Last week I finished Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest release, ‘You Think It, I’ll Say It’. This book was gifted to me through Random House, and I was really excited to receive it. Sittenfeld has been one of my favorite author’s since high school, I’ve read her book Prep 3 times.

Curtis Sittenfeld has often been described as a masterful storyteller, and there is a good reason for that. The women in her stories are fully developed characters with multiple dimensions– often times unlikable. Sittenfeld tackles the feeling of romantic rejection; how older women are deemed unattractive by society. The women in her stories range from college freshman losing their virginities to new mother’s struggling with the judgement of others. An essay entitled ‘A Regular Couple’ tackles the feelings of a female lawyer who is significantly more wealthy and less physically attractive than her new husband. Each essay is just long enough, though it would be compelling to read an extended version of any of them.

There is no doubt where she stands, it’s clear that Curtis Sittenfeld feels a certain way about our current political climate, and takes the side of the left. There are references throughout the book, starting with the first essay ‘Gender Studies’ in which a sexual relationship is formed between a Trump supporter and a Gender Studies professor. Sittenfeld brilliantly slips mild erotica into several of her stories, which never comes across forced though it can be cringe-worthy on occasion.

As Roxane Gay says in her own review of the book, it was a very white affair– not a bad thing, but worth noting. But it wasn’t oozing with privilege. In fact, many of the characters reminded me of Roxane’s own ‘Difficult Women’, one of my favorite 2017 releases.  She and I share a favorite essay, ‘The Prairie Wife’, which will definitely go down as the most memorable in the book. In fact, Roxane has mentioned she is including it in an essay collection that she’s editing.

I highly recommend “You Think It, I’ll Say It” + encourage you to read it on the beach this summer! While you’re at it, checkout some of her other books. I loved ‘Eligible’ her re-telling of Pride and Prejudice, and “Prep” is one of my all-time favorite books.

*If you buy any books from this post, I will get a very small commission. I encourage you to support your local library, but if not– buy via me 🙂