The Book of Witty Women - Various women writers - ★★.¾

AUTHORS: Various

GENRE: Short Story Anthology.

PUBLICATION DATE: April 25, 2024

RATING: 2.7 stars.

In a Nutshell: Supposed to be a collection that makes us ‘laugh out loud’, but practically, I smiled during only two of the fifteen tales. Very disappointing!

The intent behind this fifteen-story collection is excellent. Rarely do we get to see the comedic voice of women. Whether in stand-up comedy or politics, comedians are mostly male. (That’s my little contribution to prove myself a witty woman! 😛) So to see an anthology penned by diverse women writers under the theme of wit gave me high hopes.

The maximum damage to this book is done by the tagline. ”Witty” doesn’t necessarily mean “funny”. It could also indicate “lively”, “amusing”, “inventive” or “quick-witted”. But as the tagline promises “laugh-out-loud stories”, I expected every story to contain varied doses of humour. This doesn’t happen at all.

The mood in the stories spans all the above meanings of wit, and goes even beyond that. But not all of them are funny. As is common in a multi-author anthology, some of the stories just don’t hit the bull’s eye, whether in terms of character detailing or plot development or satisfying endings.

I must admit, the content had plenty of comic potential. From competitive shopping as a sport to “penis puppeteering” (I don’t wanna explain that!) to a woman celebrating her 52nd birthday as her 50th one because the covid years don’t count, the themes touched upon the wacky and the weird. But somehow, the potential didn’t translate to an impactful execution.

One thing I have realised with respect to humour is that it can never be forced. It either leads naturally from the situation or it fails to induce a smile. In most of these stories, the jokes appear very forced, and that kills the vibe.

Of course, humour is a subjective emotion. What is funny to me might be eyeroll-inducing to someone else. In this entire collection, only two stories managed to make me grin. In fact, one of them is probably going to be among the top short stories I read this year; it hit the right notes on every level! Unfortunately, a single story cannot salvage the book from its fate.

Unlike the usual norm, the contributing author's bio is right at the start of each story, just below the title. I appreciate much more than having the bios pooled together in one lump at the end.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Except for the above two stories, the rest were all at 3.5 stars and below, with a couple of the tales even getting just a single star, not something that often happens for me during anthologies.

These were the two stunners of the book:

🤡 Double Date - Lucy Vine: This started off as a typical story, going well but nothing out of the ordinary. And then came the reveal that transformed the whole tale into a chuckle-worthy ride. Loved it! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🤡 Care Home Capers - Wendy Hood: If you thought that senior citizens in a care home enjoy all visits, this story will get you thinking! The best story in the book both in terms of premise and execution. Hilarious and heartwarming. Easily among my top favourite stories, ever! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

All in all, I am disappointed. I feel like I am betraying my own tribe by rating a collection of witty tales written by witty women so poorly. I can only hope that there is some reader out there who finds this collection hilarious and enticing.

2.7 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.

My thanks to Farrago and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Book of Witty Women”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.