FICTION

THE SEVEN YEAR ATOMIC MAKE-OVER GUIDE Stories by Christine Bell (W.W. Norton: $21, 176 pp.). If there is an overriding theme in Bell’s collection of short stories, it might be characters experiencing personal transformations through a traumatic or illegal act. They steal jewelry and steal babies. They are killed, almost killed or watch loved ones die. For the most part, they live in what we all agree on as reality, yet there is a vaguely surreal sensibility to Bell’s writing. These characters are in the world but not quite of the world.

A couple of these stories are a lot of fun, but most of them seem mediocre. There is a slight gimmicky feeling that runs throughout, as if these are the result of a series of clever assignments from a facile but not particularly deep writing teacher. When the “hook” is removed, as it is in the bizarre title story, Bell’s writing becomes more interesting and less predictable. Bell has written a collection of fairly engaging stories, but they don’t quite stick to your ribs.