4.25 ⭐️

In Curtis Sittenfelds’s latest short story collection SHOW DON’T TELL, we get an assortment of flawed female women mostly in their 40s as they confront various aspects of themselves. Had I not known the author of this collection, I think I could have puzzled it out since a number of these stories are adjacent to academia and the privilege and style that I associate with Sittenfeld’s writing.  

Maybe it’s because I’m in the exact target demographic for this short story collection that most of these short stories resonated with me. I really enjoyed “The Marriage Clock,” “The Richest Babysitter in the World” (the protagonist babysits for basically Jeff Bezos right before a company like Amazon is founded and turns down a job offer from him), “The Patron Saints of Middle Age,” and ‘Lost But Not Forgotten.” 

“White Women LOL” addressed race. I have mixed feelings about the story, but that might be because I’m not sure if Sittenfeld as a privileged white women should have stepped into this lane. I also wasn’t a fan of “Giraffe and Flamingo,” but on the whole most of these 12 short stories did speak to me. 

The story “Lost But Not Forgotten” features Lee Fiora, the main character from PREP, going to her thirtieth reunion and connecting with someone she had only known in passing back in school. I have read PREP, but it was so long ago that I didn’t remember anything. However, I felt it was a strong story on its own, and I didn’t feel you needed to have read PREP to enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. 

SHOW DON’T TELL publishes February 25, 2025. 

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