Very disappointing, frustrating, and confusing. The stories were written as though the narrator was writing only for herself--no explanations of what had happened, who the people were she was talking about (who were often just referred to as "he" or "she" rather than by name). As a reader, I want to engage with a book, not feel frozen out of it. ( )

I like my short stories to be reasonably complete and contained, while Soueif’s stories are fleeting slices of life. She offers brief glimpses into other lives, other worlds, but never gives the reader all the information about the situations in which her narrators find themselves. This isn’t a fault, but it means that she’ll never be one of my very favourite short story writers.

All Soueif’s protagonists are women: a child with nightmares, a Muslim teenager trying to fit in at a school in England in the 1960’s, a woman returning to her former husband’s home. Failed marriages, failed love affairs; I Think of You is a book of love stories only in the broadest sense. The best word for the emotional tone linking the stories is “melancholy”. I enjoyed all of the stories; the only one I was ambivalent about was Melody, which features a strangely emotionless narrator, but even still, it was well-written and had some very good stuff in it. ( )