Scar Vegas

And Other Stories

by Tom Paine

Harvest Books, 228 pp., $13 (paper)

In 1999, the Village Voice named Tom Paine a “Writer on the Verge,” and his lively debut collection of stories, Scar Vegas, delivers with gusto. Paine’s characters and settings are impressively varied — from a secretary who recounts the events of a heated town meeting in the hilarious “Unapproved Minutes of the Carthage, Vermont, Zoning Board of Adjustment,” to the soldier witnessing the high-tech brutality of the Gulf War in the stunning “The Battle of Khafji.” Paine is able to dig deep inside his characters, shedding light on their warts and occasional beauties; he has carved distinct individuals hoping for better things from a world that seems to revel in cruelty and darkly humorous irony. After reading this frenetic collection, the reader might feel exhausted, but it’s the kind of exhaustion that sets in after one returns from an exciting, eye-opening journey. (reviewed 2-18-00)

Scar Vegas and Other StoriesTom Paine

This article appears in December 1 • 2000.

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