Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of Curtis Sittenfeld's short story collection, You Think It, I'll Say It, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- You Think It, I'll Say It is a collection of short stories from acclaimed novelist, Curtis Sittenfeld.

LIKE- Sittenfeld is one of my favorite modern writers and I was absolutely thrilled to have an opportunity to review her latest book, a collection of short stories.

Sittenfeld doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable and many of her characters toy with emotional bombshells. They exist on the edge, often crossing the line by acting on their impulses.

In the story which provides the inspiration for title of the collection, The World Has Many Butterflies, friends begin to have an emotional affair by playing a strange game: "You Think it, I'll Say It." They secretly play this game when they come in contact at parties and their kid's sporting events. Graham initiates the play by mentioning the title and then Julie begins to tear down the other people in the room, as if she and Graham are conspirators thinking the same thoughts. At first, Julie feels a sense of freedom in speaking as she wishes and saying what's on her mind, but the game becomes increasingly intimate, as she speaks in a way that she wouldn't dare reveal to her spouse.

Plausible Deniability plays on a similar theme, with Libby having an emotional affair with her brother-in-law. She feels in her gut that it is crossing the line, but for over a year she continues to send him text messages. At a certain point, they agree to only send one message a day and the message can only be about classical music. Libby sends these incredibly intimate texts about the music she loves. When she becomes pregnant and confronts her brother-in-law regarding this emotional affair and intimacy that they are having, he tries to make it seem like it isn't a big deal. Libby admits that it is a big deal to her, she thinks about him romantically and even though he is devastated that she wants to cut it off, he won't admit that they have crossed the line. He is the narrator of the story, so we know that he loves her more than he should and even more devastating, he realizes that his brother doesn't really love her. 

Old memories from high school and college also haunt Sittenfeld's characters. A Regular Couple, involves two couples on their honeymoon who meet at a resort in the desert. The wives were high school classmates over two decades ago. The narrator, Maggie, is both intimidated and fascinated with Ashley, who was a very popular girl in their high school. Now, Maggie is a successful lawyer and immediately, Ashley mentions having seen Maggie in the news. Maggie and her husband are staying in the most expensive rooms, while Ashley and her much older husband, are staying in cheaper accommodations. Maggie knows she has reaches success in her career and she even has a "trophy husband"- She admits that her husband, Jason, is far more attractive than she is and she constantly worries that Jason, who does not have as successful of a career, is using her for her money. Maggie is insecure and spending time with Ashley turns her into a mess. Although Ashley seems to have nothing but goodwill towards Maggie, Maggie can't help but try to seek retribution for the way that she was treated in high school.

Do-Over is a perfect story for our political climate. A few decades after they graduated from boarding school, Sylvia looks up her old classmate, Clay and they have dinner. Sylvia and Clay ran against each other in a school campaign and there was a tie vote. The school administrators gave the role to Clay, offering Sylvia a lesser leadership role. Years later, Sylvia, who also happened to have a crush on Clay back in high school, decides to confront him or rather, ambush him. Sylvia, feeling she has nothing to lose, lets Clay know exactly how she feels during a very tense and awkward dinner date. 

You Think It, I'll Say It is a solid collection and every single story was excellent. No clunkers. I adore Sittenfeld. Her characters engage in cringe-worthy behavior, but their mindset and impulses are always relatable. She understands how people tick and I love to see how her stories play out. She always keeps me guessing and turning the page. Her wicked sense of humor also shines through.

DISLIKE- Not a single thing.

RECOMMEND- YES, YES, YES!!! I recommend You Think It, I'll Say It and everything else that Sittenfeld has written. I can't wait to read what she writes next. Sittenfeld is such a talent!

I liked this collection right from the first story, a story in which the main character gets caught up in a game called "I'll Think It, You Say It" that leads her down a path to obsession over a man who isn't her husband. "...alarmingly, I'll Think It, You Say It left her as cheerful and energized as a Zumba class." Julie is a woman who has settled into her family's life in the suburbs; the attention of another man makes her feel alive again.
"It wasn't that talking to Graham had made her feel lovestruck, not remotely, not then. It was more that it had made her feel big-boomed, curly-haired, high-spirited, and Jewish. Even if it was only by that point symbolic rather than literal, it had made her feel like herself."
This is a solid collection of stories about relationships of all kinds. Like all short story collections, I liked some of the stories better than others but more as a matter of preference than that any of the stories were weaker than others. Many had interesting twists which I won't share with you because I don't want to spoil anything. There's an interesting story that I can't help but think took Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman, as a launch point. Some stories are about friendships, some are about marriages, some are about both. There was one story were I was highlighting like crazy because I was trying to figure out if there were editing errors that weren't, in fact, errors. If you do read this collection, I'd love if you can tell me if you figure out which story this was that exposed my prejudice.

If I find a flaw in Sittenfeld's writing it's that her writing can come off as elitist. In the above story, it seems clear she feels like the suburbs are the place people go to lose themselves but not in the good way. In another story she writes: "As if Bill and Barbara Adams of Traverse City, Michigan, even grasp what Uber is." I don't live in Traverse City, Michigan, but I know people who grew up there and I'm fairly certain that it's not the isolated outpost Sittenfeld seems to be insinuating. Little jabs like that can gnaw at me and turn my opinion about a book.

Fortunately, there was enough I liked about this collection for me to overlook those little jabs. I tend to have such mixed feelings about short story collections and often come away from them feeling like I wanted more from many of the stories or that there were too many weak stories to recommend the book. This is a collection that has left me thinking I'd like to read more short stories and that's a good thing.

Full disclaimer, I love Curtis Sittenfeld's writing, I would read the copy on a Cornflake box if she wrote it. These short stories look at the ways we relate, to one another, to ourselves and to our surroundings, and are packed with whip smart observations, sassy asides and nuance. Read in one sitting or perfect for dipping into on the subway commute.

Let me begin by saying I've never read Curtis Sittenfeld before, but I've heard she is a good writer. These stories are indeed well-written. But I didn't feel like they were anything particularly special, on the whole. I think the second-to-last story, "Volunteers Are Shining Stars," was the best story in the collection. It was a bit disconcerting, the narrator was pretty intriguing, and the whole movement of the story was fascinating and disquieting in a way that interested me. But the other stories were just sort of there, being stories.

A wonderful collection of short stories. I loved all the stories in this book and couldn't get enough of Curtis Sittenfield.

I'm not a huge fan of short stories - they just aren't my favorite. But I like Curtis Sittenfield...so I gave this a shot.

I didn't love it. But I didn't dislike it either. Basically, I was just sort of lukewarm about it.

But, a good collection. I just feel as if I'm just getting connected and the characters are gone.

I'm actually going to go ahead and read another set of short stories next...so we know that it couldn't have been too bad.

I was sitting at breakfast the morning after I finished this book of short stories wondering why I wasn’t interested or involved . As I was pondering this, I was also reading the New York Times Book Review from several months ago – it sometimes takes me a while to catch up with the rest of the world. Anyway, Alana Massey was reviewing a collection of essays, which I had not read but nevertheless found her review interesting. One sentence jumped out at me: ”……..instinct to uncover answers to universal questions, while introducing a new willingness to acknowledge that sometimes stories don’t end with such neat answers”.

Being “aware that you are an elitist asshole…and powerless not to be one” doesn’t bring anything to the table for me and unfortunately that was my reaction to each of the stories. The writing was excellent but I just could not connect.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for a copy.

Sittenfeld is a good writer, and her observations and portrayal of people feel very realistic. I was interested and every story held my attention, but I'm not sure I could truly say this was enjoyable. It's pretty spot-on in showing the less picture-perfect side of average human beings, and while you don't necessarily agree or cheer for everything many of the characters are doing, she does a good job of making the reader believe it and get it.

I don't typically read short stories but I loved Sittenfield's writing in the past so thought I'd give this a try. I enjoyed the themes of communication and judgements, those that we make quickly and often inaccurately. Overall I just didn't connect with the short story format, I felt like just when I began to get to know a character that story ended

Compelling and well-written short story collection. Curtis Sittenfeld is such an incisive writer that in just one story, you can get to know a character better than you can in a whole novel written by a lesser author. Like any short story collection, the stories varied in quality - did not like the last two as much as I liked the rest. But still, a great read and definitely recommend to anyone who likes short stories.

A fantastic and utterly compelling selection of short stories! I love Sittenfeld's breadth, humor, insight, and humanity, These stories surprised and delighted me in the best way possible, and I inhaled them in one sitting.

Let me start with a confession. I thought Curtis Sittenfeld was a man for the last 13 years, so there is that. I've always thought that he was such a great writer of contemporary women's fiction (smh) Well, now that I know Curtis is a woman it all makes a lot more sense.

I don't ever read short stories so when the publisher gave me an advanced readers copy I thought about how much I liked Sittenfeld's previous work and decided it was worth a shot.

I'm glad I read this collection. They were all very interesting/enjoyable. I liked that I always wanted more. I didn't like the Trump bashing but I suppose there are many feminists who also hate Trump that I am in the minority.

Recommend!

This short story collection was quirky, awkward and brilliant all at once. Curtis Sittenfeld has written a series of snapshots into everyday lives in a witty and really unique manner - she cleverly weaves in current political discussions, characters that have made (or are in the process of making!) questionable decisions, and musing on everyday connections gone awry.

I most enjoyed that I was completely taken aback by the angle and ending of each story - there is not a whiff of predictability in sight! The raw, candid and witty humor of the writing make for an extremely readable collection of stories. I’d particularly recommend this to those who enjoyed collections like ‘American Housewife’ by Helen Ellis.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved everything Curtis Sittenfeld has read. But with that said, I did not care for this book. It is a collection of short stories and they were all very well written. The characters though were downright depressing in every single story. There was a lot of honesty, but nothing hopeful coming out of them. I don't know, maybe because I really like novels better, or maybe if the stories were a little longer and their redeeming qualities could shine though, I would've liked it better. Is it too much to ask for one story with a happy ending? Or maybe that's the point of the book. There are no happy endings. ugh.

I really enjoyed this collection! As usually happens with a short story collection, there were some standouts and stories I cared for less. I've already recommended this to my sister to kick off her vacation reading!

I'm a fan of Sittenfeld's, but not generally a fan of short stories. I'm happy to report that Sittenfeld has changed my mind - this collection of glimpses into the lives of ordinary people was wonderful. There is a common thread running through each - first impressions, assumptions, and judgments we make about the people who come in and out of our lives. I don't typically find such brief character studies effective or compelling, but I was quickly drawn into each of these stories. Terrific read!

've enjoyed Curtis Sittenfield in the past, and read that this collection of short stories had a lot of humor, so I thought I'd give it a go. Unfortunately, my shortcoming with written humor has come into play here.

Often when I'm reading I'll get a sad feeling from things that I guess are intended to be humorous. And in the first couple of stories I can't fault Sittenfield's eye for satire, but it makes me feel depressed! These female characters are fooling themselves and they pretty much know it, but go ahead with ill-conceived decisions anyway. I'm going to cut my losses and stop before I get any sadder. You may enjoy this book, but if you empathize too much with the characters you may find yourself wincing as well as smiling.

"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. A high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school. A shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life.

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.

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."

I enjoyed this collection and felt that the stories accurately depicted "real life" in the sense that everyone does cast snap judgements about people based on first impressions. Each of the stories in this collection center around tensions that arise when snap judgements or characterizations of people end up being incorrect.

I think it's interesting that this collection came out during the current political upheaval. It seems like our entire society is currently guilty of being too quick to judge people based on factors such as appearance, race, religion, sexual orientation, and more. Maybe if everyone was able to read this collection and see the negative aspects of themselves reflected in the characters in them, the world might be a little kinder to one another.

Curtis Sittenfeld has written a collection of satirical, insightful and entertaining short stories. Her characters, who are always intriguing and often quirky, are engaged in every day situations and react to them in ways which often challenge societal norms and expectations. Highly recommended. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Curtis Sittenfeld is oen of my favorite authors. I have been a fan since AMERICAN WIFE. I anxiously anticipate anything written by her. When I saw YOU THINK IT, I'LL SAY IT I was glad there was something new to read by Ms. Sittenfeld but a bit sad it was short stories. I do not read short stories but because of the author I chose to read these.

I enjoyed each and every story; stories about relationships, gender roles, careers, women. It is a fun and though provoking book of quick stories. A great book to have while waiting for an appointment, sitting in the car, on your lunch hour.

Can't say I am now a fan of short stories but I am still a fan of Curtis Sittenfeld and if she writes it, I will read it.