A clever, biting spark to add to your day.
Summary:
A nonfiction collection of deadpan essays chronicling the life and off-key, helter-skelter observations of author David Sedaris.
Verdict: 7/10
I can’t exactly remember how the name David Sedaris was put in my head. It could have been an essay I read in college or just that I saw his name on the nonfiction bookshelf often enough. But either way, I picked up this book during a tour of Chicago and decided to try something new, not knowing entirely what to expect.
This was a good read. Not groundbreaking or shockingly brilliant or anything. But good.
I think there’s a glaring difference between me and Sedaris: he is very pessimistic where I’m known for being an optimist. I should also warn younger or more sensitive readers about the language and sexual content (maybe just skip the Town and Country story altogether).
Nevertheless, I thought his morbid and bizarre stories of normal (and not so normal) life were hilarious. His humor is so dry yet thought-provoking.
This book was like a more edge and biographical version of Seinfeld. Lots of odd characters and situations that you laugh at, but an ever present sense of humanity and subtle realizations about the weird world we live in.
I may not always agree with Sedaris’ mindset but he says things in such an amusing way that I don’t mind. It’s the casual stories like being curious about why magpies at a window are more frightened of a Donna Summers’ album cover than an actual scarecrow. Or whether a statue of a garden gnome is considered art. Humorous if bizarre anecdotes that make the reader stop and think and maybe crack a smile.
You know a writer is good at what he does when he can take a disgusting and laughable account of lancing a boil and make me say “awww, how romantic.” Only a good writer can convince a weak stomach that his boyfriend cutting off skin lesions might be a good date activity. I was chuckling both at him and my own reaction the entire time.
Comments