Book Review: "Games and Rituals" by Katherine Heiny

Games and Rituals is an exceptional story collection from a writer at the top of her game.

I’ve been a big fan of Katherine Heiny’s books for a while now. Her two previous novels, Standard Deviation and Early Morning Riser were among my favorite books the years I read them. I love the way she balances sly humor, poignant emotion, and wry observation of both life’s mundane moments and when things go off the rails.

The 11 stories in Heiny’s upcoming collection were nearly all fantastic, following men and women at a crossroads of some sort. There’s the driving instructor in “Chicken-Flavored and Lemon-Scented” to the woman packing up her husband’s first wife’s house in “561,” from the woman dealing with her elderly father in “Twist and Shout” to the woman who finds out her life isn’t quite what she thinks it is in “Turn Back, Turn Back,” and many others.

If you’re a fan of short stories I’d encourage you to pick this up when it publishes on 4/14. Thanks to NetGalley and A.A. Knopf for the advance copy!