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mbpartlow's review against another edition
5.0
I received this book as a Christmas gift.
Obviously, the person who gave me this book loves me more than any other person I've ever met in my whole life.
My daughter, Thing 2, took the book away from me one noontime. I was reading it while eating lunch, and she was afraid I would choke to death because I was laughing so hard.
Not every essay is a laugh riot. Some are small and quiet and thought-provoking.
This book left me feeling as though I must rush out and immediately read everything of his that I haven't already consumed.
Obviously, the person who gave me this book loves me more than any other person I've ever met in my whole life.
My daughter, Thing 2, took the book away from me one noontime. I was reading it while eating lunch, and she was afraid I would choke to death because I was laughing so hard.
Not every essay is a laugh riot. Some are small and quiet and thought-provoking.
This book left me feeling as though I must rush out and immediately read everything of his that I haven't already consumed.
annenichols's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
I enjoyed this book immensely. Sedaris writes very well, and his observations are usually funny, sometimes poignant. I did laugh out loud. Recommended.
knitnetic's review against another edition
4.0
This is the latest offering from one of America's best-loved humorists, the author of the hilarious Me Talk Pretty One Day -- if you haven't read it, do it. Now.
This latest collection of stories is not as funny as Sedaris's earlier works. Instead, the stories reveal the full potential of strangeness and emotional depth only hinted at in previous collections. This is clear from nearly the very start of the collection. While the first story of the collection is about tapeworms and catching crabs (I did mention his strangeness, yes?) the second, entitled "Keeping Up" is a funny and ultimately touching tale of modern coupledom, of the things that keep us from running out on each other, even though we may fantasize about it on a regular basis.
Another overarching theme of the book can be found on its cover: death, and the various ways it affects life. Sedaris's humor has always walked the line between normal and morbid and this collection is no different. From the tale of buying his boyfriend a skeleton to his misadventures working in a morgue over Halloween, death touches nearly ever story in the collection. These build up to the final story, an 80 page opus documenting his journey to Tokyo to quit smoking. This story, which also tells of Sedaris's successful attempts to quit drinking and using drugs, is interspersed with the author's realization of his own weakness and mortality. This leads to a poignant, though not depressing, end to the collection.
Overall, though the book is not as amusing as some of Sedaris's other collections, it's still immensely entertaining and worth an afternoon of your time.
Final Opinion: Go buy it, sit down, and enjoy. Unless you have a weak stomach. Then you might want to think twice.
Sorry for the lack of posts this week -- I've been preparing a longer post about my trip to Milan this January. I'm now realizing that that post is much too long for any single day -- expect it to show up in installments this week.
This latest collection of stories is not as funny as Sedaris's earlier works. Instead, the stories reveal the full potential of strangeness and emotional depth only hinted at in previous collections. This is clear from nearly the very start of the collection. While the first story of the collection is about tapeworms and catching crabs (I did mention his strangeness, yes?) the second, entitled "Keeping Up" is a funny and ultimately touching tale of modern coupledom, of the things that keep us from running out on each other, even though we may fantasize about it on a regular basis.
Another overarching theme of the book can be found on its cover: death, and the various ways it affects life. Sedaris's humor has always walked the line between normal and morbid and this collection is no different. From the tale of buying his boyfriend a skeleton to his misadventures working in a morgue over Halloween, death touches nearly ever story in the collection. These build up to the final story, an 80 page opus documenting his journey to Tokyo to quit smoking. This story, which also tells of Sedaris's successful attempts to quit drinking and using drugs, is interspersed with the author's realization of his own weakness and mortality. This leads to a poignant, though not depressing, end to the collection.
Overall, though the book is not as amusing as some of Sedaris's other collections, it's still immensely entertaining and worth an afternoon of your time.
Final Opinion: Go buy it, sit down, and enjoy. Unless you have a weak stomach. Then you might want to think twice.
Sorry for the lack of posts this week -- I've been preparing a longer post about my trip to Milan this January. I'm now realizing that that post is much too long for any single day -- expect it to show up in installments this week.
benleon97's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
3.25
hard to believe this stuff really happens to him. overall very funny but I feel some of the stories you can see how he’s lost touch the more successful he got in life and that takes away from the book. Or maybe you are also a rich snob and can relate to it
trin's review against another edition
4.0
Another immensely enjoyable Sedaris collection. Most of the laugh out loud moments for me revolved around jokes about shit, pee, the flatulence of elderly women, ass boils, and camels, but that’s just because I’m sophisticated like that.
Although actually: actually, one of the amazing things about Sedaris is that he attains emotional depth in essays nominally about ass boils—“Old Faithful,” one of my favorites in this collection and the only one I had read previously, is somehow one of the sweetest love stories I’ve lately encountered. And the final, sprawling essay about quitting smoking and living in Japan, is wonderfully complex and detailed. I already want to read it again. Too bad the public library discourages stealing.
Although actually: actually, one of the amazing things about Sedaris is that he attains emotional depth in essays nominally about ass boils—“Old Faithful,” one of my favorites in this collection and the only one I had read previously, is somehow one of the sweetest love stories I’ve lately encountered. And the final, sprawling essay about quitting smoking and living in Japan, is wonderfully complex and detailed. I already want to read it again. Too bad the public library discourages stealing.
njdarkish's review against another edition
2.0
In spite of being a famous humorist, David Sedaris's writing really wasn't very funny. The waiting room essay was funny, yes, but the rest I was either kind of bored, uncomfortable, or was thinking, "David Sedaris is kind of a dick."
That said, it appears the common consensus about this book is that it's one of his least funny/worthwhile, so I think I'll try one of his other books out. Naked seems to be the most well-received, so probably that one.
That said, it appears the common consensus about this book is that it's one of his least funny/worthwhile, so I think I'll try one of his other books out. Naked seems to be the most well-received, so probably that one.
jennjennsan's review against another edition
4.0
Ok, so in the beginning, I had a really tough time struggling through it. It bounces around a lot and his stories didn't really interest me. Later on in the book I got a bit sucked in and was actually amused more by his story-telling. It is definitely all over the place and reads a bit like someone's random journal thoughts but I'm glad I worked my way through and I know I will be reading a few more of his books just by prior recommendation.
carlyxdeexx's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe I would have liked the audiobook better. Perhaps hearing the humor would have made it more funny for me.
Because I kinda expected to chuckle out loud to myself reading this, and I honestly never did. Not that it isn’t humorous—the humor is just not the kind that got me laughing while reading, which I guess is difficult, to get someone so immersed in a written work that they lose the self-conscious urge to stifle laughter.
But anyway, I think this book will be a hit with some people and just kinda meh for others. Some of the stories really stood out to me—“That’s Amore” was particularly memorable, and “The Smoking Section” was my favorite, but it’s at the very end of the collection! The rest were just okay, though they had their moments. I agree with another reviewer who mentioned that these stories don’t seem finished. I felt I was waiting for a punch line most of the time, and though each story wrapped up with a line that called back to something, that line didn’t seem to deliver anything to me, and so fell flat. Even the ends of the stories I did like didn’t wrap up with the punch I wanted/expected. I finished thinking, “Okay, but what was the point?” And I guess there doesn’t necessarily have to be a point. But there wasn’t anything else distracting me from the lack.
I’d like to read NAKED and ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY, since I’ve heard they’re the best of Sedaris’s work and this doesn’t seem like it lives up to that.
Because I kinda expected to chuckle out loud to myself reading this, and I honestly never did. Not that it isn’t humorous—the humor is just not the kind that got me laughing while reading, which I guess is difficult, to get someone so immersed in a written work that they lose the self-conscious urge to stifle laughter.
But anyway, I think this book will be a hit with some people and just kinda meh for others. Some of the stories really stood out to me—“That’s Amore” was particularly memorable, and “The Smoking Section” was my favorite, but it’s at the very end of the collection! The rest were just okay, though they had their moments. I agree with another reviewer who mentioned that these stories don’t seem finished. I felt I was waiting for a punch line most of the time, and though each story wrapped up with a line that called back to something, that line didn’t seem to deliver anything to me, and so fell flat. Even the ends of the stories I did like didn’t wrap up with the punch I wanted/expected. I finished thinking, “Okay, but what was the point?” And I guess there doesn’t necessarily have to be a point. But there wasn’t anything else distracting me from the lack.
I’d like to read NAKED and ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY, since I’ve heard they’re the best of Sedaris’s work and this doesn’t seem like it lives up to that.