Jerks

by Sara Lippmann

With JERKS, Sara Lippmann rides the proverbial clutch between wanting and having. Ambivalent mothers, aging suburbanites, restless teens, survivalist parents, and disaffected wives—desire is a live wire, however frayed, a reminder that life, for all its sputtering stall outs, is still worth living. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly
"Lippmann packs a great deal into a single turn of phrase, balancing vulnerability and humor with luminescent prose. The compression and bursts of poignancy will remind readers of Kathy Fish and Amy Hempel."

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Short Story Collection

198 pages, Paperback

Published December 2, 2025

About the author

Sara Lippmann is the author of the story collections Doll Palace re-released by 713 Books, and Jerks from Mason Jar Press. Her work has been honored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and has appeared in The Millions, The Washington Post, Best Small Fictions, Epiphany, Split Lip and elsewhere. She teaches with Jericho Writers and lives with her family in Brooklyn. For more, visit saralippmann.com

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who 5-stars their own book? I do. I am that jerk.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always read Lippmann's stories with a mixture of awe, envy, admiration, respect, and joyful bewilderment at how she mixes the mundane with the wondrous, stark humanism with lyric tenderness. She's an acrobatic wordsmith:

"fossil print of lipstick"
"my eyes are dry as a doll's"
"Adam...is always smiling a kinetic mouthful of fenced whites"

Light is "buttery," the past "haunts" and the future "creeps." She surprises you at every turn with blunt reality, then tosses up magical prose:

"At night, the dust of stars. A harvest moon brave as Jupiter sits on your roof as a reminder the whole world is not worth giving up."

And that seems to be the underpinning theme under all these carefully crafted stories, that despite our anxieties about the future and climate change, our personal fears and marital missteps, there is that brave moon.

Raw, lyrical, challenging, LOL funny at times, and full of wisdom, JERKS is a must for short story lovers.

[Michael B Tager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who five stars a book they published? I do. I am that jerk.

[Roxee Timan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lippmann cuts into some of the cringiest moments of anyone’s lifetime in this phenomenal collection. JERKS presents a wide array of characters at their most vulnerable, from summer camp crushes to a mother’s junk drawer purge snowballing into mental crisis. I have caught myself thinking about these characters for days after I finished each little glimpse of their lives. Why go to hell and have the devil play a montage of your most gut wrenching memories, when you can crack open Lippman’s mind?

[rndgmoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a cover reminiscent of a Lana Del Rey album, I was both intrigued and a little apprehensive about this work of indie fiction by a Brooklynite creative writing professor. There's so many ways this could have gone astray but, thankfully, it didn't. Lippman is a stunningly gifted writer who, while mostly exploring the angst and ennui of upper-middle class white folks, also leavens the collection with stories prominently featuring a Jewish experience, something that reminds us of the razor thin class and racial distinctions its protagonists circle around. There are some real stunners in this collection--"God's Children" and "Let all Restless Creatures Go" showcase the author in two very different modes and firing on all cylinders (mixed metaphor, sorry) while "The Polish Girl" is a bizarre pandemic treat. Others feel a little same-y, but still powerful and economically written with lots of great observations about contemporary culture, especially class and gender relationships.

Overall, this is a a great example of contemporary short story writing that insists on being devoured straight through.

[Michelle Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love these stories. Sara writes so brilliantly about marriage and motherhood, about what it means to be female in this world. These stories are sometimes painful, sometimes gloriously brimming with rage, but always hilarious. As always, her sentences are exquisite.

[Meg Tuite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sara Lippmann is a master of any tale she tells in any structure, word count, gender, etc....
JERKS is a brilliant, hilarious, oh-yes-I-have-lived-this-thought-this world of the domestic, pathos with the macro picture throughout. She is a weaver, philosopher, comedian, true deep waters who sees ALL! Nothing passes her by without note, and JERKS has it all! Here are some quotes I had to share: "Which is to say: my problem is not with poly—I’ve been married 20 years— but with amory. Fucking is one thing. At night, my husband wants the light on but I insist on the dark. Some things, some people, are better left to the imagination. I have enough trouble loving as it is."
"“I knew you’d understand! Oh, Amy, I’ve seen the light. I’ve unlocked the magic key to my heart and if I don’t follow the giant luminous orb pulsing inside of me, then who am I, right?”
I try not to look at his crotch."
"I never asked her about the homecoming dance, whom she wound up taking, or what was up with the sweat bands on her wrists, was it fashion or a plea for help. I didn’t say we all try to cover aspects of ourselves, or do you want to talk about it."
" Mothers, newts, lightning bugs, we were not trappers, we did not hold anything against their will, but opened our hands to the moonlit sky, let all the restless creatures go."

I am a HUGE FAN of her work! She never holds back, deeply visceral and mesmerizing! Don't EVER miss out on Lippmann! She is the REAL THING! Unstoppable and unparalleled! GET A COPY! LOVE LOVE LOVE! Unforgettable!

[Erika Dreifus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gritty, raw stories as only my friend Sara can write them! Can't wait for the novel (LECH) that's coming in the fall.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite short story collections I’ve read in awhile! The stories are super short (5-6 pages for most, I think the longest is maybe 15), which I love. I don’t think any work of literature needs to be long to be good. They really pack a punch and fit well together as they touch on similar themes—motherhood, marriage, loneliness, loss of self, etc. It’s depressing at times, but mostly funny and sharply observant and smart. There are so many great lines in here! Loved it and would highly recommend.

[Patrick Probably DNF · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am getting down on my jerk knees to thank our jerk gods for sending us such a delicious and perfect volume of jerk short stories. All jerking aside, you should READ THIS BOOK NEXT. I promise you've never experienced an author like Sara Lippmann. She deftly combines poignancy and cutting insight with humor and sexuality, then ties it all up with a beautiful and masterful prose bow. Why this author is not collecting all the literary awards we have available, is beyond me. Maybe we're all jerks. Just kidding. There's no "maybe" about it.

[Barbara Wilgus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this collection of short stories up on a whim at Baltimore Book Festival and I’m so glad I did! A widely varied group of characters, all surrounding situations and people (themselves too) veering into the territory of ass-esque, by fault or not. I loved it.

[Ethel Rohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Signature Lippmann: A fresh, unflinching, crackling read.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved! Perfectly freaky. At times sometimes felt repetitive but I think that’s a general shortcoming of short story anthologies.

[Lou M · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one packs more into a sentence than Sara Lippmann. Funny, dark, erotic and strangely cathartic, these stories plumb desire and skewer convention. It’s time this author reaches the audience she deserves.

[Yahaira · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short story collection I actually loved! The mundane mixed with the complex. Extremely tight writing.

[Quentin Paquette · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are all about people with a central absence. They anticipate what it will be like to be grown up, to be independent, to have made a different decision, to have gotten lucky in some other way, or to be near to their person. They imagine how it would be better if only. They discover short-term ways to cover over their lack. They put it in their pocket or purse or slip it into their bra and carry it with them.
What they are not doing is denying it. They are not putting it behind them or medicating it out of consciousness. They are not blaming it on someone else, or expecting anyone to save them from it. They know it’s not the system, or their parents, or their spouse that took anything from them. It is just that the fullness of life has sacrifice and loss built into the living of it. When you see them, they will look back into your eyes and if you don’t blink or look away you’ll see that they get it.
Life and love are also loss. Desire comes from what must one day leave. That is what you will see in them and what they see in you. Whether from bravery or stubbornness or grace, you will both keep walking. You may be heartsore, but you are not broken.

[Kari Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here are expertly-observed stories that cut to the quick and chill with a truthfulness that only the best fiction can deliver. Not since Salinger’s Nine Stories has a collection moved and haunted me in this way. Sara Lippmann pulls the threads she sees and weaves them into a literary monster with eighteen limbs—one for every story in JERKS; readers will recognize this monster as unflinchingly human. One of the best story collections I've ever read.

[Dana Burger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sara Lippmann creates amazingly rich and complex characters. Her attention to detail is amazing. I am in awe of the imagery she evokes with her words. This book of short stories gave me all the feels and I was truly disappointed when each story ended.

[Alice Kaltman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Sara Lippmann's work. The stories in this latest collection do not disappoint. Each one a gem of visceral clarity into the nitty gritty of twisted motivation, desire, and restlessness. In other words: What we all feel. Bravo, Ms. Lippmann. You've done it again!

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual for her short stories, dynamic and daring while also managing to be fun.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great, tight collection, always upending my expectations

[Fred Pierre · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a mother of little kids, do you feel like your personal life has been sucked out? Do you feel like a feeder for unruly birds? Like a pincushion that's been poked too many times? This malaise underlies many of the short stories in Jerks. Throw in anti-semitism and the Jewish children and mothers who populate these stories have the deck stacked against them.

That doesn't mean they don't fantasize about an ideal life, other people's vacations or unpredictable, wild sex. What's real and what's not becomes intertwined. These stories may offer a lot of defeats, but they also offer a strange kind of delimited hope. We strain against our cages, but eventually walk back in to them, because sometimes what's frustrating is comfortable, somehow.

There's a lot of humor in these stories and you are sure to get something out of this read, but what you get depends on your outlook. I liked the turns-of-phrase. Lippman's writing is crisp. If it leaves you depressed, well whatever...

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with other readers that Lipmann is a talented writer with a special talent for describing small details. I also usually like and admire authors who construct stories in an unconventional way. But I'm afraid that I did not especially enjoy reading this collection of 18 stories.

Several things pout me off. The most significant one is how sour and depressing every story is, and this is also true of most of the characters. All of them are more or less a slice of life, and nothing much happens. The reader just gets a procession of people stuck in lives they do not enjoy very much.
I'm fine with this in some stories, by the way, but it was overwhelming for an entire volume. There is also quite a lot of lust as almost a theme of the collection, almost all of which results in a lack of enjoyment or fulfillment.

There were a few small editing errors. The only one worth mentioning is a reference to the fraternity "Sigma Chai." Hmm, a new Jewish option on campus?

[Ian]

A cottage industry of likability discourse manifests with regularity, and Jerks, Sara Lippmann’s new collection of stories, will no doubt inspire a certain level of curiosity with the subject. The characters are not nice, they are not kind, they are not good people; they are, as the title suggests, jerks. That isn’t to say this is a collection featuring exclusively unpleasant characters, but throughout the book there is a persistent theme of unpleasantness.

More at the Chicago Review of Books
https://chireviewofbooks.com/2022/03/...

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic collection. The stories are a delight to read with sharp-eyed and -elbowed humor. Lippman explores the absurdities of modern life, often from the perspective of New Jersey suburbanites. Her voice is fresh and her characters compelling. Put this one on your radar. You won't be disappointed.

[Chloe Cullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Sara through the Franklin Park reading series and I am wowed! I loved these short stories about the push and pull of romantic relationships and the solitude they create, the vacancy they can’t fill. Plus, crackling wit and beautiful prose. This was such a joy.

[Elisa Winokur · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the most beautiful, brilliant prose, Sara reveals the vulnerability of humanity. Every story is honest, smart, bold and so funny, each one featuring dynamic characters who say and do all the things we think and feel. I loved every word and cannot wait for more!

[Rachel León · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review forthcoming from Necessary Fiction.

[Christopher Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

The master.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of short stories. Found the book on the library shelf and now I want to read her other stories.