Curtis Sittenfeld's First Short-Story Collection Is Everything We Wanted It to Be
Like eating trans fats and forgetting to wear sunscreen, we know we’re not supposed to make snap judgments about people. But in the same way that we’re drawn to Oreos and away from SPF, we often do it anyway.
Those judgments and assumptions, and how they’re frequently upended, are at the heart of Curtis Sittenfeld’s taut and pithy new book, You Think It, I’ll Say It.
The ten-story compendium—Sittenfeld’s first—contains a few pieces that have already been published in The Washington Post and The New Yorker, and starts and ends with stories concerning the election of Donald Trump. Refreshingly, though, it’s not overtly political, and instead focuses on the crazy-relatable daily triumphs and upsets that women go through in their 30s (including social-media envy, imposter syndrome and the very mixed emotions of leaving a screaming newborn who won’t take a bottle in order to secure an exciting work project).
From “The Prairie Wife,” in which a woman contemplates ruining the life of a Ree Drummond–like celebrity she knew as a teenager, to “Gender Studies,” about a college professor’s ill-fated attempt at a one-night stand with a shuttle driver, Sittenfeld’s stories—much like her novels—are whip smart, laugh-out-loud funny and totally on the nose. (E.g., we’ve met that shuttle driver, and we know the feeling of hate-following a lifestyle blogger.)
It’s a lightning-fast read you’ll finish in a day, while wishing it could last so much longer. Luckily, you won’t have to miss the characters for too long: The collection is reportedly being made into a TV series produced by Reese Witherspoon and starring Kristin Wiig.
Sittenfeld + Witherspoon + Wiig. Can you say dream team?
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