Staff Pick
What sets this collection apart is Sittenfeld's ability to balance enjoyable storytelling with clever prose — she doesn't neglect one in pursuit of the other. In You Think It, I'll Say It, she fills the pages with complex characters who find themselves in everyday situations. There's a gender studies professor reflecting on the end of a long-term relationship while her shuttle driver alternately repels and fascinates her with his political views. Another story puts the reader inside the mind of a devoted mother who makes a serious miscalculation in her most valuable friendship. My favorite story stars a woman who hate-follows her now famous ex on Twitter, a woman who loosely resembles a certain folksy Christian lifestyle blogger. Every piece is an exploration of the petty humiliations and unexpected moments of beauty that make up a life, elevated by Sittenfeld's shrewd obvservations — an extremely satisfying read! Recommended By Lauren P., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
"Every bit as smart, sensitive, funny, and genuine as her phenomenally popular novels," (Booklist, Starred Review) a dazzling collection from the New York Times bestselling author of Prep, American Wife, and Eligible.
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.
About the Author
Curtis Sittenfeld is the bestselling author of the novels Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, and Eligible, which have been translated into twenty-five languages, as well as the forthcoming short story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It. Her nonfiction has been published widely, including in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, and Glamour, and broadcast on public radio’s This American Life. A native of Cincinnati, she currently lives with her family in St. Louis.