Short story writers usually only capture the attention of literary critics when they publish their first collection of stories in book form. Since Julavits has yet to publish a short-story collection, “Marry the One Who Comes First” has so far not received any attention from reviewers or critics, although it did receive the distinction, after publication in Esquire magazine, of being included in The Best American Short Stories, 1999.

Julavits has expressed her preference for writing novels rather than short stories, and her two novels, The Mineral Palace (2000) and The Effect of Living Backwards (2003), are the works on which her growing literary reputation is based.