Sedaris in a More Reflective Mood But Still Providing His Typically Sardonic QuipsJune 18, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Avid readers of The New Yorker may be disappointed to find most of the stories here are reprints from past issues of the magazine. That's why it's a good thing that David Sedaris' essays hold up to repeated readings. The intentionally awkward title of the renowned humorist's latest collection of stories - 22 in total - comes from a list of fire escape instructions he found in his Japanese hotel room, a country to which he had traveled to stop smoking. His adventure is detailed in one of his more thoughtful accounts, "The Smoking Section", a near-novella at 83 pages. In typical form, Sedaris describes his addiction to candid zingers, but he becomes more contemplative once he does stop smoking and journeys to Tokyo to find his comic muse again, whether it's attending a language class, reading labels at the supermarket, or scraping the fecal matter off his shoe. The essay turns serious in Hiroshima where he visits the Peace Museum, which I agree is a tortuous exhibit to see for the visual devastation you see after the A-bomb hit the city. The net effect of his approach enhances the depth of his storytelling even if the laughs are not as forthcoming.
Aside from his smoke-enders story, some of the others run longer than the author's usual length. A good example is "That's Amore", a twenty-plus-page story he shares about a particularly cranky New York neighbor named Helen. There are laughs to be found, especially as he searches for her dentures in the shrubs below her window. However, he delves more deeply into the details of this surprising friendship rather than reaching for the next funny anecdote, and the story becomes more poignant than funny when the elderly Helen falls ill. A more familiar Sedaris can be found in "Solution to Saturday's Puzzle" in which he describes a flight to Raleigh on which he encounters a most difficult passenger who is the very definition of high maintenance. He makes a familiar situation purely his own, and as someone who regales in his acute observations of the human condition at its worst, Sedaris takes special delight in tormenting his fellow flyer no matter how inadvertently.
The rest of his essays are more typical of what we expect from Sedaris, running the gamut from his parents' efforts to become art collectors in "Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool" to life in the French countryside with his partner of nine years, set designer Hugh Hamrick. Hugh figures prominently in "Keeping Up", which exposes the author's innate haplessness in social situations and how he appreciates his partner even more as someone he truly cannot live without. I also particularly liked "Crybaby", a brief account of another airplane trip in which the author meets a grieving widower, watches a Chris Rock movie and is suddenly reminded of his own childhood forty years ago. Other episodes have him buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina, recalling a nasty babysitter named Mrs. Peacock who made children scratch her back with a plastic monkey hand; buying Hugh a human skeleton for Christmas, and responding to old people who don't act their age but still feel entitled to have his seat on the bus. Not as seamless or laugh-out-loud as Me Talk Pretty One Day, my personal favorite of his collections, this book shows a mellower Sedaris still good for a sharp quip but looking a little further past his next line.
Lame excuse for a bookJune 17, 2008 4 out of 29 found this review helpful
I saw Sedaris on the TV and he reviewed (brief) his book. I was interested, but after struggling through half the book, returned it to the library. I am very happy that I did not buy this book, as it was very boring. I mean, who cares if grandma had worms in her legs and the gory details of her life with them! I guess of you are a Sedaris fan you would like this one. I DID NOT!
Very disappointing - not funnyJune 17, 2008 27 out of 44 found this review helpful
I was hoping for a good laugh on a long train ride. This book isn't funny. I'm 3/4 through the book, and I got two chuckles out of it. In the last five stories, animals get abused or hurt. In one story, a goat is chained in the backyard and left to starve. In another, a horse is used in beasiality porn. In another, a mouse is burned alive. The list goes on. Sorry for not thinking that that's just soooo entertaining!
His stories are no longer truly funny, as in previous books (eg Me Talk Pretty One Day). They are vignettes of life -- observations and thoughts. Just that.
The only story I enjoyed is the one that was already previously published in the New Yorker (of Wildflowers and Weed). It seems that that the author has run out of material.
A fair readJune 17, 2008 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book was ok. Not as funny as "Me Talk Pretty One Day" or "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim". The first few stories were pretty slow, but the book picked up later on. The last essay, "The Smoking Room" was my favorite. It had the Dave humor I enjoyed in the previous books. I also liked "Solution to Saturday's Puzzle."
Totally worth it!June 17, 2008 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I heard this pitched as a book for those who love joy. While it's maybe not as outrageous or as focused as Me Talk Pretty and Dress your Family, there are absolutely laugh out loud moments throughout. It's worth the purchase if you're looking for an afternoon of voyeurism and the comfort that comes from knowing that you're not alone in your weird dark habits and quirks.
