Bream Gives Me Hiccups

Bream Gives Me Hiccups

<div><B>“Eisenberg is truly a talented writer. . . Hilarious and poignant.”—<I>Entertainment Weekly</I></B><BR><BR><I>Bream Gives Me Hiccups: And Other Stories</I> is the whip-smart fiction debut of Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg. Known for his iconic film roles but also for his regular pieces in the <I>New Yorker</I> and his two critically acclaimed plays, Eisenberg is an emerging literary voice.<BR><BR>Taking its title from a group of stories that begin the book, <I>Bream Gives Me Hiccups</I> moves from contemporary L.A. to the dorm rooms of an American college to ancient Pompeii, throwing the reader into a universe of social misfits, reimagined scenes from history, and ridiculous overreactions. In one piece, a tense email exchange between a young man and his girlfriend is taken over by his sister, who is obsessed with the Bosnian genocide (<I>The situation reminds me of a little historical blip called the Karadordevo agreement</I>); in another, a college freshman forced to live with a roommate is stunned when one of her ramen packets goes missing (<I>she didn’t have “one” of my ramens. She had a chicken ramen</I>); in another piece, Alexander Graham Bell has teething problems with his invention (<I>I’ve been calling Mabel all day, she doesn’t pick up! Yes, of course I dialed the right number – 2!</I>).<BR><BR>United by Eisenberg’s gift for humor and character, and grouped into chapters that open with illustrations by award-winning cartoonist Jean Jullien, the witty pieces collected in <I>Bream Gives Me Hiccups</I> explore the various insanities of the modern world, and mark the arrival of a fantastically funny, self-ironic, and original voice.</div>