At the end, CS lists what she did to make her story work. I bet most people who assume, she sat down and wrote it with little prep. The computer spent 17 seconds.
General question: if your name was Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld, would you call yourself "Curtis"? Seems odd to me. Anyway, I downloaded her 2018 collection of stories from the library.
The Curtis name always throws me. Maybe a child name that stuck? Or, avoiding sexism in publishing and readers? I've not had time to read the stories yet. I started on one but was overanalyzing everything with, "That seems like a robot choice. Doesn't it?"
It is more memorable than Elizabeth although I would assume it was a man. I really like her novels, especially the one about Laura Bush. Although RODHAM was also good. PREP made her name though.
Re PREP - like her protagonist, she is from the Midwest and went to prep school in Massachusetts.
"Gender Studies" is a story I bet Bill Crider and Phil would have enjoyed. A professor whose long-term boyfriend just dumped her and married his 23 year old grad student attends a weekend conference in Kansas City. Lots of clever observations, and even a couple of slams about Trump. (It was set in 2015, with a sort of epilogue two years later.)
I thought the computer story was kind of generic, but 17 seconds? Scary.
ReplyDeleteGeneral question: if your name was Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld, would you call yourself "Curtis"? Seems odd to me. Anyway, I downloaded her 2018 collection of stories from the library.
ReplyDeleteThe Curtis name always throws me. Maybe a child name that stuck? Or, avoiding sexism in publishing and readers? I've not had time to read the stories yet. I started on one but was overanalyzing everything with, "That seems like a robot choice. Doesn't it?"
ReplyDeleteIt is more memorable than Elizabeth although I would assume it was a man. I really like her novels, especially the one about Laura Bush. Although RODHAM was also good. PREP made her name though.
ReplyDeleteI read the first story in her collection and enjoyed it quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteShe is definitely a very good writer. Her current novel ROMANTIC COMEDY got great reviews,
ReplyDeleteRe PREP - like her protagonist, she is from the Midwest and went to prep school in Massachusetts.
ReplyDelete"Gender Studies" is a story I bet Bill Crider and Phil would have enjoyed. A professor whose long-term boyfriend just dumped her and married his 23 year old grad student attends a weekend conference in Kansas City. Lots of clever observations, and even a couple of slams about Trump. (It was set in 2015, with a sort of epilogue two years later.)
I have to learn out to download from my library to my kindle.
ReplyDelete