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1A collection of short stories by author Kristen Roupenian, whose story "Cat Person" was published in the New Yorker and met with critical acclaim.
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3!! You know you want these Tropes...
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5* TheBigDamnKiss: [[spoiler: Ted and Anna from "The Good Guy" do end up kissing (and getting together), though he doesn't seem to be very happy in that relationship either, as he's said to cheat on her with multiple partners afterwards.]]
6* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Tilly from "Sardines" is on her way to becoming this, though she's only ten.
7* ChildrenAreCruel: Implied in "The Good Guy." There was a rumour in ''elementary school'' that she liked to masturbate with My Little Pony dolls, presumably from being caught playing with them one time too many.
8** Of course, Tilly from "Sardines" is this.
9** The sixth year students in "The Night Runner", who are notoriously cruel to the point that ''teachers'' are scared of working with them.
10* ClingyJealousGirl: Rachel Derwin-Finkle in "The Good Guy". When Ted even ''mentions'' Anna in a conversation, she gets mad and accuses him of having a crush on her. Of course, she's right, but in her case the assumption was baseless nonetheless.
11* DescentIntoAddiction: Implied at the end of [[spoiler: "Death Wish", as the narrator mentions going to AA meetings (though he admits he never committed to the 12 Steps). Whether or not he was an alcoholic ''before'' the incident is ambiguous.]]
12** This is also implied for [[spoiler: Anna Travis from "The Good Guy". Ted suspects she might have been in a recovery program due to the motivational quotes she keeps posting online.]]
13* DoggedNiceGuy: "The Good Guy" gives us Ted as a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. While he's initially a fairly straight example, after it works for him the first time he starts [[{{Invoked}} leaning into this persona]] to get into [[ReallyGetsAround scores of temporary relationships]], realizing that most women will eventually talk themselves into settling for him if he portrays himself this way. The reason he doesn't stick with any of these women is that he's come to realize that being settled for really, really sucks, and he'd rather just have meaningless sex.
14* EntitledToHaveYou: "The Good Guy" not only explores this as expected with DoggedNiceGuy Ted, but turns the situation on its head by speculating that Anna and her ilk feel entitled to ''him'' because they're the ones punching below their weight and therefore can't handle being dumped by him:
15-->They identify all sorts of problems in him that he needs them to fix: he isn't "in touch with his emotions," or he's "afraid of commitment," but they never question the basic premise, that somewhere deep down, underneath it all, he wants to be with them. ''Of course you have feelings for me,'' Angela might as well have been saying, right before she threw the glass at him. ''Admit it, dammit!''\
16I'm ''me.''\
17And you're ''Ted.''
18* EveryoneHasStandards: In "The Good Guy", Ted - who is unattractive and shy by his own admission - is repulsed by the thought of dating Rachel Derwin-Finkle. Averted in that he ''does'' get together with her in the end, albeit because he doesn't have any other options.
19* FirstLove: Anna was this to Ted (though whether it's ''love'' is debatable).
20* FoodSlap: "The Good Guy" begins with Ted having a conversation with an ex-girlfriend that ends in her throwing a glass tumbler full of ice water at him, shattering it against his forehead. [[spoiler:An unusual deadly case as [[UncertainDoom it's implied that]] [[UndignifiedDeath one of the shards causes him to bleed out]].]]
21* InnocentlyInsensitive: Aaron from "The Night Runner", who tries his best to be a good teacher but doesn't understand the culture or motivations behind any of the girls he's teaching.
22* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: As he grows older, Ted from "The Good Guy" starts to consider himself as this:
23--> ''Listen. Listen. I can explain. There's a bad Ted underneath the good Ted, yes, but then under ''that'', there's a Ted that's good for real. But no one ever sees him; his whole life, no one ever has. Underneath it all, I'm just that kid who wanted nothing more than to be loved and didn't know how to make it happen, even though I tried and tried and tried.''
24* LovingAShadow: A theme throughout the book, but particularly explored in "Cat Person" with Margot's perpetually shifting perception of Robert (and, on the other end, Robert's perception of her).
25--> Every so often, over the next day or so, she would find herself in a gray, daydreamy mood, missing something, and she'd realize that it was Robert she missed, not the real Robert but the Robert she'd imagined on the other end of all those text messages during break.
26* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: In "The Good Guy," [[spoiler:the entire narrative is implied to be this, with Ted being [[FoodSlap wounded in the head by a shattered tumbler]] and bleeding [[UncertainDoom at least]] to the point of unconsciousness by the end of the story as a FramingDevice.]]
27* NiceGirl: Margot from "Cat Person", occasional shallowness and bad judgement aside. She [[spoiler: goes through with a sexual encounter with Robert simply because she doesn't have the heart to say no.]]
28** Anna Travis appears to be this, as well, despite how badly she treated Ted as a teenager.
29* NotGoodWithRejection: Angela from "The Good Guy". She ''throws a glass'' at Ted once he breaks up with her.
30* QuestionableConsent: In "Bad Boy", it's only ambiguous whether the titular character agreed to a sexual relationship in the first place.
31* SexInASharedRoom: PlayedForDrama (and PlayedForHorror) in "Bad Boy". A friend comes to stay with a couple in their tiny apartment. Eventually, they can't get off without him being present, so they eventually bully him into watching them (and it's not even clear if he consented in the first place).
32* SmittenTeenageGirl: Rampant in "The Good Guy", as should be expected due to the characters' ages. Anna is this to Marco, and Rachel is this to Ted.
33* ShoutOut: Is it a coincidence that the main characters in "Cat Person" are named [[Creator/MargotRobbie Margot and Robert]]?
34* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:"The Good Guy."]]

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