Show Don't Tell

October 14, 2024
Sittenfeld (Romantic Comedy) zooms in on urban Midwesterners dealing with middle-aged disillusions in this witty story collection. The protagonists, who skew liberal and are often blind to their upper-middle-class privilege, bumble into sticky situations. In “A for Alone,” set in 2017, floundering artist Irene conducts a project involving a series of lunch dates with men, after which she asks them to fill out a questionnaire about the “Mike Pence rule,” a reference to Pence’s refusal to spend time alone with a woman other than his wife. “The Hug,” which takes place in the summer of 2020, starts with the flimsiest of premises: Daphne, a St. Louis accountant, tells her husband she plans to hug her ex-boyfriend when he visits them during a road trip from Montana. But with Covid raging, a hug is not just a hug; Daphne plans to isolate from her family for six days afterward. As the couple discuss the plan, they’re forced to examine their assumptions about intimacy and faithfulness. In “Lost But Not Forgotten,” Sittenfeld revisits Lee Fiora, the protagonist of her 2005 novel Prep, as Lee attends her high school class’s 30-year reunion. In one sparkling comedy of manners after another, the author documents with a clear and affectionate eye how tiny prejudices and blind spots lead her protagonists astray. These stories entertain and unsettle in equal measure.