Author:David Sedaris Binding: Paperback ISBN: 0316779423 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
"David Sedaris is too funny for color television"
"Mixed emotions, but worth it for several good laughs"
"Funny, but not his best"
"I love this book"
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Editorial Review:
Short stories and essays by an apartment cleaner and a popular commentator for National Public Radio highlight the absurd behavior of modern Americans, such as the suburban dad who saves money by performing surgery at home. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.
A collection of stories and essays by humorist and NPR commentator David Sedaris based upon his own experiences and the hidden perversity that can be found in Anytown, U.S.A. Here are images and blasphemies that nice people don't dare look at--blatantly exposed and told with the clear, casual voice of intimate knowledge. Sedaris' humor is born of compassion and his tales range from the sharing of cheery Christmas letters featuring infanticide, to experiences of the Gay and Famous (Charlton Heston and Elizabeth Dole, for example), to the lives of siblings named Hope, Faith, Charity and Adolph and to alcoholics and chain smokers you can laugh with.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
David Sedaris is too funny for color television I swear, David Sedaris is one of the funniest human beings alive today. Whether recalling his high school days in Raleigh, North Carolina, or wandering the world from Normandy to Japan with Hugh, he always seems to be able to find the funny side of life. What is remarkable is his ability to find the humor in situations that are sad and tragic. There can a dark side to humor sometimes, a constant reminder that sometimes we laugh to keep from crying, sometimes we laugh while we are crying. I've now read... more info
Mixed emotions, but worth it for several good laughs With this being the first David Sedaris book I have read, I had high hopes. It was read after recommendations comparing him to another favorite author. While there are several laugh out loud moments - mostly in the later stages of the book - for the most part I was disappointed by the inconsistent and boring majority of what reads like the diary of a dysfunctional person. The two best stories, stories which redeem the rest of the book and are substantial on their own, are clearly "Barrel Fever" and... more info
Funny, but not his best Like the other Sedaris books I've read, this one was at times laugh-out-loud funny. Especially the fictional account of the author's gay love affairs with the people most likely to take offense at being included in such a story: Mike Tyson, Charlton Heston, Bruce Springsteen, etc. The essays and stories in the middle weren't as funny, though, and overall this isn't his best book.
I love this book So I feel compelled to write a review. This book is absurd. It is perverse. It sometimes is uncomfortable to read. I didn't love it the first time I read it and it has grown on me like a fungus. I certainly understand why lots and lots of people don't like it but I would like to impress on those who are reading the reviews that the book is not BAD, just a little unpolished. It seems that the speaker is a chain-smoking, neurotic, self-absorbed, outcast whose mind can never slow down. And these are those 3 am... more info
