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

Short stories.  Do you read them?  My husband loves them.  He believes they are just enough before he goes to sleep, or perfect when work is busy and he is distracted.  My mother rarely to never reads them; she is a non-fiction and good novel bibliophile.  I am somewhere in between.  I err on the side of novels, but appreciate indulging in a good short story.  Give me Flannery O’Connor any day, or the more modern writings of Katherine Heiny and even Tom Hanks.  I’d let someone have the appointment before me if there is a New Yorker in the waiting room.

When Curtis Sittenfeld (one of those authors I devour as soon as a new book comes out) published You Think It, I’ll Say It, I have to admit a tiny bit of apathy in not finding a novel between the covers, BUT…I did find some really engaging short stories that I thought about, and that lived with me for the duration of the book and beyond.  Sittenfeld enjoys talent for sarcasm, and even a little bit of snark for the interpersonal situations people find themselves in, the choices they address, the relationships they engage in and endure.  She also can assume credit for some spot on humor.  (See last line of first story.)

My take:  I liked these well written stories and the characters. I quickly read cover to cover, and not a story here, a story there.  Sittenfeld does say what the reader might think on his or her most eloquent days.  The one draw back for me (and it is a reflection more of me than the quality of the writing) is the amount of sex in the stories.  While not gratuitous, and while it could be argued that it is essential to the plot and endings, I could have done without it.  If that doesn’t get in your way, give You Think It, I’ll Say It a read.

Other novels by Curtis Sittenfeld: