Bream Gives Me Hiccups: & Other Stories

The wildly inventive debut collection of stories by the Oscar-nominated star of The Social Network. “Hilarious … It’s a hoot” (People, The Best New Books).

Jesse Eisenberg, known for his iconic film roles, his regular pieces in the New Yorker and two critically acclaimed plays, proves himself “a deeply original comic voice” in these 28 stories” about the funniness, sadness, and strangeness of everyday life and they really made me laugh” (Roz Chast).

Moving from contemporary LA to the dorm rooms of an American college to ancient Pompeii, Eisenberg throws the reader into a universe of social misfits, reimagined scenes from history, and ridiculous overreactions; a college freshman forced to live with a roommate is stunned when one of her ramen packets goes missing (“She didn’t have ‘one’ of my ramens. She had a chicken ramen. ”); Alexander Graham Bell has teething problems with his invention (“I’ve been calling Mabel all day, she doesn’t pick up! Yes, of course I dialled the right number—2!”); and in the title story, a precocious and privileged nine-year-old boy finds himself in the uncomfortable position as an amateur restaurant critic.

Featuring illustrations by award-winning cartoonist Jean Jillian, this “alphabet soup of sketches, riffs, and innovations” (Seattle Times) explores the various insanities of the modern world, “playfully bringing both familiar and wholly original scenarios to life” (Marie Claire).

© 2015 Grove Press (Ebook): 9780802190819

Release date

Ebook: 31 August 2015