Author:David Sedaris Binding: Paperback ISBN: 0316776963 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
"Pure drivel"
"The David Sedaris Starter Kit"
"is there an option for ZERO stars??"
"best sedaris book"
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Editorial Review:
A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers and cashiers with 6-inch fingernails. Compared by The New Yorker to Twain and Hawthorne, Sedaris has become one of our best-loved authors.
David Sedaris became a star autobiographer on public radio, onstage in New York, and on bestseller lists, mostly on the strength of "SantaLand Diaries," a scathing, hilarious account of his stint as a Christmas elf at Macy's. (It's in two separate collections, both worth owning, Barrel Fever and the Christmas-themed Holidays on Ice.) Sedaris's caustic gift has not deserted him in his fourth book, which mines poignant comedy from his peculiar childhood in North Carolina, his bizarre career path, and his move with his lover to France. Though his anarchic inclination to digress is his glory, Sedaris does have a theme in these reminiscences: the inability of humans to communicate. The title is his rendition in transliterated English of how he and his fellow students of French in Paris mangle the Gallic language. In the essay "Jesus Shaves," he and his classmates from many nations try to convey the concept of Easter to a Moroccan Muslim. "It is a party for the little boy of God," says one. "Then he be die one day on two... morsels of... lumber," says another. Sedaris muses on the disputes between his Protestant mother and his father, a Greek Orthodox guy whose Easter fell on a different day. Other essays explicate his deep kinship with his eccentric mom and absurd alienation from his IBM-exec dad: "To me, the greatest mystery of science continues to be that a man could father six children who shared absolutely none of his interests."
Every glimpse we get of Sedaris's family and acquaintances delivers laughs and insights. He thwarts his North Carolina speech therapist ("for whom the word pen had two syllables") by cleverly avoiding all words with s sounds, which reveal the lisp she sought to correct. His midget guitar teacher, Mister Mancini, is unaware that Sedaris doesn't share his obsession with breasts, and sings "Light My Fire" all wrong--"as if he were a Webelo scout demanding a match." As a remarkably unqualified teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago, Sedaris had his class watch soap operas and assign "guessays" on what would happen in the next day's episode.
It all adds up to the most distinctively skewed autobiography since Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia. The only possible reason not to read this book is if you'd rather hear the author's intrinsically funny speaking voice narrating his story. In that case, get Me Talk Pretty One Day on audio. --Tim Appelo
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Pure drivel This highly overrated book is far from being funny. Dreck and dross, that's what it is. I mean, i would have read past chapter 8 if it were at least a remotely interesting book, let alone funny. I skimmed a lot even to get there. Out of the first eight chapters, the ones on his speech therapy sessions, guitar lessons, his years as an art school student, his dad's poor sense of humor, his trash spouting brother, putting his family pets down, a Thanksgiving dinner anecdote etc failed to entertain. Oh... more info
The David Sedaris Starter Kit One mark of a great book is when you laugh out loud alone. This book accomplishes the feat, and my main complaint is that it didn't last longer. Sedaris is an engaging presenter live, and I'd suggest watching or listening to him speak before reading the book. You'll understand the comic timing and the absurdity of some of the stories more. Highly recommended.
is there an option for ZERO stars?? Horrid just about covers it - not funny, very much a waste of time. I think the title is a good clue as to the content - complete drivel. I've given a couple of his other books a glance - everyone deserves a second chance, no? Unfortunately I have found the others similarly disappointing. His little stitched-together anecdotes are weak attempts at humor that don't come off funny and only make him seem more pathetic in the telling.
best sedaris book i love this man and this is my favorite of his books (though i will admit i am just now reading Holidays on Ice). he makes me laugh out loud and has a way of putting words on paper that capture things in a way no one else can. even my sister, who is not a big reader and prefers more "chick lit" genre books was laughing out loud when she she picked this up out of desperation when we were on vacation. you will not be disappointed.
