Rating: 
Summary: steady slope
Review: as a fan of david sedaris from this american life, i was ready to devour this book from the moment it entered my hands. the problem was, i just couldn't chug it down. havinf heard several of the early stories read for that show, david's voice in my head kept preventing me from reading without distraction. i also noticed that many of his essays take on more life when he read them than when i was. luckily, this changed as i read on. by the time i got to the later stories from france, the ball was rolling and i was in stitches.
Rating:
Summary: A humourous example of pure talent
Review: David Sedaris has proven himself a very talented writer. His insights into French life, speech impediments, and even eating ones hat are among the funniest I've ever read. ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY is a must read for fans of satire, France, and anyone who wants to laugh uproariously. Sedaris tells many stories on varied topics. Whether he is discussing his speech impediment i.e. a lisp or Americans on a Paris subway, he does so wonderfully. Sedaris crafts his words magically to compose a hilarious story each time around. Few writers can do as he has done. Anyone who appreciates humour and writing as an art form will love this book. If you disapprove of foul language, sensitive topics such as AIDS, or mockeries of the French language, this book is not for you. Including these things is a must in the overall craft and perfection of Sedaris' work. It is advisable to merely overlook these things if they bother you. If you cannot overlook such things, you deprive yourself of a wonderful reading experience. This book is utterly delightful. Nearly every one of the pages has something to make the reader cry from laughter. One can only hope that Sedaris will publish more books of this magnitude. For if he does not, he will rob the world of 'pretty' funny stories. Buy ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY and be prepared to laugh often.
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: I LOVE David Sedaris. I have all of his books, and tape him when he's on NPR. I think of all of his books of essays, this is the one that's best-organized, and best-structured. His views and insights remind me of my best friend. During times like these, it's good to have some comic relief, and as far as books go, this is my choice. My favorite essays in this book are "Youth in Asia", "Big Boy", "Picka Pocketoni", and "Jesus Shaves".
Rating: 
Summary: Did I miss something
Review: I guess I missed something when I read this book. I didn't find it funny at all.... in fact... I never laughed to myself let alone out loud. I was highly disappointed in this book. Having never read any other of his works so I have nothing to compare this to, I would not buy any other of his works.
Rating:
Summary: One of the funniest books in print
Review: This book is full of belly laughs. Be careful that you only read it where laughing out loud is appropriate. Sedaris just writes about his life and experience. It helps that his family is "quirky" and that at parts of the book he is trying to be an Ameriican in Paris-who doesn't speak much French ( hence the we talk pretty someday line). One of his best stories is about his sister who attempts to REALLY BUG her father, who never stops criticizing the daughters looks, by showing up for a one week visit in a fat suit. Just get the book you'll love it.
Rating:
Summary: Sedaris tops even himself
Review: I wouldn't have believed that David Sedaris could get any funnier, but he has. With "Me Talk Pretty One Day," Sedaris strolls down something of an autobiographical lane. The title story refers to his efforts to learn French in a language class in France (he has inconveniently neglected to learn French before having moved to France with his lover). From his beginnings as a performance artist (one of his friends specialized in a performance piece that involved the artist being shot in the shoulder with a rifle), Sedaris moves on to moving (see the scathing summations of all the folks he's ever had the bad luck to move, including the woman who had not bothered to pack up a single item before the movers arrived) and other things. Sometimes he takes a side trip, as when he goes home to visit his father and his sister Amy happens to be there as well. Amy, who hasn't been home in some time, decides to wear a fat suit the entire weekend. The effect of the fat suit on Mr. Sedaris is mind-bogglingly funny--he spends the entire weekend trying subtly to get her to eat less, to go out for a quick run--anything to get her to lose weight. But the best thing by far has to be the classroom full of sundry nationalities, all trying in their crippled French to explain to a Moroccan student what Easter is: "It would seem that despite having grown up in a Muslim country, she would have heard it mentioned once or twice, but no. 'I mean it,' she said. 'I have no idea what you people are talking about.' The teacher called upon the rest of us to explain. The Poles led the charge to the best of their ability. 'It is,' said one, 'a party for the little boy of God who call his self Jesus and . . . oh, s--t.' She faltered and her fellow countryman came to her aid. 'He call his self Jesus and then he be die one day on two . . . morsels of . . . lumber.' The rest of the class jumped in, offering bits of information that would have given the pope an aneurysm. 'He die one day and then he go above of my head to live with your father.' 'He weared of himself the long hair and after he die, the first day he come back here for to say hello to the peoples.' 'He nice, the Jesus.' 'He makes the good things, and on the Easter we be sad because somebody makes him dead today.' Part of the problem had to do with vocabulary. Simple nouns such as 'cross' and 'resurrection' were beyond our grasp, let alone such complicated reflexive phrases as 'to give of yourself your only begotten son.' " Humor writing doesn't get any better than this.
Rating:
Summary: I'm nauseous from laughter
Review: I've never reviewed a book I haven't finished before, but I'm only on page 77 of Me Talk Pretty One Day and I had to take a break; I couldn't breathe from laughing so hard. As soon as I would recover I'd read another sentence, or even another phrase, and off I'd go again. It got so bad that the tears of laughter splashed onto the lenses of my glasses. I was actually crying from laughing; I had to blow my nose and everything. OK, I think I'm nearly ready to go back in. I suggest you join me.
Rating:
Summary: It Changed My Life
Review: It is interesting to note that some readers ... did not have find Sedaris' work interesting. Of course, we all have bad days, months, years, and we'll pick up a book that does not engage our minds with it's humorous intent. Not so for me with Sedaris' "Me Talk Pretty One Day". Essays on his family, to his days in New York until his current residency in Paris are such rip roaring fun - that he tore me away from the deep freeze of the winter blues into a rapturous high from which I have yet to come down. He makes you laugh and cry ... Nay - naysayers everywhere. This man has a mind that, as a writer wanna-be, made me envious of how he can take his life and describe it with words that create humor and texture so wonderful I felt like I've just had a fabulous meal at Nobu (NY Sushi restaurant). Damn Sedaris! I missed sitcoms, dinner, local meetings at the gym because each page kept me prisoner to his tales. I couldn't put this down. When I hit the last page - I was hungry for more. Needless to say - I now own all of Sedaris' work. Not everyone will love this as much as I. But, I can tell you, he does have a following - and I have joyously entered his clan. Get this book!
Rating: 
Summary: I'd Give it 3.5 Stars if I Could
Review: I was surprised that this book wasn't as funny as I'd hoped/thought/expected it to be. I often find myself laughing hysterically to Sedaris' NPR stints, so I found it odd that I found the book more "odd" than funny. I do have to give credit to one chapter in particular though..."Jesus Shaves." This is one of the funniest chapters I've EVER read. I'm sure the folks around me on the subway thought I was possessed as I was shaking, trying to control the tears and laughter. If only the rest of the book was as sharp....
Rating:
Summary: me talk pretty one day
Review: this was the funniest book i've read in a very long time!
a laugh out loud book, virtually every chapter
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