SHOW DON'T TELL
by Curtis Sittenfeld
There are certain categories of books that I never really consider reading. Take plays, for example. Rarely do I choose to read a play unless it is to read up before a performance or to fill in my lack of knowledge. (For instance, I read Our Town after the important role it played in Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake. (read review here)) Collections of short stories used to fall into that same sphere, until my husband and I started to read aloud to each other. We began during the pandemic—where we spent so many hours together each day. And the practice has continued into his retirement, where it is a way to reconnect at the end of our day. Over the years—and 45 books read aloud—we’ve learned that short story collections are perfect for us. We usually read one story per sitting and often find ourselves discussing it over the course of the evening.
We’ve read several short story collections and the most recent was Curtis Sittenfeld’s Show Don’t Tell. I’m a big Sittenfeld fan and can recommend her novels, as well as an earlier short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It. (read review here) Sittenfeld’s prose is succinct and spot-on as she puts her characters into relatable situations and we observe their very human responses.
In the story for which Show Don’t Tell is named, we’re drawn into a graduate student’s anxiety as she waits to find out whether she’s selected for a prize that will fund her for the next year in her program. In another story, a film producer meets with an author in an attempt to convince him to allow her studio to make his book into a movie, but to add some homosexual people into the mix of characters. The pre-conceived notions that the producer brings into her conversation with the author slowly melt away as Sittenfeld reveals that the author isn’t a monster, but actually quite charming.
Sittenfeld is a keen observer of human behavior and is able to create realistic characters who are both empathetic and flawed, as are we all. She writes believable dialogue and develops scenes that draw the reader right into the characters’ lives. If you think you’d like to read a short story collection, Show Don’t Tell (and You Think It, I’ll Say It) are two great options. (Liz)
