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Storyknife
A Paperback Original
A sharply constructed, death-defying story collection that dismantles the myths of white America, revealing race, class, and gender as fictions that can be taken apart and remade
In his first story collection in fifteen years, Jess Row evokes white America—specifically liberal, educated white Northeasterners—awkwardly and hilariously poised on the precipice of cultural and global collapse.
In “The Empties,” a woman questions whether the writing skills she acquired at liberal arts college can be useful in the face of apocalypse. In “Summer Song,” a chorus of bourgeois voices sings out its privileged discontent. “Reading Group Guide” satirizes book-club chatter with questions that veer from the absurd to the obscene. Each story turns a lens on its own machinery, exposing the quiet politics encoded in literary convention. Using surgical precision, biting irony, and formal experimentation, Row pierces through the stories white America tells itself—and the narrative structures that make them seem natural, inevitable, and true.
Storyknife is a funny, troubling, indelible look at a culture whose rituals and expectations are dissolving into thin air.
A sharply constructed, death-defying story collection that dismantles the myths of white America, revealing race, class, and gender as fictions that can be taken apart and remade
In his first story collection in fifteen years, Jess Row evokes white America—specifically liberal, educated white Northeasterners—awkwardly and hilariously poised on the precipice of cultural and global collapse.
In “The Empties,” a woman questions whether the writing skills she acquired at liberal arts college can be useful in the face of apocalypse. In “Summer Song,” a chorus of bourgeois voices sings out its privileged discontent. “Reading Group Guide” satirizes book-club chatter with questions that veer from the absurd to the obscene. Each story turns a lens on its own machinery, exposing the quiet politics encoded in literary convention. Using surgical precision, biting irony, and formal experimentation, Row pierces through the stories white America tells itself—and the narrative structures that make them seem natural, inevitable, and true.
Storyknife is a funny, troubling, indelible look at a culture whose rituals and expectations are dissolving into thin air.
- GenresShort Stories
240 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 11, 2026
About the author
Jess Row
15 books72 followersJess Row is an American short story writer and novelist. He attended Yale University and later taught English in Hong Kong for two years before completing his M.F.A. at the University of Michigan in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Storyknife is a book of short stories, mostly a day-in-the-life of your average urban hipster type, or upper class mommies/suburban upper class, and one with a post-apocalyptic feel. I didn't really enjoy them. I didn't hate them, but I didn't see the point of any of the stories. Not funny, not sad, not mind-bending, nor inclined to make me muse on the particulars, or pine for anything, or reflect on anything profound. They just reminded me of stories that one might write, if one were in class, and one was directed to write a short story for the teacher or receive a big fat "zero" in the grade book for that day. I feel like the stories said, "Here. I was bored, so I wrote something. You can have it. I don't want it." My feeling while reading it was, "Yeah, that's OK. I don't want it either." **This book was provided free to me, but all opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
The author writes very well on some out of the normal subjects.. especially liked the short story about the lack of supplies, food, housing in the best of the ending world. Also the story about the quilt maker and her remaining relations.. hard to think relatives would be that uncaring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2026
Put it down. Picked it up. Twice. Some stories were good. A couple others were wordy for the sake of being wordy.
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July 30, 2026Thank you goodreads for this ARC
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews