Small Claims

Unfortunately this short story collection is out of print, but you can still find it here and on half.com. I hope you do find a copy, because it's worth your time.Even though the second story "Astronomy" is the most well-known from this collection, I found the first one, "Self-Portrait with Vanishing Point," to be the most engaging. Told from a retrospective point of view of a little girl, this is as perfect as a story can get -- it's hilarious, heartbreaking, and has a whopper of a finish. Ciment's got a very deft humorous touch.The rest of the stories are written in minimalistic prose, which I admit disappointed me somewhat, mostly because after reading "Self-Portrait," it was obvious Ciment has the ability to write startlingly rich, pointed prose. In comparison with the first story, the rest of the collection seemed too spare.However, they are all equally funny as the first, if not funnier. The eponymous story is the longest and is laugh-out-loud hilarious. And the last section, "Money," is comprised of five stories, forming a novella of sorts. The ending of this section is a bit of a letdown (Ciment just kind of lets the story fizz out), but it's still a very strong set of stories, a marvelous debut.