, just over a day. A perfect quick read!

I do love a short story collection, but this one felt a bit lacking.

Heiny's first book, Early Morning Riser was just lovely so I was definitely looking forward to reading this one. I was completely captivated by the first story or two and I couldn't wait to read more. The DMV story alone had me ready to read the full novel about them and then the 3 season series based on it. It was perfection.

But then the next story or two were not as good. Then the ones after that were even less so. It was almost like she ranked her stories from best to worst and then put them in that exact order in the book.

Then the last story left a bad taste in my mouth. It came across as super fatphobic and ends with the main character making a DANGEROUS decision that I think was supposed to come across as freeing or something. I get that not every protagonist is supposed to be likeable, but this story felt almost irresponsible to me.

It would probably be better for me to rank each story rather than the book as a whole because the first story was a 5 and the last was a 2. We'll just average it and say 3.5.

‘Games and Rituals’ is a collection of short stories/essays on relationships and love. Katherine Heiny is an excellent writer, and she exceeds at holding a readers attention throughout the book. Each character had enough details shared about them to keep them interesting, but not enough to invest you too much.

Each short story is a different demonstration of love and the various aspects of it. Love isn’t always happiness and peace, and by signing up to love and be loved is signing up to be heartbroken and devastated at times. Relationships aren’t always healthy, and they don’t always go in the expected ways, and ‘Games and Rituals’ takes a critical look at the dynamics of various relationships. The stories don’t end in the exact way I would have expected, but somehow it was the ending that was needed and gave a form of closure to the story.

Personally this type of novel isn’t my typical read, and at times I felt a little unsatisfied with the story itself. This book has a lot to unpack with with each story and a lot of emotional levels to process, and I’m not great at turning on my critical thinking skills 100% of the time when reading. Some of the stories felt a little bit underdeveloped, i think some of them could have been completely cut out altogether. Overall I’d read this novel again, and when I do I’ll make sure I’m super awake😉

Thanks to netgalley and Harper collins for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest reviews!
3 stars!

Pub date: 4/18/23
Genre: short stories

I don't read a lot of short stories, but I grabbed this collection after seeing great reviews from my bookish friends.. I really enjoyed the time I spent with the characters - Heiny has a way of bringing you directly into her characters' lives. There were plenty of moments that made me laugh out loud, but there were also sweet and poignant moments. I paired my e-ARC with a library audiobook, and I loved the audio performance and would recommend either version.

If you enjoy character-driven fiction, this is a winner!

Thank you to Knopf for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I confess I seldom read short story collections. There’s something about the stop and start of dipping my toes in only to meet an often abrupt end that just isn’t my favorite. 

However, I make an exception for Katherine Heiny because I adore her prose so much, I can’t pass it up no matter what. So, when I saw Heiny’s new short story collection on NetGalley, I had to request it. Many thanks to NetGalley and to Knopf for the digital review copy. 

Games and Rituals: Stories is a collection of quiet slice-of-life short stories with a snap of wit and a sprinkle of optimism. Like much of Heiny’s work, the stories investigate and unpack the imperfect realities of people and their relationships to one another. 

In these pages, we witness the end of affairs and relationships, examine the complexities of parent-child dynamics, and more. We look at those small moments in life that actually add up to something larger, even if they might not look that way from the outside. These stories made me laugh and they also made me pause to consider a particularly beautiful or thought provoking sentence. 

In other words, another stunning collection from Katherine Heiny, doing what she does best. I can’t recommend this (and her other works) highly enough and will keep on being a massive fan. Games and Rituals: Stories came out on April 18th, so you can grab a copy right now!

Games and Rituals: Stories by Katherine Heiny is a collection of eleven literary fiction short stories.

Relationships in their many iterations form the heart of this collection. Found friendships, complicated relationships with exes, illicit liaisons, and the love between generations are explored with dry humor expertly blended with seriousness.

The collection was very compulsively readable, relatable, and the prose is wonderful. It wasn't super long, clocking in at under 250 pages. The stories are slice of life, and often feature characters who are morally gray at best. Many of the stories have open endings.

This was my first book by the author, but since the writing was great I'm definitely going to read more from them in the future.

CW: infidelity, death, mentions of suicide

I received a copy of this book to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

Happy pub week to this 💎 (@aaknopf #gifted) ⁣
Of course I loved this one. Katherine Heiny’s novel EARLY MORNING RISER is one of my all-time favorites. Isn’t it the best when a favorite author meets your high hopes with their next release? As with all story collections, there were some I liked more than others, but there wasn’t a single one I *didn’t* like. Story collection goals, IMO. ⁣
Thank you x100 for my ARC, @aaknopf!

Sometimes readers want long, immersive novels while, at other times, they may just have enough free time to indulge in a short story. For those short story times, Katherine Heiny offers a rich collection.

Here is a fabulous collection of eleven stories. A few of the titles that intrigued me and that I read first included Games and Rituals (since this is the title of the book), Pandemic Behavior (because its title resonated) and Bridesmaid Revisited (as I wanted to know if it would link in some way to the novel, Brideshead Revisited).

Heiny is a true master of description. This includes her talent for evoking both characters and their settings.

Those who enjoy short stories may want to use their next break to read a story here.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this title. All opinions are my own.

Katherine Heiny has an uncanny abilities to capture "slice of life" in a way that's engaging, entertaining, and thought provoking. She brings her signature style to this collection of short stories. I loved Early Morning Riser and Games and Rituals doesn't disappoint

I couldn’t really connect with this book. I didn’t get how these stories connected to the theme or gave any insight to the theme when it comes our daily lives. A lot of the stories were really boring, the writing was very dry to a point “I was sitting there wondering what was the whole point” and some of the them were just really weird.

The beauty of Katherine Heiny is in the writing and knowing someone gets the everyday things that you, too deal with. Games and Rituals is no different. You have stories of financial woes, wondering if there is more, and people from all walks of life. I always feel a bit uplifted after reading one of Heiny's novels.

Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny
.
This is a group of short stories that I was able to read over a couple of days.
They were each entertaining to read and I enjoyed the whole book!
I think Damascus was my favorite, it surprised me in ways I wasn’t expecting.
I like reading short stories but there were several were I was like “wait, that was it?” at the end. I was expecting the story to go on. 😅
.
3⭐️⭐️⭐️ These were good, I can just tell I’m more of a fan of regular length stories.

Heiny never disappoints, and this collection was exactly what I always hope for from her! She is like a modern Nora Ephron or Laurie Colwin, documenting the everyday dramas of domestic life with humor and an acute eye.

I'm not typically a big short story reader, but Heiny's are bighearted, fun, tender, and fly by. A few favorites were:

Twist and Shout
CoBra
Pandemic Behavior
King Midas
Sky Bar

No one can write a short story like Katherine Heiny. She does a great job of turning something that seems insignificant into something. Heiny's writing is easy to follow but it definitely packs a punch. I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to read this collection of short stories and will continue to read anything and everything she releases.

First things first: I adored this immensely readable short story collection. It covers topics like love, loss, marriage, infidelity, parenthood, reinvention, and self-evolution, all explored through intriguing stories full of keen observances. I read this over several weeks, taking time to absorb each story and appreciate Katherine Heiny’s observant writing. It left me at times laughing aloud, at times nodding along, at times deeply cringing, and always eager to know what happens as the stories are revealed. Heiney’s writing feels timeless, which makes me think this will have staying power among short story collections.

As always with collections, I had some favorites: “Twist and Shout,” a humorous yet gutting story about an aging and ailing father that reflects happenings in my extended family in recent years; the titular story, “Games and Rituals,” which follows the cycle of a young relationship; and “CoBra,” where a wife ruthlessly tackles a house using the KonMari method while the husband reflects on the evolution of their decades-long marriage.

Games and Rituals showcases Katherine Heiny's insightful writing about the human experience through wonderfully, maddeningly flawed characters. If you enjoy short stories or just sharp yet lovely writing, this collection is a must read.

My thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.