Book Review: Curtis Sittenfeld delivers tender, thought-provoking stories in ’Show Don’t Tell’
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/03/2025 (390 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
With a wink to every writing teacher’s favorite adage, Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Show Don’t Tell” delivers a dozen short stories that will make you think, smile, and often nod your head in agreement. Featuring mostly middle-aged characters from the middle of the country, it’s an assortment of stories focused on people either looking back and reconsidering formative moments in their lives, or in situations that force them to challenge their long-held beliefs.
My favorite of the bunch was “Creative Differences,” an 18-page gem about a photographer in Wichita, Kansas, who got Internet famous for a couple photo series she did and is now being interviewed by a freelance production crew on behalf of a conglomerate that sells a 72-year-old toothpaste. When she refuses to be filmed actually brushing her teeth, the story sets up a standoff between the corporate sponsor that flew a dozen people from the coasts to Wichita and our hero, Melissa, who tells them: “All you care about is getting me to do whatever you’ve already decided I should do on camera.”
“Creative Differences,” and the other 11 stories in the collection, are heavy on inner monologues. Sittenfeld has a knack for getting inside her characters’ heads and really articulating what makes them tick. Here’s the narrator of “Lost But Not Forgotten” thinking back on her failed marriage at her prep school’s 30th anniversary: “In a way, to describe that marriage is like describing having gone to boarding school. Is there an infinite amount to share, or does a sentence or two suffice? I guess it depends who you’re telling the story to.” Sittenfeld fans will recognize the narrator as Lee Fiora, star of her 2005 novel “Prep.”
There are many other stories in the collection about friends connecting after a long time apart, with characters questioning their behavior from years ago or pondering what constitutes “an enviable life.” It’s thought-provoking stuff, delivered in short stories that are perfect for readers of a certain age, just before they turn off their bedside table lamp.
___
AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews