By Caitlin Macy
240 pages; Random House

They are the other needy: well-heeled women who court the approval of their housekeepers; ambivalent, pampered girlfriends and wives who exhaust the patience of men; impudent, whiny young girls panicked by untamable fears; solitary high achievers licking their wounds. Set in locales ranging from a gated playground in Manhattan to the souks of Marrakech, Caitlin Macy's laser-sharp story collection, Spoiled, probes the heartbreak of high expectations, the self-hatred that can go hand in hand with a ferocious sense of entitlement. Read it and squirm.

— Cathleen Medwick