Sex of the Midwest: A Novel in Stories

by Robyn Ryle

Comparisons to OLIVE KITTERIDGE are inevitable, but the tone and expansiveness of this novel-in-stories hark back to Spoon River Anthology (if not Chaucer). Thoroughly an astute portrait of contemporary small-town America that's genuinely fun to read.- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"I've not been this undone and awed by a short story collection since THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES by Deesha Philyaw. Robyn Ryle proves that narrative fearlessness, ambition and radical play reach their highest resonance when foundationed on an ungodly talent and stunning skill. It's impossible to say what's more soul-snatching the premises or the writing. It's hard to deliver on what feels like an impossible book to imagine. It's harder to make the writing of that impossible book seem easy, or even inevitable. Robyn Ryle does both. The short story and literary sex are somewhere sweating and smiling, so thankful that they are alive, and in union, again."-Kiese Laymon, author of HEAVY, AN AMERICAN MEMOIR

"Ah, the Midwest, home of flatness and reticence. Like the people of Winesburg, Ohio, the residents of Lanier, Indiana, harbor their hopes and fears privately, afraid no one else will understand. Robyn Ryle knows her small town inside and out, celebrating the strange and mundane equally. SEX OF THE MIDWEST isn’t about sex so much as love and loneliness, and, ultimately, belonging.’"- Stewart O’Nan, author of EMILY, ALONE

"Set during post-Covid societal reentry, SEX OF THE MIDWEST is proof of the multitudes people quirks, fetishes, gripes, and great depth. With humor and moments of grace, Robyn Ryle depicts young love, new old love, the passage of time, and our remarkable human ability to learn and change. I don’t know if Lanier, Indiana is a real place or not, but these delightful linked stories sure makes it feel real."- Daphne Kalotay, author of Grace Paley prize-winning THE ARCHIVISTS

One foggy morning, an email appears in inboxes across the small town of Lanier, Indiana. “Invitation to Sexual Practices in a Small Midwestern Town,” the subject line reads. A link leads to an extensive survey. Street by street and resident by resident–from the basketball coach in retirement with a bad lung, to the bartender finding her way to writing, to the health department worker with a vendetta against the hot-dog vendor–the email opens up the secret (and not so secret) lives of one community, and reveals the surprising complexity of love, friendship, and belonging in our post-Covid times.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Contemporary

220 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2025

About the author

Robyn Ryle is a writer who also teaches sociology and gender studies at a small liberal arts college in Indiana. Her young adult novel, FAIR GAME, about a girls' basketball team that challenges the boys to a high stakes game, putting their season, their futures and three cherished friendships on the line, is available for pre-order now.

She's also the author of three nonfiction books. THROW LIKE A GIRL, CHEER LIKE A BOY: THE EVOLUTION OF GENDER, IDENTITY, AND RACE IN SPORTS will be available in paperback in August 2023. SHE/HE/THEY/ME: AN INTERACTIVE GUIDE TO THE GENDER BINARY is a 2020 ALA Stonewall Book Award Honoree. She's also written a sociology of gender textbook, QUESTIONING GENDER: A SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLORATION, available in its 5th edition in October 2023.

She has essays and stories at Newsweek, Gawker, CALYX Journal, Tin House and Belt Magazine, among others. You can find her on Twitter, @RobynRyle and IG, @robynrryle.

Reviews

[Kate Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another addition to the recurring theme of my recent reads being, you never know how you are perceived and should give yourself the grace you give to others. When the residents of Lanier get a survey for a study focused on sexual life and practices in a small midwestern town, no one knows what to make of it. Some are curious, others affronted, but everyone is captivated. While the survey is the impetus for the story, the collection dives much deeper into each character and leaves you with a solid view of this town, a clearer view than any of its inhabitants will ever get. This book includes a food inspector who spends a lot of time and energy focused on shutting down a new hot dog vendor at the farmers market, a woman feeling lost who applies to a writing fellowship just to be able to stay in the Virgina Woolf room, and a 'new' doctor in town who unfortunately shares a name-but no relation- to the old doctor. I was thoroughly entertained and wish I could pop down to the Saloon and have a drink with some of these characters.

I recommend this to people who enjoy short story collections, small town gossip, figuring yourself out (or failing to), and frank discussions of taboo topics.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

[Jess Mcalister · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. Part of the fun for me is that I live in the town Lanier is based on, so I couldn’t help but laugh at all the little Easter eggs sprinkled throughout. But even if you don’t have that connection, you’ll love it.
It’s told as a collection of short stories, but everyone is connected just like in a real small town. If you like books that let you peek into other people’s lives, you’ll love this one.
I found myself in every character in some way and it’s nice in a post-Covid world to remember that we really are all connected.
Thanks to NetGalley and Galiot Press for an eARC of this book!

[Anna Marie Switzer]

I picked up this book of short stories at the library because I live in the Midwest and I loved the Secret Lives of Church Ladies. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t hit for me.

I think this is partially my fault. I read the majority of the book on my Monday travel day, but I finished the book today, on my travel day back home. This was a fatal mistake because pre-onsite Anna Marie is receptive to reading characters’ perceptions and insecurities, while post-onsite Anna Marie wants nothing to do with that. In fact, after three days of 11 hour work days and 5 hours of sleep each night, I can’t deal with anyone else’s thoughts. I don’t even want my own. So timing certainly plays a factor.

There were some delightful moments of literary short storiness — the kind of moments that captured my heart in middle school with stories like the Yellow Wallpaper — but the majority of the collection was just… there. The sex survey sent to small town is intended to be the central thread throughout the story, but despite the initial allure, it managed to be completely uninteresting by the end of the book. Like sure. People in the town of all ages thought about their own sex lives and other people’s briefly… but we never got anything meaningful beyond that. The survey didn’t actually uncover anything, nor did anyone uncover anything about the story.

Maybe I’m just drained and mad that my phone is dying and I forgot my charger. Or maybe it just wasn’t my favorite. Either way! Swipe for some pics of my onsite week and the friends I’ve made because of the Midwest.

[Gabrielle]

Don't let the title lead you astray- this is a quiet, character-driven novel and sex is not the main plot 😅 Mostly writing this review for my Goodreads friends so they don't judge me 😜

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! It was quirky and different with a subtle sense of humor.

[kenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

more about the email blast, less "i love my small town" vibes. although at least this small town seemed to be as forward thinking as Indiana can get.

I didn't get the meaning of the dancing at the restaurant. "you have to be there to see Joshua's dancing in between the dinner rushes. i can't describe the feeling of watching him dance." literally a busboy, and i hate to sound gen-z but that gave me the ick. maybe it's because I'm picturing applebees and that one coworker who won't stop following you around?? i would have liked this more if it was all of the people in this town reacting super scandalized to the email because that initial part was funny! the hot dog vendor with the washing women's hair fetish? funny!! but why are we romanticizing this? it would have been 10 times better for me if it was just ludicrous and obviously satire throughout.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished this, my exact words: “oh my god, that was beautiful. That was the best book I’ve read all year.”

[Kkraemer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone in town was invited to respond to an e-mail survey on their own sexual practices, and, in an odd way, it brought people together. Some were anxious that anyone (who?) would even ask about such things; others wondered what everyone's answers would be. Many refused to even look at the survey, while one person responded 12 times. Everyone, though, had a concern: would someone "innocent" stumble into this morass of questionable morals? would it single someone out? would someone learn about others' responses?

and, through this all, a series of wonderful pictures emerges, pictures of folks' inner thoughts and feelings, their questions and their bewilderment. This is a small town, and everyone seems, mostly, to leave everyone else to their own devices. Questions like these, though..

and woven through these pictures of the inner lives of people are hints about how to see the world, how to write, how to allow the passage of time to be a gift of deeper and deeper understanding.

What begins as a fairly trivial book turns out to be deep, satisfying, and certainly much more than a sex survey.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sense is that a lot of the lower reviews for this book are due to the disconnect between the title and the actual content of these interconnected short stories. I wish it had been called “Lanier,” as it’s actually about a group of people who live in the (fictional) small town of Lanier, Indiana and their struggles to find who they are in a post-pandemic world. Some of the characters will ruffle feathers, but I think that’s exactly the point. It felt like each (imperfect) character was on a journey to find their place and their people after the pandemic turned the whole world upside down. Liked it.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book where nothing happens and everything happens.

Found it because I love surveys, and the book's central thread is a small, Midwest town receiving a rather direct and pointed survey about their sexual habits. It's loosely based on a true story.

And yet, it's not. It's Real Life, as it can only be described. Messy, quaint, hungry, beautiful, full of yearning and regret and what might've been. This book is alive, in the best sense of the word. There is largely no plot but the characters' own lives.

[Katelyn Childs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book ended up being nothing like I expected it to be (i.e., not raunchy in the slightest lol) but it was still a good read. The internal monologues and “secret thoughts” of the characters were very real and I liked those a lot. I imagine if I was from the midwest it would resonate even more, but since there are a lot of similarities between “Midwestern nice” and southern hospitality, it was a fun read.

[Charles Fried · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this, though it is not the kind of thing I usually read. it has a bit of Prairie Home Companion vibe, but in a good way. The author is clearly very observant of people and likes them (I am more in love with cats) and gives the folks in these stories sympathetic treatment.

[Kaitlyn Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

it had some really beautiful parts! but generally didn’t really feel like the author totally knows her voice yet. or if she does know it, it gets lost at times. it felt like there was soooo much depth to explore in sexuality here, but the book was shallow and didn’t scratch the surface of sex.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Robyn captures Indiana in the best way, and I was all in for the journey.

[Chloe Kent · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wut????

[Ronalee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories that all involve living in a post Covid small town. Reminiscent of Olive Kitterage.

[Rebecca W · Rating 4 out of 5]

This started out slowly, featuring characters who were unlikable or boring at best. There was basically no plot. But about halfway through, I felt the character portraits coalescing in a subtly humorous, deep, and honestly beautiful way. The author handled them with such tenderness and care. I walked away with a real appreciation and fondness for this quirky little Midwestern town.

[Staceyalgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is a bit of a misnomer. The book was not really about sex at all, but more about a collection of people in a small town in Indiana. The townspeople receive a survey on sex but no one knows where it came from and it's poorly explained.... The book focuses on the peoples lives and interactions.

[Samantha Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

This amazing novel of stories is raw, real and veiled in beautiful vulnerability. The characters and their experiences feel so relatable and loosely connected much like real life itself. At its heart, this novel is about knowing you are loved, especially for those of us still learning to believe it.

[Bea Croteau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small town gossip where everyone’s gossiping about themselves to you. (They’ve got a few things to say about their neighbors too.)

Enjoyable cast of characters that were satisfyingly interconnected.

First book I’ve read that actually discusses the pandemic, as this book is fundamentally a post-Covid story. Neat stuff.

[Bonny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sex of the Midwest completely won me over in a way I didn’t quite expect. Going in, I was intrigued by the premise, a mysterious town-wide sex survey arriving in inboxes, but what unfolds is something much richer and more nuanced than that hook suggests. This is very much a novel-in-stories, following a wide cast of residents in Lanier, Indiana, each chapter offering a glimpse into a different life, a different struggle, a different quiet longing. The connections between characters are subtle but satisfying, creating a layered portrait of a community that feels hopefully authentic and deeply human.

It’s been compared to Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, one of my all-time favorite books, and I’ll admit I was a little skeptical. That’s a high bar for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well this measured up. Like Strout’s work, Sex of the Midwest captures the small, often unspoken moments that define people’s lives, and it does so with empathy and insight rather than judgment.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is how attached I became to these characters. Nearly every story left me wishing for just a little more time with them. I was genuinely sad to see each chapter end, and by the final pages, I realized I’ll miss many of these people, like the man waiting for his lung transplant after having covid, the aspiring writer behind the bar, the quietly simmering bureaucrat, and so many others.

It’s also worth noting that the title is a bit of a misnomer. Despite the provocative setup, this book has surprisingly little to do with sex itself (aside from one particularly enthusiastic survey respondent). Instead, it’s about connection, isolation, identity, and the strange ways people try to understand themselves and each other, especially in a post-pandemic world.

Thoughtful, quietly funny, and deeply compassionate, Sex of the Midwest is a beautifully constructed mosaic of small-town life. If you enjoy interconnected stories and character-driven fiction, this is absolutely worth your time. Four and a half stars rounded up because I may read it again in a short while; it ended way too soon.

[Madalene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This style of book is one of my favorites: regular everyday life of a variety of characters. In this case, the thread tying all of them together is an emailed survey about sexual behaviors, and how it sparks discussion or suppression of discussion around town. But the survey is NOT actually relevant nor used in storytelling in the book.

This would be a great read for those who love, live or travel through small Midwestern towns. It was enjoyable throughout - with only one major blind spot. From the stories, you'd guess that there are very few people of color in the town and that race relations are fairly seamless and kind, and that acceptance of LGBTQIA+ is the central issue, and only for the very few who refuse to enter the 21st century. That seems incorrect, based on many studies showing perception of racial difference as a threat to be the central dividing political line. And it is a noticeable hole in the storytelling - but one that perhaps Midwestern-nice won't allow to be surfaced in what is supposed to be a fun book to read.

[Kym · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard about Sex of the Midwest by Robyn Ryle from a friend whose reading taste I trust, and whose opinions I value. She liked the book quite a lot, and she even mentioned it in the same breath as Olive Kitteridge, which is really saying something. And I’m glad I listened to her recommendation, because once I got going, I really liked Sex of the Midwest, too. (Although I’ll probably leave Olive Kitteridge out of it.)

If you enjoy interconnected stories featuring characters you’ll love . . . living anything-but-mundane lives . . . in post-Covid, small-town Southern Indiana, this charming (and really too-short) novel might be just the ticket for you. Great writing, complex characters, and a surprising lack of sex (given the title and all) mix together for a perfect little novel to get your thoughts off . . . well . . . life right now.

Highly recommended.

4 stars.

[Shana · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review***

Despite the title and the blurbs about this book, this isn't about the sexual practices of folks in a small Midwestern town. Yes, the book kicks off with the mysterious appearance of a survey sent to residents of said town, but apart from some questioning of where it came from, it plays a very small role. This novel read like a less corny, slightly modernized version of Fannie Flagg novels (excluding her most recent, which I also reviewed). It's small town cutesy and quaint with a layer of post-pandemic fog and the "scandalous" parts have to do with older people dating and the existence of a gay college-aged step-daughter. All in all, this was an easy read but not a particularly memorable one.

[Evelyn Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robin Ryle's description of the characters in her fictional Lanier were vivid, memorable, and often hilarious. This novel, in Elizabeth-Strout-style short stories, began as Ryle's love letter to her town and became a window into many. The way people live side by side, tolerate each others' quirks, gossip at the speed of light, and find their way with support they did not see coming. Don't let the title mislead or dissuade you. The sex refers to a survey on sex that opens the novel and appears from time to time, but does not feature prominently. It seemed to be Ryle's way in to her stories. I get the allure of the title from a marketing perspective, but as a marketer think it probably misleads people. Her stories were like a great exhale for me, like a warm blanket on a cold night.

[Elijah Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, LOVE this book. First of all, the concept of a novel told through interconnected short stories is one that this anthology-loving book nerd is quite enamored with. Second, Lanier feels exceptionally familiar to me. Robyn Ryle did a wonderful job of portraying a small town in the Modern Midwest. Sometimes it felt like I had actually walked on the streets of Lanier as if they were my own hometown. Finally, no matter where you’re from or how big it is you will find the spirit of community in this book familiar. Big or small, landlocked or coastal, everyone experiences community in their cities and neighborhoods and Robyn 100% captures what that’s like.

[Stephanie Hellmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some quirky characters, some messy ones, and lots of heart are what you'll find in the small Indiana town of Lanier. This short story cycle takes us into the lives of aspiring board members, young people who love this place but don't necessarily want to live here, and the dear friends who make the place work, with an anonymous sex survey tying them all together. Very often funny, and sometimes thought provoking, you won't be disappointed with your visit to the Midwest.

[Patricia Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book published by Galiot Press (https://www.galiotpress.com/) that I've read and it's a witty, engrossing and laugh-out-loud-funny read. I'm not usually big on novels in stories but this one weaves the characters in this small Indiana town together beautifully. Ryle's characters are deftly drawn and I found myself rereading descriptions and conversations just because they were so damn good. Highly recommend!

[Jennifer Zingaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had a magical, complex simplicity. It perfectly captured a small town cast of characters with their intertwined, messy lives and the nuances of knitting social lives back together post-Covid. Bonus points for how many times I laughed out loud, pausing to reread lines that just rang out as so true, especially Don’s self-importance and hypocrisy, and Nancy’s ever-changing memory of her dip into the Black Sea. The slipperiness of time. Loved.

[NancyG · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 This is a cozy, fast read about the folks in a small Indiana town reminiscent of Fannie Flagg’s books but, IMO, not as nearly as memorable. Despite the title, there is little focus on the mysterious sexual practice survey all of the residents received but rather glimpses into some of the quirky characters and relationships in small town Lanier.