Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
I’ve liked Sedaris ever since I first picked up one of his books, but I fell in love with Sedaris the moment he calls Trump a “blowhard” in Calypso.
What makes so Sedaris so special is his ability to speak about difficult or often taboo subjects with humility and honesty that others can’t. Specifically, topics like his sister’s suicide or his challenged relationship with his father. His observational approach to writing is almost childlike at times, intertwined with simple, yet often profound statements.
Note to self: Chapter about shitting his pants and other gastrointestinal nightmares made me laugh out loud. In part because it was brilliantly written and also because I have the humor of a 10 year old boy.
I can’t wait to read more of his books and hope to see him live one day!
What makes so Sedaris so special is his ability to speak about difficult or often taboo subjects with humility and honesty that others can’t. Specifically, topics like his sister’s suicide or his challenged relationship with his father. His observational approach to writing is almost childlike at times, intertwined with simple, yet often profound statements.
Note to self: Chapter about shitting his pants and other gastrointestinal nightmares made me laugh out loud. In part because it was brilliantly written and also because I have the humor of a 10 year old boy.
I can’t wait to read more of his books and hope to see him live one day!
funny
lighthearted
emotional
funny
reflective
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
I'm pretty ambivalent about this book. I read it for book club and guess I kind of enjoyed it, but I didn't really get much out of it.
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
funny
reflective
fast-paced
I can't blame David for this, as he has always been writing his lived experience, but the stories in this book trend a bit more towards melancholy than humorous than I'm used to with him. I still really liked it, and there's still laughs to be had and some of the sad moments are quite poignant, but it was less enjoyable than some of his other works.
Oh dear. I had wanted to like this more, but I think I'm just not the right reader for Sedaris. Have read two of his books so far, and both were just alright (nothing spectacular, but that's just my opinion). I think his writing lacks sensitivity and a certain elegance/style. It just feels like the kind of book that's better 'listened' to than read. Would make a decent audiobook to be played to fill a silence that needed to be filled. Perhaps I've read this too late, so a lot of his jokes felt 'dated' (esp. the political ones).
The only bit I thought was almost 'perfect' was the one where he goes on about his stomach virus. And his mother's alcoholism (but that could've been written better). I guess another thing that I didn't 'enjoy' about Sedaris' book is of how a lot of his writing is about his own problematic behaviour which he tries to justify somehow? Like how he didn't treat his sister very well before her death/suicide, but then rambles on about how 'his family' had told him that he shouldn't be feeling bad about it because she had always been hard-to-deal-with anyway? Or like the time(s) when he made bad and offensive jokes, and got blocked? And just a few other subtle things - like how he is always making low-key offensive comments about people who look/act homeless; and low-key racist 'jokes' which inevitably just makes him look like that overly-excited (but annoying) tourist that people tend to roll their eyes at.
The only bit I thought was almost 'perfect' was the one where he goes on about his stomach virus. And his mother's alcoholism (but that could've been written better). I guess another thing that I didn't 'enjoy' about Sedaris' book is of how a lot of his writing is about his own problematic behaviour which he tries to justify somehow? Like how he didn't treat his sister very well before her death/suicide, but then rambles on about how 'his family' had told him that he shouldn't be feeling bad about it because she had always been hard-to-deal-with anyway? Or like the time(s) when he made bad and offensive jokes, and got blocked? And just a few other subtle things - like how he is always making low-key offensive comments about people who look/act homeless; and low-key racist 'jokes' which inevitably just makes him look like that overly-excited (but annoying) tourist that people tend to roll their eyes at.