Bream Gives Me Hiccups

Bream Gives Me Hiccups: & Other Stories by Jesse Eisenberg, 273 pages

In his first short story collection, Eisenberg (better known for his acting work in The Social Network, Adventureland, etc.) offers up a range of high-brow and low-brow humor. The titular story is a series of restaurant reviews from a 9-year-old child of divorce, and is one of the longest in the book. My favorites focused on an overbearing mother explaining the ballet to her son; an uncle taking his young nephews neverending "why" WAY too seriously; the final conversations in Pompeii; and Eisenberg's thesaurus- (and tongue-) friendly "Manageable Tongue Twisters." Really, the only weak spot in this collection was "My Roommate Stole My Ramen," a series of letters from a naive college freshman that went on WAY. TOO. LONG. But the rest is fun, smart humor.