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Objects of Desire: Stories
Eleven stories that lay bare the beauties and ironies of contemporary life--a debut of sly and disarming power that announces an extraordinary new literary voice.
A college freshman, flying home, strikes up an odd, ephemeral friendship with the couple next to her on the airplane. A long-lost stepbrother's visit to New York prompts a reckoning with a family's old taboos. An office worker, exhausted by the ambitions of the men around her, emerges into the gridlocked city one afternoon to make a decision. A wife, looking at her husband's passwords neatly posted on the wall, realizes there are no secrets left in their marriage.
In these stories, thrilling desire and melancholic yearning animate women's lives--from the brink of adulthood, to the labyrinthine path between twenty and thirty, to middle age, when certain possibilities quietly elapse. With powerful observation and mordant humor, Clare Sestanovich opens up a fictional world where intimate and uncomfortable truths lie hidden in plain sight. Objects of Desire is a book pulsing with subtle drama, rich with unforgettable scenes and alive with moments of recognition, each more startling than the last--a spellbinding, brilliant debut.
A college freshman, flying home, strikes up an odd, ephemeral friendship with the couple next to her on the airplane. A long-lost stepbrother's visit to New York prompts a reckoning with a family's old taboos. An office worker, exhausted by the ambitions of the men around her, emerges into the gridlocked city one afternoon to make a decision. A wife, looking at her husband's passwords neatly posted on the wall, realizes there are no secrets left in their marriage.
In these stories, thrilling desire and melancholic yearning animate women's lives--from the brink of adulthood, to the labyrinthine path between twenty and thirty, to middle age, when certain possibilities quietly elapse. With powerful observation and mordant humor, Clare Sestanovich opens up a fictional world where intimate and uncomfortable truths lie hidden in plain sight. Objects of Desire is a book pulsing with subtle drama, rich with unforgettable scenes and alive with moments of recognition, each more startling than the last--a spellbinding, brilliant debut.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published June 29, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews
April 2, 2022
managed to attain a level of slight less lazy than my resting state of extremely so and reviewed each of these stories!!!
as always each will be probably 2 sentences long and have little or nothing to do with the story in question.
STORY 1: ANNUNCIATION
kinda pointless, in many ways, but i liked the writing enough to ignore it.
if every story can say the same we're in business.
rating: 3.75
STORY 2: BY DESIGN
aging is scary to me but also i'm very unsympathetic about it.
rating: 3
STORY 3: TERMS OF AGREEMENT
that feeling when the protagonist is the least interesting person in the story and seems real bitter about it.
rating: 3
STORY 4: OBJECTS OF DESIRE
title story!!!!!!!!!!
longtimesufferers fans know i put an insane amount of weight on every title story just to disappoint myself. play the hits, clare sestanovich! show us why this is the best story that should be the most well known!
in fact it was my least favorite so far.
rating: 2.5
STORY 5: OLD HOPE
and this was good! what a rollercoaster we're living here, folks. ups and downs, nausea and...whatever the good part of rollercoasters is supposed to be?
never really got the appeal.
rating: 4
STORY 6: SECURITY QUESTIONS
snooze again.
rating: 2
STORY 7: MAKE BELIEVE
i feel like no matter how much of this i read i am making no progress.
seems mean to say that this author is only capable of writing interesting characters in the background, but also that do be how it appears.
rating: 3
STORY 8: WANTS AND NEEDS
just forcin' this down like medicine right now.
letting myself watch 3-5 tiktoks between stories is my mary poppins equivalent. a spoonful of sugar, i guess i should say.
these aren't even that bad. i'm just in a reading slump sent by the devil himself.
rating: 2.5
STORY 9: BRENDA
betting now on the idea that brenda is not going to be interesting enough to have a story named after her.
i'd be rich if you could place bets on literary opinions.
rating: 3
STORY 10: NOW YOU KNOW
soooo many lit fic situations want to say "you're dying" / "we're all dying." what a goddamn snooze.
rating: 2
STORY 11: SEPARATION
it's a bummer to know all of these are just going to blend together.
rating: 2.5
OVERALL
see above!
rating: 2.5
----------------
tbr review
i saw this mentioned as the same sentence as sally rooney once, which is apparently enough for me to read anything
as always each will be probably 2 sentences long and have little or nothing to do with the story in question.
STORY 1: ANNUNCIATION
kinda pointless, in many ways, but i liked the writing enough to ignore it.
if every story can say the same we're in business.
rating: 3.75
STORY 2: BY DESIGN
aging is scary to me but also i'm very unsympathetic about it.
rating: 3
STORY 3: TERMS OF AGREEMENT
that feeling when the protagonist is the least interesting person in the story and seems real bitter about it.
rating: 3
STORY 4: OBJECTS OF DESIRE
title story!!!!!!!!!!
longtime
in fact it was my least favorite so far.
rating: 2.5
STORY 5: OLD HOPE
and this was good! what a rollercoaster we're living here, folks. ups and downs, nausea and...whatever the good part of rollercoasters is supposed to be?
never really got the appeal.
rating: 4
STORY 6: SECURITY QUESTIONS
snooze again.
rating: 2
STORY 7: MAKE BELIEVE
i feel like no matter how much of this i read i am making no progress.
seems mean to say that this author is only capable of writing interesting characters in the background, but also that do be how it appears.
rating: 3
STORY 8: WANTS AND NEEDS
just forcin' this down like medicine right now.
letting myself watch 3-5 tiktoks between stories is my mary poppins equivalent. a spoonful of sugar, i guess i should say.
these aren't even that bad. i'm just in a reading slump sent by the devil himself.
rating: 2.5
STORY 9: BRENDA
betting now on the idea that brenda is not going to be interesting enough to have a story named after her.
i'd be rich if you could place bets on literary opinions.
rating: 3
STORY 10: NOW YOU KNOW
soooo many lit fic situations want to say "you're dying" / "we're all dying." what a goddamn snooze.
rating: 2
STORY 11: SEPARATION
it's a bummer to know all of these are just going to blend together.
rating: 2.5
OVERALL
see above!
rating: 2.5
----------------
tbr review
i saw this mentioned as the same sentence as sally rooney once, which is apparently enough for me to read anything
August 10, 2021
I think I just can’t read this type of book anymore. When I was in graduate school, working on a dissertation about NYC-themed and based magazines, a friend of mine once expostulated over drinks about how popular culture fetishized the city and ignored the rest of the country. As a Jersey girl, I thought this metropolitan magnetism only natural, so I didn’t say anything. After years of living in a red state, I feel differently reading this collection about the glamorous yet empty lives of people who live in New York or California. Poor them.
Part of the problem with this collection for me is the problem of class. Sestanovich writes about creative artists and recent college grads hanging on the edges of unfathomable wealth and narcissism. I suspect she is writing about what she knows. But in this time when the planet is on fire (she does allude to fires in California once!) and political divides open up into an abyss, it’s hard for me to care about these sharply observed scenes of self-deception from privileged white people who just want to feel fulfilled and yet don’t. I can’t stomach the idea that this tiny and pampered world is the chief subject worthy of literary fiction.
Sestanovich also has this tendency to reach for the subtly ironic and unexpected aphorism, which feels very New Yorker-esque to me, which in spite of my great respect for many of its writers, I do not intend as a compliment in this context. Her anatomical and sexual precision seems intended to telegraph her candor and truth-telling, the off-putting detail about scrotum or eczema a sign of her unshrinking authorial eye. Her cold narratorial perspective seems less revealing than it does rigid, a formula for would-be high-brow fiction.
The title of the collection is well-chosen because the one aspect of the book that I did find compelling is Sestanovich’s recognition that substitution becomes a strategy for managing desire and lost loves. She often writes about characters who pursue one person because they are obsessed with another. This can also extend to the object world or emotional needs: a woman who comes obsessed with a celebrity after a break up, a night nanny who longs for nurture, a sister of a suicidal brother who develops a crush on her stepbrother. This characterization device seems to me true to people’s emotional lives and to the often undiscriminating ravenousness of desire.
Sestanovich’s collection does exactly, even superbly, what this ilk of New Yorker fiction is meant to do, but I don’t think I can bear it anymore. I’d rather read stranger fiction about more pressing needs (like Fragoza’s *Eat the Mouth that Feeds You*). I think I’m as tired of psychological realism about rich white people (or intellectual/creative white people who both envy and despise the rich) as these characters are of their lives.
Part of the problem with this collection for me is the problem of class. Sestanovich writes about creative artists and recent college grads hanging on the edges of unfathomable wealth and narcissism. I suspect she is writing about what she knows. But in this time when the planet is on fire (she does allude to fires in California once!) and political divides open up into an abyss, it’s hard for me to care about these sharply observed scenes of self-deception from privileged white people who just want to feel fulfilled and yet don’t. I can’t stomach the idea that this tiny and pampered world is the chief subject worthy of literary fiction.
Sestanovich also has this tendency to reach for the subtly ironic and unexpected aphorism, which feels very New Yorker-esque to me, which in spite of my great respect for many of its writers, I do not intend as a compliment in this context. Her anatomical and sexual precision seems intended to telegraph her candor and truth-telling, the off-putting detail about scrotum or eczema a sign of her unshrinking authorial eye. Her cold narratorial perspective seems less revealing than it does rigid, a formula for would-be high-brow fiction.
The title of the collection is well-chosen because the one aspect of the book that I did find compelling is Sestanovich’s recognition that substitution becomes a strategy for managing desire and lost loves. She often writes about characters who pursue one person because they are obsessed with another. This can also extend to the object world or emotional needs: a woman who comes obsessed with a celebrity after a break up, a night nanny who longs for nurture, a sister of a suicidal brother who develops a crush on her stepbrother. This characterization device seems to me true to people’s emotional lives and to the often undiscriminating ravenousness of desire.
Sestanovich’s collection does exactly, even superbly, what this ilk of New Yorker fiction is meant to do, but I don’t think I can bear it anymore. I’d rather read stranger fiction about more pressing needs (like Fragoza’s *Eat the Mouth that Feeds You*). I think I’m as tired of psychological realism about rich white people (or intellectual/creative white people who both envy and despise the rich) as these characters are of their lives.
June 14, 2021
2.5 rounded up
I'd spotted this on early lists of books to look forward to in 2021 in various places online, so was really looking forward to giving it a go.
It's always tricky to review a collection of short stories when you really enjoyed the first and last stories (By Design and Separation) which include some great lines but felt pretty ambivalent about all the ones in between. Then how best to describe Clare Sestanovich's debut? Her writing focuses on the interior worlds of women: principally women's desire and personal relationships. I finished a fair few of the stories wondering if I'd truly 'got' them, and while they all have something to say on the themes I've mentioned they definitely don't all conclude in a clear or satisfactory manner - perhaps I just like my short stories to be a bit more clear-cut and traditionally written than these were.
Thank you Netgalley and Pan Macmillan / Picador for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
I'd spotted this on early lists of books to look forward to in 2021 in various places online, so was really looking forward to giving it a go.
It's always tricky to review a collection of short stories when you really enjoyed the first and last stories (By Design and Separation) which include some great lines but felt pretty ambivalent about all the ones in between. Then how best to describe Clare Sestanovich's debut? Her writing focuses on the interior worlds of women: principally women's desire and personal relationships. I finished a fair few of the stories wondering if I'd truly 'got' them, and while they all have something to say on the themes I've mentioned they definitely don't all conclude in a clear or satisfactory manner - perhaps I just like my short stories to be a bit more clear-cut and traditionally written than these were.
Thank you Netgalley and Pan Macmillan / Picador for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
July 21, 2021
Objects of Desire is a debut collection of eleven stories that lay bare the beauties and ironies of contemporary life — stories laced with sly and disarming power that announce an extraordinary new literary voice to the landscape. In these pithy stories, Sestanovich takes seemingly innocuous quotidian moments and pulls out satisfying human drama. Often anything goes in a short story anthology allowing the author more freedom to bounce around between completely different stories, or alternatively, they may choose to set a theme that connects each of the tales they tell, but one thing is for certain, crafting a collection that hits the mark can often have more impact than a full-length novel because, as they say, variety is the spice of life.
In the series opener, Annunciation, college freshman Iris is flying home and strikes up an odd, ephemeral friendship with the older married couple seated next to her on the aeroplane; she also questions the bizarre nature of the lives she is surrounded by, which then gives way to the rest of her life. Successor graphic designer and founder of her own prominent firm, Suzanne is the main character in By Design. She finds herself under threat when she is sued by a younger male colleague for apparent sexual harassment. The situation becomes even more destructive than anticipated and she ends upending her marriage, abandoning her business, scrapping her current wardrobe and moving into a high rise apartment. And then Suzanne’s son asks her to design his wedding invitations when he informs her of his engagement.
In these stories, thrilling desire and melancholic yearning animate women's lives--from the brink of adulthood, to the labyrinthine path between twenty and thirty, to middle age, when certain possibilities quietly elapse. With powerful observation and mordant humour, Clare Sestanovich opens up a fictional world where intimate and uncomfortable truths lie hidden in plain sight. Objects of Desire is a book pulsing with subtle drama, rich with unforgettable scenes and alive with moments of recognition, each more startling than the last--a spellbinding, brilliant debut. Short, witty and elegant stories explore themes of identity, yearning, aspiration, family and, above all else, desire. Highly recommended.
In the series opener, Annunciation, college freshman Iris is flying home and strikes up an odd, ephemeral friendship with the older married couple seated next to her on the aeroplane; she also questions the bizarre nature of the lives she is surrounded by, which then gives way to the rest of her life. Successor graphic designer and founder of her own prominent firm, Suzanne is the main character in By Design. She finds herself under threat when she is sued by a younger male colleague for apparent sexual harassment. The situation becomes even more destructive than anticipated and she ends upending her marriage, abandoning her business, scrapping her current wardrobe and moving into a high rise apartment. And then Suzanne’s son asks her to design his wedding invitations when he informs her of his engagement.
In these stories, thrilling desire and melancholic yearning animate women's lives--from the brink of adulthood, to the labyrinthine path between twenty and thirty, to middle age, when certain possibilities quietly elapse. With powerful observation and mordant humour, Clare Sestanovich opens up a fictional world where intimate and uncomfortable truths lie hidden in plain sight. Objects of Desire is a book pulsing with subtle drama, rich with unforgettable scenes and alive with moments of recognition, each more startling than the last--a spellbinding, brilliant debut. Short, witty and elegant stories explore themes of identity, yearning, aspiration, family and, above all else, desire. Highly recommended.
July 23, 2021
The writing in this collection is so strong. Sestanovich is able to describe the mundane in a way that captures its beauty. I love stories rooted in longing, failure, reflection, shame, etc. and this book has all of it. I will say that the stories have not stayed with me, or have merged together in my mind, particularly in their lack of stakes. The stories are tonally consistent, yet I wish there was a bit more “oomph” to the stories. However, these thoughts are asking these stories to be something they are not - these are ultimately reflective ruminations on desire in many of its forms. I will definitely read whatever she writes next, even though I left this feeling a bit underwhelmed.
January 5, 2022
i was thinking while reading this book that this had to be written by some person who grew up rich, with parents insisting they are bound to possess some sort of creative talent, providing them with the economic means to move to new york city, convince themselves they’re alternative and infinitely more cool than the kids that didn’t leave greenwich, connecticut behind for the big apple, creating underdeveloped characters with superficial plot lines, and suddenly receiving praise from people who experienced similar upbringings and find this kind of writing to be revolutionary and applaudable. considering the fact that her father was a policy planner for the reagan administration, her grandfather a managing partner of a new york law firm, and her mother an associate literary editor, i’m going to say it’s safe to imagine why this book is the way it is.
April 7, 2022
All eleven of these women are the same person.
January 23, 2022
Did I read this collection of short stories in a single sitting? Yes.
Did I read it once again right after I finished it? Oh yes.
Am I going to get myself a physical copy as soon as I can? DEFINITELY.
A collection of short stories by Clare Sestanovich, 'Objects of Desire' is a plethora of yearning desires of women and the inequitable ways by which women become a prey in the power dynamics of the various relationships between men and women. A brilliant storytelling accompanied by touching the lives of some requisite incident that'll determine the direction of the women in each of the eleven stories will sometimes make the reader sympathetic, sometimes angry and sometimes leave a strange sense of melancholy.
A woman felt she was in control as she was sleeping with a virgin has to turn to the man to take care of the consequences, a consensual affair turning into a case of sexual harrasment, a forbidden romance, an emotionally draining relationship, a case of where the loyalties lie- Sestanovich's women go through the age old demonstration that it is and will always be 'her' fault. No one cares if she was merely a human with her human choices or if she was the source of power who was drained for the favoured gender to win as always. The delicate emotional responses by the women after they were wronged leaves the question- will this ever stop? Betrayal is all over the place and there's no escape it seems, even from the one's closest to the heart or even from one's self.
A magnificent debut which gives an impression that the author is a great observer and has perceived the lives of the women from real life.
I've received an e-ARC from Netgalley and the publisher. All views are my own.
Did I read it once again right after I finished it? Oh yes.
Am I going to get myself a physical copy as soon as I can? DEFINITELY.
A collection of short stories by Clare Sestanovich, 'Objects of Desire' is a plethora of yearning desires of women and the inequitable ways by which women become a prey in the power dynamics of the various relationships between men and women. A brilliant storytelling accompanied by touching the lives of some requisite incident that'll determine the direction of the women in each of the eleven stories will sometimes make the reader sympathetic, sometimes angry and sometimes leave a strange sense of melancholy.
A woman felt she was in control as she was sleeping with a virgin has to turn to the man to take care of the consequences, a consensual affair turning into a case of sexual harrasment, a forbidden romance, an emotionally draining relationship, a case of where the loyalties lie- Sestanovich's women go through the age old demonstration that it is and will always be 'her' fault. No one cares if she was merely a human with her human choices or if she was the source of power who was drained for the favoured gender to win as always. The delicate emotional responses by the women after they were wronged leaves the question- will this ever stop? Betrayal is all over the place and there's no escape it seems, even from the one's closest to the heart or even from one's self.
A magnificent debut which gives an impression that the author is a great observer and has perceived the lives of the women from real life.
I've received an e-ARC from Netgalley and the publisher. All views are my own.
July 15, 2021
4 Stars
See more on my Bookstagram: Shelf.Inspiration Instagram
“Hundreds of times I have tried to write what you look like, to remember exactly the words you said, and because it isn’t perfect it’s all wrong.” - Objects of Desire.
This short story collection features eleven stories that lay bare the beauties and ironies of contemporary life. A college freshman, flying home, strikes up an odd, ephemeral friendship with the couple next to her on the airplane. A long-lost stepbrother’s visit to New York prompts a reckoning with a family’s old taboos. An office worker, exhausted by the ambitions of the men around her, emerges into the gridlocked city to make a decision. A wife, looking at her husbands passwords neatly posted on the wall, realizes that there are no secrets left in their marriage. In these stories, thrilling desire and melancholic yearning animate women’s lives—from the brink of adulthood through the path to middle age.
Thank you so much to Alfred A. Knopf, Penguin Random House, and Clare Sestanovich for sending me a copy of this book! Within the last year, I have found a new interest in short story collections and have been enjoying reading them! This set of short stories is very character driven (which I love) and primarily follows the various lives of women. I really liked how all different types of women were portrayed and the various ages and stage of life they are shown in. These stories that are almost like vignettes of the character’s lives, definitely snuck up on me and really made me think about some of the deeper messages within them. Some of the stories may have left me with more questions than answers but I think that leaves a lot of room for speculation and discussion. If you enjoy short stories that show the complexities and differences in everyday life I would definitely recommend this collection.
See more on my Bookstagram: Shelf.Inspiration Instagram
“Hundreds of times I have tried to write what you look like, to remember exactly the words you said, and because it isn’t perfect it’s all wrong.” - Objects of Desire.
This short story collection features eleven stories that lay bare the beauties and ironies of contemporary life. A college freshman, flying home, strikes up an odd, ephemeral friendship with the couple next to her on the airplane. A long-lost stepbrother’s visit to New York prompts a reckoning with a family’s old taboos. An office worker, exhausted by the ambitions of the men around her, emerges into the gridlocked city to make a decision. A wife, looking at her husbands passwords neatly posted on the wall, realizes that there are no secrets left in their marriage. In these stories, thrilling desire and melancholic yearning animate women’s lives—from the brink of adulthood through the path to middle age.
Thank you so much to Alfred A. Knopf, Penguin Random House, and Clare Sestanovich for sending me a copy of this book! Within the last year, I have found a new interest in short story collections and have been enjoying reading them! This set of short stories is very character driven (which I love) and primarily follows the various lives of women. I really liked how all different types of women were portrayed and the various ages and stage of life they are shown in. These stories that are almost like vignettes of the character’s lives, definitely snuck up on me and really made me think about some of the deeper messages within them. Some of the stories may have left me with more questions than answers but I think that leaves a lot of room for speculation and discussion. If you enjoy short stories that show the complexities and differences in everyday life I would definitely recommend this collection.
June 26, 2021
Short stories and I have not always gotten along, but either I've gotten more patient with them or I have gotten better at choosing the short story collections for myself. I suspect it's a bit of both — one playing off the other. In Objects of Desire, Sestanovich has loosely themed this collection of eleven stories into an exploration of the different ways humans experience desire and the many facets of this feeling — including the myriad of objects onto which we lay this yearning. Nicely paired with desire is this thread of melancholy running through each story, perhaps enhancing the desire each story represents by juxtaposing it against a sadness lying beneath the longing.
Each story seems to be the perfect length and ends in a rather abrupt way. While I'm unsure of the Sestanovich's intention, it did enhance natural voyeuristic tendencies — and it reminded me of the old motto: Always leave them wanting more. Which capitalizes on the reader's desire for more. Each ending reinforced the notion that Sestanovich was presenting this glimpse into someone's life, however subtly, and slamming the door leading to it. The endings are sudden and feel precisely timed. Any one of these has the potential to be a longer story — each with a budding desire to be more.
I think given the right choice of performers, this would make an excellent audiobook, too. An interesting debut from Clare Sestanovich. I'm excited to see where she goes next.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book, nor the content of my review.
Each story seems to be the perfect length and ends in a rather abrupt way. While I'm unsure of the Sestanovich's intention, it did enhance natural voyeuristic tendencies — and it reminded me of the old motto: Always leave them wanting more. Which capitalizes on the reader's desire for more. Each ending reinforced the notion that Sestanovich was presenting this glimpse into someone's life, however subtly, and slamming the door leading to it. The endings are sudden and feel precisely timed. Any one of these has the potential to be a longer story — each with a budding desire to be more.
I think given the right choice of performers, this would make an excellent audiobook, too. An interesting debut from Clare Sestanovich. I'm excited to see where she goes next.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book, nor the content of my review.
July 14, 2021
Truly excellent stories. Such yearning, such impeccable details! I don't think the first thought people have for "escapist reading" is melancholy realism in short fiction, but I think this type of finely detailed story writing is like a free perch for the best people-watching imaginable, and it can be such a wonderful escape. More than a few sentences here that stopped me in my tracks, also one paragraph that I would gladly tattoo on my face.
February 27, 2021
This short story collection wonderfully juxtaposes the mundane with explosive. Across eleven tales looking at everything from sexual harassment to finding yourself, Sestanovich captures desire in it’s many facets.
This collection has deftly written tales which tastefully highlights personal fulfillment, while sacrificing any thing else to get there. After ruminating on this collection, three tales stood out to me.
One focuses on a mother, during a lunch when her son announces his engagement. She is pulled into a revere of when she owned her own design studio, and subsequently sexually harasses one of her employees during a crisis. The second focuses on a brilliant teen who foregoes college to try and explore art. The final story is about a woman who moves to the desert, builds a home, and is left behind by her boyfriend.
Each of these women were incredible studies of desire. One is haunted by a selfish decision, another by a lack of agency, and the final one is set free by having her plans go out the window. Each tale confines a woman, and then explodes as they break free.
Hemmingway-esque, Sestanovich spares few words for feeling. Her characters deftly move across the landscape; literally from coast to coast through most the stories. In this world there are no states outside of California and the North East (insert Midwestern eye roll).
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the abstract nature of desire across these tales. As an almost invisible character, desire laces across the book, without ever taking center stage.
This collection has deftly written tales which tastefully highlights personal fulfillment, while sacrificing any thing else to get there. After ruminating on this collection, three tales stood out to me.
One focuses on a mother, during a lunch when her son announces his engagement. She is pulled into a revere of when she owned her own design studio, and subsequently sexually harasses one of her employees during a crisis. The second focuses on a brilliant teen who foregoes college to try and explore art. The final story is about a woman who moves to the desert, builds a home, and is left behind by her boyfriend.
Each of these women were incredible studies of desire. One is haunted by a selfish decision, another by a lack of agency, and the final one is set free by having her plans go out the window. Each tale confines a woman, and then explodes as they break free.
Hemmingway-esque, Sestanovich spares few words for feeling. Her characters deftly move across the landscape; literally from coast to coast through most the stories. In this world there are no states outside of California and the North East (insert Midwestern eye roll).
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the abstract nature of desire across these tales. As an almost invisible character, desire laces across the book, without ever taking center stage.
February 4, 2022
Objects of Desire is a collection of 11 short stories about relationships and what we desire. Usually short story collections can be a bit hit and miss, with the reader connecting with some stories and not liking others. Unfortunately OoD was a total miss for me. I couldn't connect with any of the stories and found it all just a bit floppy and meaningless. It felt very apparent that the author is from your classic all white, high income, high achieving, upper class American family and is writing about what she knows.
Not one for me but I'm guessing I'm not the target audience and many do seem to have enjoyed it.
Not one for me but I'm guessing I'm not the target audience and many do seem to have enjoyed it.
July 11, 2021
Much promise in the title story and Separation. But otherwise the other work did not move me. The author is best at diagnosing and portraying the habits and oddities of a particular set: young, creative, New York. Lots of people in publishing and English professors. But not enough there to sustain a full collection, for me.
January 5, 2022
this isn't even worthy of the criticism of feeling like MFA writing this just feels like extremely insufferable and pretentious high school writing. it's like laughable to see all of the author's credentials
September 22, 2022
Hipster, uninteresting waffle. I normally love short stories, but after the first one I knew this wasn’t the author for me. I think maybe if I were a 24 year old living in Brooklyn, I’d possibly have enjoyed this more…? Maybe I just didn’t get it. I don’t even care.
June 10, 2025
Fast-paced, Short stories of love, longings, desires and unspoken words
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Objects of Desire is a compilation of 11 short stories, all starring a female protagonist. The major theme of every story lies around a women's desire, her unspoken love/loathing towards someone or something. In some stories, the theme is often about being unable to make decisions and often being confused about life, men and general decisions.
After the first story ended, i thought i missed a few pages but then i realised that all the 11 stories end with nothing much happening towards the end. As if there's no conclusion and the tale is about the ongoing/current conditions.
I liked a couple stories like Now you know & Make believe but the book was far different than my style of reading. Probably the way it ended left me wanting for more. It was like travelling on a train with nothing eventful outside the window.
----
Objects of Desire is a compilation of 11 short stories, all starring a female protagonist. The major theme of every story lies around a women's desire, her unspoken love/loathing towards someone or something. In some stories, the theme is often about being unable to make decisions and often being confused about life, men and general decisions.
After the first story ended, i thought i missed a few pages but then i realised that all the 11 stories end with nothing much happening towards the end. As if there's no conclusion and the tale is about the ongoing/current conditions.
I liked a couple stories like Now you know & Make believe but the book was far different than my style of reading. Probably the way it ended left me wanting for more. It was like travelling on a train with nothing eventful outside the window.
January 9, 2023
This was a sweet, relaxing and easy read! I feel like I have mixed feelings about short stories, and I often feel underwhelmed as I did with this one. I loved the way the stories illustrated femininity, it was executed well. I feel the stories started off well, dipped in quality in the middle, but I really loved the last one. Would of upped this to a four stars if there was a bit more of a variety, rather than some being repetitive and not leaving the reader much to think about🤍
February 3, 2024
this should be rated both higher and lower than it is. made me very very sad.
July 29, 2021
These were really enjoyable! I liked the fact that the heroines of these short stories aren't all sad millennials (I am getting tired of all the books about sad millennials) and include older characters too - all women, all dealing with various dramas in their personal lives, and all pretty unsatisfied with their lives. The writing is quite sparse, and you feel rather detached from the characters, but the details create a picture; Clare Sestanovich pokes fun at the writers of such minimalist stories. In one way or another her heroines are all longing for something more, and many of them have literary aspirations. The first story, 'Annunciation', was maybe my least favourite; some of them were just fantastic windows on the mundanity of the characters' private lives - 'Wants and Needs' my favourite probably for the minutiae of Val's daily life and her boredom.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.
May 22, 2024
I really had to force my way through to finish it off this book. It was a collection of short stories which all kind of focused on romantic relationships. It really focused on those little moments in a normal life that make you so uncomfortable that you just want to scream. They wrote about ten stories which all depicted that feeling but it also felt like they were writing the same story and the same character just in different settings. The last 2 stories did stand out though as slightly more refined that the rest though. I enjoyed them the most but I didn't like the book overall. I probably wouldn't recommend it unless you want to read about middle-aged upper-class white women who self-sabotage. I think my distaste for this book was more of a preference than anything else. I do respect the writer because even though I didn't like all the works, they did capture that feeling.
July 7, 2021
I am a big fan of Sestanovich’s fiction from the New Yorker, but for some reason reading all of these stories in a row made me kind of dislike the style…most of her characters are misanthropic privileged rich people and after a while of reading about sad rich kid after sad rich kid I found myself feeling kind of irritated and vaguely condescended to. however the few stories where Sestanovich breaks that mold are some of my favorites, and she really does master the short story!
April 22, 2022
I liked a lot of the stories in this collection, but most of them felt like they contained ideas for two, three stories, or even more.
July 31, 2023
this feels like it was written by an insufferably pretentious hipster millennial and it bored me to death
September 1, 2021
I really loved this collection. These are stories that are dreamy and subtle with big themes of loneliness - often about the distance between a woman’s needs and desires vs what is happening. Also about how small experiences and connections can end up shaping a life. Lots of melancholy, lots of ennui.
I jotted a couple of notes on each story as I was reading, and I’ll just leave those here. I definitely recommend picking this one up!
Annunciation -
21 short pages follow a young woman’s journey at the end of college and a year or two later. Somehow amazingly captures the dizzying speed in this stage of becoming an adult, observing expectations of life and love
Small details and big concepts
By design -
Built around the mother of an adult child meeting her son's girlfriend, we learn in flashes about her life, her long relationship, her infatuation resulting in a sexual harassment suit and the loss of her career. Told in almost dreamlike sequencing.
Terms of agreement -
Stunning - just an amazing short story. The endless selves that we are, and that surround us.
Objects of desire -
A young woman, assistant to someone powerful at work, musician boyfriend, politician ex, she is forced to fire a coworker over shy coworkers tweets about misogyny in her workplace.
While the musician boyfriend becomes increasingly engaged with protests and marches
She dreams of escape to California
The narrator is always drifting. who is she
Old hope -
Existing in this vulnerable dreamy headspace - intimacy and hope, the risk of desire.
Security questions -
Storyline seemed trite at first - elderly man dating a woman his sons age while still married, woman dealing with woes of age. The unexpected twist involves lice, But then - the story twists into a study of subdued restraint, a more insightful study of the universal trials of womanhood
Make believe -
A woman works a series of part-time jobs while vaguely obsessed with a recently dead celebrity and missing an ex boyfriend. The most fascinating job is as a night nanny to an eerily mature and wealthy 5-year old. The woman is incredibly lonely yet the story is oddly comforting in its details, her memories, certain moments -
“It seemed suddenly perverse that so many hours would pass before I was on the ground again, that so many of my nights took place at dangerous heights. The windows were required by law to be unopenable. What kind of lives elevated themselves like this?”
How we distract ourselves by following celebrities' lives, how we are somehow intertwined and maintain our own public lives also, the emptiness of wealth.
Wants and needs -
This story is about Val - a depressed but coping woman - whose stepbrother Zeke comes to stay with her for a bit, and begins dating her roommate. There are interesting twists about reality, perspective. Captures the mundane nature of existence… the distances between what is in this character's mind vs what she says out loud is also intriguing..
What is real, what are the things we invent, then believe they are real - “Val decided she was tired of cultivating her own complexities. Maybe they didn’t actually exist.”
And later -
“She sat in front of her portable fan until her cheeks tingled, wondering how many of her memories could be corroborated by reliable witnesses. How many were here alone?”
Brenda -
A creative writing professor left the city for her job, then her boyfriend departs.
A study in the loss of innocence … how life can destroy us
Again, a story about being very alone. The quiet sounds of being alone.
This line is so funny -
“Recently Brenda has been keeping her phone in her desk drawer, because she couldn’t stop imagining all the things accumulating in her pocket. Election results and Amber Alerts, pictures of dogs and portentous messages”
Now you know -
Vaguely about the magic of art, the magic of people who tell the stories - a little about the origin of an artist, and the demands of dreams others can bestow upon an artist - a really interesting metaphorical ending, how much of our lives is art itself?
Separation -
A couple in love, marries, 3 years later the husband dies.
“What happened next wasn’t that she recovered - never that, really - but she did move to a new city, where she would have to bump into life every day.”
The woman remarries, has a daughter, the daughter leaves.
A snapshot of a life. Always alone, the constant feeling of being alone.
I jotted a couple of notes on each story as I was reading, and I’ll just leave those here. I definitely recommend picking this one up!
Annunciation -
21 short pages follow a young woman’s journey at the end of college and a year or two later. Somehow amazingly captures the dizzying speed in this stage of becoming an adult, observing expectations of life and love
Small details and big concepts
By design -
Built around the mother of an adult child meeting her son's girlfriend, we learn in flashes about her life, her long relationship, her infatuation resulting in a sexual harassment suit and the loss of her career. Told in almost dreamlike sequencing.
Terms of agreement -
Stunning - just an amazing short story. The endless selves that we are, and that surround us.
Objects of desire -
A young woman, assistant to someone powerful at work, musician boyfriend, politician ex, she is forced to fire a coworker over shy coworkers tweets about misogyny in her workplace.
While the musician boyfriend becomes increasingly engaged with protests and marches
She dreams of escape to California
The narrator is always drifting. who is she
Old hope -
Existing in this vulnerable dreamy headspace - intimacy and hope, the risk of desire.
Security questions -
Storyline seemed trite at first - elderly man dating a woman his sons age while still married, woman dealing with woes of age. The unexpected twist involves lice, But then - the story twists into a study of subdued restraint, a more insightful study of the universal trials of womanhood
Make believe -
A woman works a series of part-time jobs while vaguely obsessed with a recently dead celebrity and missing an ex boyfriend. The most fascinating job is as a night nanny to an eerily mature and wealthy 5-year old. The woman is incredibly lonely yet the story is oddly comforting in its details, her memories, certain moments -
“It seemed suddenly perverse that so many hours would pass before I was on the ground again, that so many of my nights took place at dangerous heights. The windows were required by law to be unopenable. What kind of lives elevated themselves like this?”
How we distract ourselves by following celebrities' lives, how we are somehow intertwined and maintain our own public lives also, the emptiness of wealth.
Wants and needs -
This story is about Val - a depressed but coping woman - whose stepbrother Zeke comes to stay with her for a bit, and begins dating her roommate. There are interesting twists about reality, perspective. Captures the mundane nature of existence… the distances between what is in this character's mind vs what she says out loud is also intriguing..
What is real, what are the things we invent, then believe they are real - “Val decided she was tired of cultivating her own complexities. Maybe they didn’t actually exist.”
And later -
“She sat in front of her portable fan until her cheeks tingled, wondering how many of her memories could be corroborated by reliable witnesses. How many were here alone?”
Brenda -
A creative writing professor left the city for her job, then her boyfriend departs.
A study in the loss of innocence … how life can destroy us
Again, a story about being very alone. The quiet sounds of being alone.
This line is so funny -
“Recently Brenda has been keeping her phone in her desk drawer, because she couldn’t stop imagining all the things accumulating in her pocket. Election results and Amber Alerts, pictures of dogs and portentous messages”
Now you know -
Vaguely about the magic of art, the magic of people who tell the stories - a little about the origin of an artist, and the demands of dreams others can bestow upon an artist - a really interesting metaphorical ending, how much of our lives is art itself?
Separation -
A couple in love, marries, 3 years later the husband dies.
“What happened next wasn’t that she recovered - never that, really - but she did move to a new city, where she would have to bump into life every day.”
The woman remarries, has a daughter, the daughter leaves.
A snapshot of a life. Always alone, the constant feeling of being alone.
August 26, 2022
this book was so fun ! it took me ages to realise that all the stories weren’t actually linked but i just liked having that voyeurism-esque feeling (can that be used in a non-sexual way? i hope so) and i enjoyed looking at the little snippets of characters lives
August 30, 2021
Thank you to Knopf for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.
A great "read a story a night" book. I'm not a huge fan of short story collections but I found myself intrigued with these stories throughout!
A great "read a story a night" book. I'm not a huge fan of short story collections but I found myself intrigued with these stories throughout!
June 30, 2021
Sexually celebrated beings
Assemble
On the other side of daylight
Only to find
That passion awakens loss
And almost as an afterthought
The lonesome
Spin records backwards
Love viciously in the air
Goodbye was, is, always
Paradise.
#poem
Chris Roberts, Patron Saint of the Left Over People
Assemble
On the other side of daylight
Only to find
That passion awakens loss
And almost as an afterthought
The lonesome
Spin records backwards
Love viciously in the air
Goodbye was, is, always
Paradise.
#poem
Chris Roberts, Patron Saint of the Left Over People
June 21, 2023
The weight of this collection is in its voice. Super engaging with how each character, though united in their discontent, finds a new way to look at their life and discover meaning (or a lack of it). The stories seem to be leaning on the edge of a knife, dipping from one side to the other, as a way to show how an uncertain season of life can feel, and how the interactions with the people around us can impact such a season.
Yet, I have a hard time seeing why any of these stories had to be told. Why these characters and why at this point in their life? Something can be said about living in a character's head for forty or so pages, but for me, not understanding if there has been change or development, frustrates me. I hope Sestanovich writes a novel one day because if given the space to dive deeper and express fuller, I can see her characters being unstoppable in their search for meaning.
Yet, I have a hard time seeing why any of these stories had to be told. Why these characters and why at this point in their life? Something can be said about living in a character's head for forty or so pages, but for me, not understanding if there has been change or development, frustrates me. I hope Sestanovich writes a novel one day because if given the space to dive deeper and express fuller, I can see her characters being unstoppable in their search for meaning.
November 13, 2021
An impressive debut of 11 short stories. Clare Sestanovich is a beautiful writer and an undeniably sharp observer of modern life.
Objects of Desire is fast and fun -- and an easy recommendation for anyone who loves short form and TNY style.
Summary
- Clare’s stories all deal with the inner lives of young women. Singular protagonists, usually 25-30yo.
- Focus on relationships, mental health, evolving sense of self and purpose. Millennial malaise.
- The format is deeply scene-driven with limited plot. The effect for the reader is a series of hyper-modern hyper-realistic glimpses of life. Beauty in the banal, etc. But on the flip side, it is hard to remember how they string together.
- Stories often open with immediate intimacy, a sort of media res for emotional health more so than physical action. And key plot reveals are slipped in with a casual, clever nonchalance in the form of transition clauses. “The weeks after Charlotte has sex with the married couples, she is already back in LA.”
What I loved: Annunciation, Old Hope, Security Questions, Separation.
What I didn’t: stories run together due to simple plots and similar character archetypes. Individually they are strong but as a collection they blur.
Objects of Desire is fast and fun -- and an easy recommendation for anyone who loves short form and TNY style.
Summary
- Clare’s stories all deal with the inner lives of young women. Singular protagonists, usually 25-30yo.
- Focus on relationships, mental health, evolving sense of self and purpose. Millennial malaise.
- The format is deeply scene-driven with limited plot. The effect for the reader is a series of hyper-modern hyper-realistic glimpses of life. Beauty in the banal, etc. But on the flip side, it is hard to remember how they string together.
- Stories often open with immediate intimacy, a sort of media res for emotional health more so than physical action. And key plot reveals are slipped in with a casual, clever nonchalance in the form of transition clauses. “The weeks after Charlotte has sex with the married couples, she is already back in LA.”
What I loved: Annunciation, Old Hope, Security Questions, Separation.
What I didn’t: stories run together due to simple plots and similar character archetypes. Individually they are strong but as a collection they blur.
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