Format Read: eARC (NetGalley)

Rating: 5 Stars

(Full disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links).

I confess I seldom read short story collections. There’s something about the stop and start of dipping my toes in only to meet an often abrupt end that just isn’t my favorite. 

However, I make an exception for Katherine Heiny because I adore her prose so much, I can’t pass it up no matter what. So, when I saw Heiny’s new short story collection on NetGalley, I had to request it. Many thanks to NetGalley and to Knopf for the digital review copy. 

Games and Rituals: Stories is a collection of quiet slice-of-life short stories with a snap of wit and a sprinkle of optimism. Like much of Heiny’s work, the stories investigate and unpack the imperfect realities of people and their relationships to one another. 

In these pages, we witness the end of affairs and relationships, examine the complexities of parent-child dynamics, and more. We look at those small moments in life that actually add up to something larger, even if they might not look that way from the outside. These stories made me laugh and they also made me pause to consider a particularly beautiful or thought provoking sentence. 

In other words, another stunning collection from Katherine Heiny, doing what she does best. I can’t recommend this (and her other works) highly enough and will keep on being a massive fan. Games and Rituals: Stories came out on April 18th, so you can grab a copy right now!