The Typing Lady: And Other Fictions

by Ruth Ozeki

A spellbinding story collection from Booker Prize finalist Ruth Ozeki, about the lives we almost lived, the people we can’t quite forget, and the stories that shape us long after the last page is turned.

In this spirited and emotionally resonant collection, award-winning novelist Ruth Ozeki turns her singular gaze to the short story, exploring childhood ambition, youthful desire, midlife reinvention, and the unsparing clarity of old age. With her distinctive blend of wit, warmth, and deep humanity, she brings us twelve richly imagined stories of characters standing at life’s thresholds—grappling with faded ideals, evolving identities, and the inevitable compromises that shape a life.

A college student falls for her professor and learns to transmute longing into language. A disquieted husband watches with tenderness and unease as the ghost of his wife’s ambition roams the woods outside their home. A long-deceased Beat poet hijacks the mind of a young publishing assistant during a sales meeting, railing against the state of modern literature. A curious grandmother creates a fake online dating profile to spy on her granddaughter’s romantic life—and sets in motion a deception she can’t control.

Spanning eras and geographies—from a New England college town in the 1970s to downtown Manhattan in the 1990s to a moss-covered Pacific Northwest island during the early pandemic—The Typing Lady is an electrifying meditation on the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we abandon, and the stories we become. Threaded with the tactile ephemera of writing—typewriters, letters, manuscripts, and disappearing ink—the book reveals how we record ourselves in language, and how language, over time, records us in return.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Short Story Collection, Adult Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 2, 2026

About the author

Ruth Ozeki (born in New Haven, Connecticut) is a Japanese American novelist. She is the daughter of anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury.

Ozeki published her debut novel, My Year of Meats, in 1998. She followed up with All Over Creation in 2003. Her new novel, A Tale for the Time Being, was published on March 12, 2013.

She is married to Canadian land artist Oliver Kellhammer, and the couple divides their time between New York City and Vancouver.

Reviews

[Rachael | ☾ whimsicalfiction ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruth Ozeki is pure literary magic. There’s no other author that could entice me to read an entire book of litfic contemporary short stories and yet she had me glued to my kindle until the wee hours of the morning. The way she switches up her writing style and narration based on each character and each story is nothing short of masterful. Each story highlighted the power of language, of literature, of connection and of the self and I’m as always in awe of Ozeki’s creativity.

[Resh (The Book Satchel)]

a mixed bag for me. i loved ruth ozeki's writing (made me think 'i MISS good writing as this'). i enjoyed the fact that the stories were set in new england and had compelling characters. while i enjoyed some stories, some were a miss for me. i think i kind of liked the typewriter and writer making an appearance in different stories (yep! justice to the title), but also i am kind of unsure why. overall, i expected to love it so much more, because i love the way ozeki writes, and this was alright.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC. All opinions are my own
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[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of ARC provided by NetGalley.

This was my introduction to Ozeki's writing and I am equally ecstatic to have the opportunity to dive farther into her other works, and utterly disappointed I've existed so long without the pleasure of reading her writing.
While I don't normally enjoy short stories, the premise of this book caught my attention and I'm so glad it did. This collection is incredible. Every story felt so intimate and I found there were aspects in every story, some small some big, that I connected to very personally. There were moments throughout my days and nights I would find myself reflecting on any given story.
Ozeki is a truly talented writer that took me to many corners of my mind during reading her tales— she made me yearn for the typewriter I found in my parents basement as a young girl and have since lost to time. She had me thinking of my granny's old home that was completely devoured by the thick old growth ivy, where every window looked into the "dark bowels of the plants intestines" and how I used to love that darkness. Of growing up with young parents who were lost and good for little else than the empty dreams they concocted. Of the ways we lose people, traditions, our ambitions, our younger selves.
Every story was beautiful, and many inflicted me with a poignant sense of nostalgia. Many will stay with me.

As always, thank you NetGalley and Viking Penguin for providing this copy for my unbiased review.

[Abby Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Netgalley and Viking-Penguin for this digital ARC.
I usually do not like short-stories because by the time I am invested in the story, it's done. So I get frustrated. But Ruth Ozeki's prose is so easy and natural that I had to read the entire book. 4.5 stars because I need longer short stories LOL.

[Dima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typically, when I review short story collections, I go story by story, rating each individually before pulling them together into an overall view. It’s also worth noting that I have a very high bar for the form—I find short stories uniquely difficult to master, and many simply aren’t good enough.

With this particular collection—by an author whose two previous books I’ve read—I found myself affected by the work as a whole, even more than by the sum of its parts, which is unusual for me. The stories feel semi-autobiographical, with a protagonist who seems to be either the author herself or closely inspired by her. Together, they build into something quite profound about life and its fragility, while also celebrating it as something inherently magical.

All of the stories are strong, but some are genuinely outstanding. *The Problem of the Body*, *Feelings*, and *One Art* stand out as truly brilliant reflections on human nature and the fleeting but critical nature of happiness. As in her novels, the author has a knack for taking seemingly mundane situations and eliciting emotional responses that feel both genuine and deep.

These stories are beautiful, and taken together they also serve as an important reminder: to live in the moment, to get on with things, and to embrace life for everything it has to offer.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

[Cfabrication · Rating 5 out of 5]

A spectacular collection of stories. At first, they seemed to be to be unconnected, but after pondering, I realized they are all about love - connection and distance, caring and letting go. They are also about the act of writing and the connection writers make with their readers.

Many of them are set in surroundings that I find familiar: college towns in the northeast, New Haven, Boston. That fit right in with the themes of finding and forgetting. The poem that is both the opening epigraph and part of one of the stories, One Art by Elizabeth Bishop, frames the stories. It begins:

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Many of the stories have typewriters in them - not surprising, given the title of the collection - and the store in Cambridge that a character goes into to buy a typewriter was featured in a story in the Boston Globe. The owner tried to find someone to buy it when he retired, but was unable to.

This is the first thing I have read that talks about isolation during the COVID pandemic. It has felt sometimes as if that was a dream, so little of the impact seems to have persisted.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC of this book.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories felt quiet, thoughtful, and strangely comforting. Each story is connected by a typewriter, but beyond that they’re all completely different with different people, places, regrets, memories, and moments of change.

Ruth Ozeki’s writing is effortlessly immersive, even the smallest details feel meaningful. There’s a gentle, almost dreamlike quality to some of the stories that blurs the line between memory and magic in a really lovely way.

Not every story hit equally for me, but the strongest ones lingered long after I’d finished. Definitely a collection to savour slowly rather than rush through.

[Amy Capewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of short stories all with a single, linking commonality - a typewriter. Other than that the stories are all unrelated set in different places and featuring different characters.

I don’t often read short story collections as I tend to find that I connect strongly with some tales, whilst others miss the mark for me and that remains true of The Typing Lady an other stories. For example, I loved ‘The Anthropologists Kids’ and ‘The Leafblower’ but struggled to connect with ‘Deat Beat Poet’ and ‘Where Ambition Goes to Die’. But regardless of personal preference for the stories, the quality of the writing is clearly and undeniably excellent throughout - bringing to life to people, places and events. The stories feel genuine, not forced and shine a spotlight on various issues and life events.

The Typing Lady and Other Stories is a real treat of literary fiction that would work well for reading groups.

[Mod Rina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruth Ozeki knows how to craft discomfort and hope in equal measure. Across a variety of settings, Ozeki creates a full range of sympathetic and unsympathetic narrative voices, resulting in stories that are grounded yet a touch strange, gritty yet beautiful, dark yet hopeful.

First, I’m pleased to report that this collection goes above and beyond the promises of its blurb. No matter the setting, plot, or POV, these core themes hold fast: 1) the way stories and their retelling shape reality & memory; 2) alienation and distance in relationships; and 3) the loss and return of desire or ambition. The latter two themes also struck me as very gendered. I think Ozeki achieves this metatextually by using mostly women’s or girls’ POVs and focusing on specific experiences—anxiety, ennui, discomfort, marriage fractures, longing for more in life—that lead the reader to connect the dots between character relationships. It’s clever in its subtlety, and it resonates.

One secondary theme that also stands out in a handful of stories is the quiet devastation of human-environment interactions (‘Leafblower,’ ‘Immortal,’ ‘The Death of the Last White Male’). Typewriters are also a recurring image. I wouldn’t call it a motif—the typewriters don’t represent the same thing in each of the stories, and sometimes they don’t represent anything. I’d describe it more as a signature or stamp that marks each of the stories as part of this collection. I found it charming!

Ozeki commands a masterful range of narrative voices, not only in the prose style but in character POV and interiority. I appreciated her ability to put her narrators anywhere on the moral spectrum, across stories and even within the same story. “The Anthropologist’s Kid” and “Feelings,” both stories of children inheriting adult ideologies of cruelty, are skillful examples of that.

Ozeki also places a lot of trust in her audience. I wish this could go without saying, especially in literary fiction, but in an age of readers decrying “unlikable” characters and authors writing defensively by explaining every moral and message…this book was a welcome reprieve. For example, Ozeki trusts the reader to contextualize the questionable actions of otherwise sympathetic narrators. The narrator’s catfishing in “The Problem of the Body” is used with intention as a symptom of her emptiness & fixation with youth. The protagonist’s initial xenophobia & whorephobia in “Ships in the Night” is something she begins to grow out of by the end of the story by making human connections with her neighbors, even if she never explicitly acknowledges the harm of her past judgments.

Ozeki also trusts that her commentary is clear without needing to be didactic. In “Leafblower,” the protagonist habitually asks an AI questions about environmental pollution and never realizes nor acknowledges her hypocrisy by the end of the story. But the reader clearly sees the irony through the repetition and immediate juxtaposition.

Some final sentences and paragraphs felt abrupt to me, but in every story, a clear sense of resolution forms by around the last 20%, so this is a minor gripe. More importantly, the collection struck a great balance between dark & hopeful tones. I would describe several of the stories as haunting: “The Anthropologist’s Kid” and “Ships in the Night” in particular stuck with me while my mind churned the complex, at times uncomfortable dynamics. Other stories I’d describe as healing: “Leafblower” and “One Art” left me feeling warm and sad at the same time, sentimental about the precious fragility of human relationships. In this way, the stories break you down and build you up, over and over.

In short, an incredibly rewarding reading experience. I will absolutely be moving on to Ruth Ozeki’s long-form works and would love to read more short stories from her in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Penguin for the eARC.

[Dorothee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s been over a decade since I read A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki which I absolutely loved and I was excited to read this collection of short stories. Her prose continue to impress and are the best part of her collection. Her love of language and her quiet observations of the world were wonderful to dive into again.

Short story collections as a whole I find hard to review as rarely do I love them all consistently. This collection is tied by reflections on language/words, memory, human connections, mixing of cultural backgrounds, and, as the title implies, a slew of typewriters.

I found this collection to have gotten stronger as it went on, with later stories feeling more complete and, seemingly, more directly tied to the author herself. The earlier ones often felt interesting but either not fully explored, or more convoluted in what they were trying to onvey. One story I was really enjoying until the last few paragraphs of the main characters reflection that surprisingly upset me – more so as it felt more like a reflection of the author than the character. This is a personal reaction though and the writing was excellent. I enjoyed that Ozeki has not lost her ability to draw on very flawed and possibly not likeable characters and to dig deep into what truly is human and what connects us.

My favorites in the collection were “Feelings” and “The Problem of the Body”, both of which I feel reflected what I’d loved in her novel: flawed characters, the connections and distances between people, and meandering thoughts that come back to a poignant present.

I would recommend this to anyone whole loves good writing and reflections on the human condition even if I could not connect to all of the stories there are still great moments in all of them./

Thank you to Ruth Ozeki, Viking Penguin, and Netgalley for this e-ARC. All the above are my honest thoughts and opinions.

[Swai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew that Ruth Ozeki, expert in the novel form, could be so satisfying as a writer of short stories? Typically, I prefer longer form fiction because I don't like the feeling of always having to get acquainted with a new narrative and new characters. But in this case, I faced each story with a sense of relish, and once I realized that there is a motif linking them, I felt like someone on a treasure hunt.

I don't think it is a spoiler to say that this central motif is the typewriter, and the centrality of this deeply nostalgic writing device speaks to the collection's more general approach to old and new technologies. Rotary phones are sensuous and tactile; typewriter, meanwhile, give writing duration and heft. As someone who often feels demoralized about the effects of AI on writing, thought, and attention, this collection really hit the spot.

Ozeki's approach to technology has a lot to do with the stories' overriding sense of nostalgia, but this is also a collection that clearly announces the writer's own meditative relation to aging. Many of the characters are quasi-autobiographical. Most stories involve interactions between the very young and the very old. Even the stories taking place in the present have almost a sepia tone to them. I think this is because the atmospheric effect that Ozeki creates is designed to impress upon the reader their own mortality -- their own status of subjects of time. I don't own a typewriter, but I can imagine that writing on one might have a similar effect of inducing thought through the experience of slowness.

In short, I really loved this collection. It draws on such a wide array of fictional plotlines and characters to serve as a very personal form of reflection and recollection. The writing style feels a lot more true than some of Ozeki's novels -- and I say this as a very big fan of said novels!

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: The Typing Lady: And Other Fictions by Ruth Ozeki

This is a thoughtful and quietly inventive short story collection that explores identity, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves about our lives. Each piece centers on moments of change or disconnection, sometimes with a subtle surreal or metafictional edge that adds an interesting layer without overpowering the narrative.

The prose is the clear standout. It’s precise, reflective, and often quietly beautiful, with moments that feel genuinely insightful. You can see the level of craft in how these stories are built, and there’s a consistent intentionality throughout. At the same time, I found myself appreciating the writing more than fully connecting with it. I wasn’t always pulled into the stories in a way that made them feel immersive, and a few ended just as they seemed like they might really land.

As a collection, it does have that typical short story rhythm where you’re constantly resetting, which made it harder for me to build momentum or emotional investment. Some stories hit with more weight than others, but overall it felt slightly more cerebral than emotionally impactful for me. That said, the consistency in voice and theme helps it feel cohesive despite the range of perspectives.

I can understand why this is getting such strong reviews, especially for its ideas and execution. For me, it lands somewhere in between admiration and engagement. I think this is one where the audiobook might have added a bit more depth and continuity, but even on the page, the quality of the writing stands out.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruth Ozeki’s super power is transporting us to completely new worlds in 10 pages or less, captivating us with thought-provoking philosophical questions and characters that draw you in. In this book of short stories, we see the vastness of Ozeki’s creativity and the power of her writing style. She writes on topics ranging from mother-daughter relationships, childhood memories, imaginary poet friends, and the personification of ambition. Her characters are brilliant, are naive, are hopeful, curious, ambitious, grieving, each from vastly different backgrounds. We dwell on the beauty of the mundane, glorify nature and its creatures, question the veracity of our memories, and feel nostalgic about the previous decades. In all these stories, Ozeki expertly threads through a love of storytelling, linguistics, and old typewriters.
Personally, my favorite stories were The Anthropologist’s Kid, Leafblower, and The Problem of the Body. No matter the pacing of the story, I was entranced by the nuanced story structure and deeply introspective writing style. Her stories beg for personal reflection: When we read of the wide range of human experiences, where do we see ourselves in these chapters? What is our capacity of feeling and thoughtfulness towards these very vivid yet realistic fiction stories?
Ozeki’s collection of stories is an incredible, incredible piece of work and showcase an undying love for literature and humanity. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

[MundiNova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Ozeki is like drinking water. Her writing goes down smooth, and you didn't realize you were so thirsty for it.

There's no friction or difficulty reading these short stories. They appear directly in your head, transmitting their obvious truths. I don't know why I'm surprised by how fluid the writing is, since I've already read A Tale for the Time Being and The Book of Form and Emptiness. Ozeki has this magical way with language. The reader is instantly at home in whatever world she's created. She could write a short story about someone creating a shopping list, going to the grocery store, buying those items, then coming home and putting them away. I'd love that story! I'd read that story twice.

This specific collection was very well done. There's the recurring appearance of a typewriter in most stories. And even though the stories had a similar tone, the protagonists and conflicts were all different. I was never bored or felt like I'd already read this story before.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Theme: 4 stars
Writing: 5 stars

[Cheer is Currently Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE TYPING LADY
RATING: 3.5
GENRE: Literary fiction, short stories

Ruth Ozeki returns with a short story collection where each character encounters a form of writing or a typewriter in order to communicate and express their thoughts and desires. The collection borders on metafiction, especially the opening Author’s Note, the titular ‘The Typing Lady’, as the narrator encounters an a fellow writer in a library that has similar stature as herself.

The stories explore the various facets of human desire and emotions as our narrators try to figure out their place in the world. One particular story that stood out to me, ‘One Art’ describes the relationship between a student and visiting professor and how desire transcends physicality. The relationship between Professor L and the narrator shows that intimacy can be showed through an emotional level and does not require physical acts. As time goes on, the narrator reflects on L’s age and when she met her as a young woman. She is no longer seen as just an older conquest but a human who has wishes and desires.

I enjoyed the collection - some stories were better than others but I thought that they were all reflective and the tie-in with the typewriters was a great tool for storytelling. Thank you to Netgalley and Viking Penguin for an ARC of this book and I look forward to release on 6/2/26.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Ruth Ozeki, so I was pleased to receive an advance review copy of The 'Typing Lady and Other Fictions' from NetGalley.  This collection of short stories explores themes such as age-related illness, employment, medical conditions, relationships, loss, identity, grief, decisions, and the small everyday moments that shape our lives.

The stories are unrelated, although most share a common element that becomes clear as you read.  I don’t usually choose short story collections, but having enjoyed Ruth Ozeki’s novels, I was keen to give this one a try. The stories vary in length, and, overall, I enjoyed most of these thoughtful and often thought-provoking pieces. They feel intimate and reflective, with moments of gentle humour.  Some of the stories, however, didn't work for me.

A few of the stories that particularly stood out to me were The Anthropologist’s Kid, The Leafblower, and Feelings. On the whole, the quality of the collection feels consistent, and I never had the sense that the stories felt unfinished.  I would recommend this collection, particularly to readers who enjoy reflective, character-driven, short fiction.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruth Ozeki writes beautifully, and this collection of short stories is just delightful. I read them over a couple of weeks, and each one stayed with me over time. I love the theme of typewriters that threads the stories together, and I find myself nostalgic for all the different ways such machines played a part in my life.

Many of the stories take place in a time when typewriters were the norm, so they are period pieces that explore timeless themes of a myriad of relationships. The modern use of analog technology in some of the stories mirrors the trend of moving offline and embracing a slower lifestyle.

I am forever amazed when an author writes a short story that feels like it could be a novel. Ruth Ozeki excels at this and accomplishes this with almost each one in this collection. I always look forward to more work from Ruth and I absolutely love The Typing Lady! Fans of the author and short story lovers are sure to enjoy this one.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader 2.0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readers of Ruth Ozeki know her gift of putting you full-on into her stories within the first line of the first paragraph. So, imagine a book of short stories where she does that repeatedly, at the start of every story. That would be the Typing Lady. The stories are connected by the appearance of a typewriter or writing implements somewhere in the tale. Sometimes it's passing, sometimes integral, but never dull.

We all know that each reader has a different reading style. This Greedy Reader's is generally to tear into a book and gulp, which is why short story collections are not my usual reading choice. The Typing Lady requires attention and thought as Ozeki spirits us from New England college campuses to downtown Manhattan to remote Northwest islands and across the decades. These stories are a treat. But I'm still hungering for her next big novel.

Many thanks to Viking and NetGalley for a digital review copy of The Typing Lady in exchange for my honest review. 4.5 stars rounded up.

[Jen Burrows · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed Ozeki's work in the past, so I was a little disappointed that this collection of short stories left me oddly flat.

My main issue is the voice. Every story is told in the first person, but the narrators all sound remarkably similar. After a few pieces, it started to feel less like a range of distinct characters and more like variations on the same speaker. The recurring motifs don't help with that sense of repetition; instead of deepening the themes, it felt more like the book was underlining itself, again and again.

I feel like I might have enjoyed some of these stories more if I'd encountered them individually; read back-to-back, they blur into one another. There are still flashes of what I love about Ozeki - those odd, luminous details, the philosophical undercurrent - but those moments are scattered rather than sustained.

The Typing Lady has a few striking moments, but not enough definition to make the whole feel memorable.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Ruth Ozeki for so many years, and I wish I lived in a universe where that wasn't true just so I could have experienced this collection not yet knowing how intricate, delicate, and wild it would be. Ozeki is known now for her tendency toward meta fiction, and this collection jumps in and out of structure and narrative device with all the ease and skill we have come to expect. (She's a titan of literary fiction for a reason.) The title story sets the stage for readers new to her style, and stories like "Ships in the Night" and "Leafblower" are so well crafted I will be rereading them for years.

Ozeki really shines when she's sharing secrets with her readers. Her characters are flawed and struggling to find redemption and understanding—often for their younger selves. Combine that with her effortlessly playful language and reading her work is an absolute joy.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Ruth Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruth Ozeki is an absolute treasure, but we knew that long before this short story collection.

I loved 'The Typing Lady.' It's filled with what you would expect from Ozeki's writing: at times a wry, meta voice, scenes from the PNW, prose that feels effortless, fully-realized characters, and bright threads and throughlines stitched across the collection. But it somehow still finds ways to surprise and delight.

'The Typing Lady' shines when its stories have room to breathe and expand slowly across the pages. For me, standouts were 'Leafblower,' 'Ships in the Night,' and 'One Art.' I also enjoyed 'The Anthropologist's Kid,' 'Feelings,' and 'The Problem of the Body.' The shortest of these short fictions were my least favorite (eg. 'Immortal' and 'Dead Beat Poet'), but were still strong pieces with unique voices/premises.

I loved this nearly perfect collection. 4.5 stars, rounded up. Many thanks to Viking Penguin for the ARC via NetGalley!

[Rachel Leiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for an electronic ARC of this book. This is my first time reading anything by Ruth Ozeki, but it will not be my last. In the vein of Amy Bender and Etgar Keret, her stories are lyrical, sometimes a little fantastical, and always fully absorbing. I loved how they all connect through the theme of typewriters, and her stories bring to mind the Tom Hanks collection, Uncommon Type, but in a completely different style. These stories are very literary without feeling pretentious or like the author is showing off her literary bonafides. My favorite stories were "Leafblower", "Immortal" and "Dead Beat Poet". But all the stories are captivating, populated with intriguing and/or offbeat characters. I really enjoyed every story in this collection, and I would not hesitate to pick up another short story collection by this author.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished The Typing Lady by Ruth Ozeki and this one feels very “sit with it after you finish” kind of book.

It’s a collection of short stories, but not the fast, twisty kind. It’s more about people at different stages of life—figuring things out, looking back, dealing with what didn’t happen just as much as what did. Some stories hit harder than others, but a few really stuck with me.

It’s definitely more on the thoughtful, introspective side. Like… you’re not flying through it, you’re kind of taking your time and thinking about your own life a little too.

I did love how everything tied back to writing—typewriters, stories, memories—and how we kind of rewrite things in our heads over time.

Not gonna be for everyone if you want something super fast-paced, but if you like more emotional, reflective reads, it’s a good one.

I’d give it a solid 4 stars.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Viking for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published June 2, 2026.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. The title is what first interested me. Most of the 12 short stories have a typewriter in them but one has invisible ink and another has manuscripts, so the commonality is the stories we tell and how we document them.

The nice thing about short stories is if you don’t like it, it’s short. But on the flip side, you want the good ones to continue.
The collection of short stories were a mixed bag for me. My favorites were Immortal (about a person who eats plastic) and The Problem of the Body (where a grandmother creates a fake dating profile to better understand her granddaughter’s dating app).

[Diane Ferbrache · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Ruth Ozeki's writing. She never fails to create memorable characters and intriguing plotlines. This is a collection of (very) loosely connected short stories. Some are sweet or amusing, some are heartbreaking and serious. I admit that I'm not a big fan of short stories. I usually prefer longer forms of fiction, but these stories were all so well written I could not put this book down.

Every story features a typewriter in some relationship to the main character of the story. As with most collections, I liked some stories more than others, but over all this is a great collection.

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75
It's a nice little collection of short stories, although like with many of these collections, some end up being better than others. I loved that elements from one story reappeared in others, like the fact there's always a typewriter in each story; I like the academic setting in many stories. I don't really enjoy having poems inserted so often in so many stories, although that's just a personal preference.
I enjoyed this, in particular the one about the children of the two anthropology teachers; and the first one, the author's note about a "typing lady", who sounds like a doppelganger of Ozeki herself.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.

[C D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for an advance copy version of this book!

An unconventional novel, multiple short unconnected stories build the theme of typewriters…and life. The stories in the second half of the book were more engaging than the first half. The prose seemed more refined and remarkable and even when the story was heavy, it flowed significantly better than a couple of the stories at the beginning. I enjoyed the poetry scattered throughout. My final thoughts were good, worth a read, some of the first half could have been better.

[Marci Stern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth Ozeki is a fabulous writer, but this book of short stories fell pretty flat for me. Each one was beautifully-written - bordering on lyrical - but their overall effect on me was "sleepy," I also struggled with Ozeki's choice of first-person narration for most of the stories - it puts too much burden on the reader to try to distinguish the "I"'s between stories. The one bright spot for me was "Feelings," which was brilliant and -not surprisingly - written in the third person.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House/Viking for the ARC Kindle edition of this collection!

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I had mixed feelings about this book… the writing was phenomenal, and the stories really stayed with you. However, it took me a while to get into the style and most of the stories were kind of depressing in one way or another.

I think at least one of the short stories will resonate with almost every reader in one way or another.

I gave it 4 stars because even though it was not my cup of tea (for subject matter) the writing was excellent and compelling!

[Homerun2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

Short story collections are always difficult to review, and this collection is particularly random in theme, which made it enjoyable to read.

Every story is different, some more serious, but all with very unique characters and situations. She is a master of language and storytelling and choosing just the right words to convey what is happening. She never meanders too long but there is a lot of back story packed into her paragraphs.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.