Show Don’t Tell: Stories

Most of the characters in Sittenfeld’s (Romantic Comedy) new story collection are middle-aged, middle-class, left-leaning, race-sensitive Midwesterners. From their midlife perspectives, they recall encounters with the rich and famous as well as cringeworthy episodes from their pasts. There are many highlights. In “The Marriage Clock,” a Hollywood producer pays a visit to the bestselling author of a Christian marriage manual, whom she hopes to persuade to allow gay characters to be added to the proposed screen adaptation of his manual. It comes as a great surprise to the producer that that not only is the author witty and charming, but his relationship advice helps save her own cooling marriage. In “White Women LOL,” a white woman has a run-in with a group of Black people who have come for drinks at a bar where her friend’s party is wrapping up. The subsequent recording of the incident hits social media and alienates her from her friends and neighbors. The story “Lost but Not Forgotten” pays homage to Sittenfeld’s well-loved novel Prep. At a 30-year class reunion, attendees renew friendships, reveal old secrets, and rekindle romances.