I love Katherine Heiny’s witty writing about relationships and this collection of short stories did not disappoint. Succinct, funny and occasionally devastating she focuses on families, marriage, affairs, and age gap relationships. From the woman falling for her coworker in a driving test centre to a couple helping the husband’s ex wife move house her characters are compelling, unpredictable and memorable. There’s not a dud in this collection.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a collection of short stories where I actually like all of them. Katherine Heiny is a talented writer and I really love the way she structures her sentences and her prose just hooks you in.

This was my first work by the author. There were some enjoyable short stories in here, some better than others, which is standard in a collection of short stories like this.

These stories were fresh, clever and full of snappy dialogue and witty characters. Heiny writes brilliantly about modern love and these stories are no exception.

I'm an avid fan of Katherine Heiny, and her latest collection of short stories surpassed my expectations! Heiny has an exceptional talent for capturing the intricacies of various relationships, be it familial, romantic, or friendships, and this collection is a testament to her storytelling prowess.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This book was excellent, I have ordered a copy for everyone in my boom club and I know they will be as delighted to read it as I was. Heiny really knows how to pin down the most miniscule detail and use it for humour. I can't wait for her next novel!

I love short stories and adored this collection from Katherine Heiny. There was a good selection of stories and characters which felt fully formed even with only a few pages. A very enjoyable read.

Katherine Heiny Is like a strange aunt I'm obsessed with. I genuinely do not know any other authors who write like her - so human, so funny, so heartfelt but also kind of offbeat and weird. I'm just in love with all her books.

I am a huge fan of the writing of Katherine Heiny and Early Morning Riser is one of my particular favourites. She has become an autobuy author for me. I really enjoy short stories so I was particularly looking forward to this collection.

The stories are wide ranging begining with a story of driving school examiners, with stories about divorced couples moving house, encounters at an airport..My favourite story was about a couple where the wife was following the teaching of Marie Kondo and her tidying up theories. As she gradually strips their home and shared belongings bare he wonders whether he is next.
Unfortunately many of the stories in this collection didn’t really connect with me and I have tried to think why as I usually really love this author’s writing. I think it might lie in the fact that Heiny creates such individual characters and situations, often quirky and unusual, and the reader really needs time with them to get to know them better and understand them. The short story format requires us to understand and assimilate quickly and I wasn’t able to do that with these stories. I was left with a feeling that I had missed something or that the ending had petered out without reaching its journey’s end.

With many thanks to Netgalley and Fourth Estate for my digital copy of this book.

An interesting read with a variety of stories. Quite enjoyable and very easy to read.

Thanks for my copy

I'm not really a reader of short stories but I really loved this collection. I thought it was a good mixture of stories and I actually didn't find myself yearning again for the first story. I actively enjoyed them all.

A great read, easy to get into and easy to keep going!

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I love Katherine Heiny's books. They are beautifully written yet they feel so engaging and 'normal'. I hadn't realised this was a collection of short stories but each one is so relateable, with characters that just walk into your head.

I really like the way Katherine Heiny writes. I think she is so relatable, entertaining, and funny and she does just that in this excellent and varied collection of short stories.

Each of these stories felt like a full novel, the characters and their world so fully realized in so few pages. There were laugh-out-loud moments, and times when my heart ached with recognition.

This book of stories is one I have dipped in & out of. The stories are varied & I enjoyed them. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

I highly recommend this book. Well written, easy read. Perfect for relaxing on a sun bed with. Definitely a holiday easy read

A sparkling collection of elegantly observed short stories about relationships…

These short stories deal with relationships in the broader sense of interactions – between lovers, relatives, work colleagues and friends. The situations are sometimes predictable and often superficially absurd but Katherine Heiny injects them with small relevant details and sideways, often funny and sometimes quite sarcastic, observations which bring them to life. There’s an elderly father who eats his earpiece and there’s William, who simply fails to bring joy to his obsessively tidying partner.

I particularly liked Oscar and his wife, Winifred, who ‘in a good mood you might describe as petite and determined, and if you were not in a good mood, you might describe her as a birdlike control freak’. That’s a nice example of Heiny’s writing style as well!

There’s a long and respectable tradition of American short story writing and these stories and this writer show that the genre is alive and kicking.

Games and Rituals is a modern domestic fiction short story collection.

It worked as the perfect balm for my lack of concentration span recently.

The stories interlink with very small details, but are all very different portrayals of love, family, relationships and desire and the human experience.

They were often far from romantic, but there was a certain romanticism in the snippets of flawed and funny characters that I really enjoyed.

I would recommend this collection to any short story fan.

Thank you @netgalley for this copy.

Absolutely outstanding. Not a single wrong note struck in any of these short stories. Looking forward to reading it again already. Strong recommend, thanks NetGalley!

I'm a huge fan of Standard Deviation and Early Morning Riser and I love short stories so I was really excited for this collection but it surpassed my expectations. Whilst '561' in many ways treads familiar ground for Heiny, the other stories here cover a multitude of experiences and perspectives - they're all warm, engaging and funny too. One of my favourite things I've read this year and I couldn't recommend more highly.