Me Talk Pretty One Day Abridged

Rating:
Summary: The funniest thing I've ever read...
Review: Although I will say right away that Sedaris's humor is probably not for everyone, if you like his brand of sarcasm, this is the book for you. "Jesus Shaves" had me and my husband snorting with laughter as we tried to tell each other our favorite lines from the chapter. And Sedaris's stint as an inept writing instructor will be appreciated by anyone who has sat through a writing workshop and wondered about the person teaching it. Wonderful, hilarious, intelligent. Can't wait to read his other stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Bitterness is funny?
Review: I received this book and, given all the positive publicity, was anxious and excited to read it. However, I put it down after struggling through half of it, vowing not to finish it. Why? Because hidden beneath Sedaris' sarcastic, cynical approach to humor appears to be a bitterness against people, the world - life in general. Sure, if you like laughing at others, I suppose you would enjoy this book. He reminds me of a cynical, sarcastic Woody Allen. Using humor to basically say "See how smart I am? I'm making fun of YOU, the AVERAGE person, and you don't even know it!". Bitterness is not funny - it's just plain ugly.

Rating:
Summary: David Rocks...
Review: Good, but slightly repetitive of his previous works. A recommend nonetheless. J>

Rating:
Summary: Real life phantasy and fun
Review: This enjoyable work of autobiography is always fun and fequently very funny. It is a collection of short pieces that appeared elsewhere individually before being compiled into this delightful book. Sedaris talks about his early childhood, adolescence, and the other stages of his life in which he collects all kinds of experience. The experiences in themselves are mostly unremarkable but the author has a talent for filtering them through his idiosyncratic view of life and transforming them into interesting situations that are worth writing about and very much worth reading. His tone is usually a self depecating stance, but sometimes he switches to playful arrogance. In both cases he hits the mark. He is born to an Orthodox father (a computer genius when computers were still largely unknown) and a Protestant mother. He has a bunch of sisters (one of them very attractive) and a foul-mouthed but good-hearted brother. He studies art and gets a job teaching, for which he considered himself eminently unsuited, and probably was. He works at menial jobs in New York. He does drugs and engages in promiscuous sex. But then he finds a boyfriend and the two of them rebuild and refurbish an old fallen down house in France and live in the village where it is located. The second part of the book covers his attempts to learn French while he is living in the village and in Paris. He actually enrolls in a language school and offers many delightful anecdotes from his classes. Sharing Sedaris' cockeyed view of life makes for an excellent read.

Rating:
Summary: So Not Funny
Review: I ordered this book, as well as "Naked" because they were recommended for people who enjoyed David Egger's "Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius." I am not sure who decides on those recommendations, but boy were they wrong. I was unable to finish either Sedaris book, as they were boring, bland and just plain unfunny. Egger's book was introspective, fresh, and drew the reader in and made you care about what happened next, not to mention hilariously funny at times. Both of Sedaris' books do little to make you interested in the characters at all and the humor they try to employ wasn't funny when the same jokes were made ten times before Sedaris made them. If you enjoy comedy like recent years of SNL, then maybe you'll like this book. But if you find that kind of humor boring and redundant, then don't waste your money (like I did).

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: Enlightened people know that David Sedaris is quite possibly the funniest person on the planet. I bought this book at a book signing (and enlightened people also know that even better than reading Sedaris' work is hearing Sedaris read Sedaris' work -- so you might want to look for the audio). He read several excerpts and I was laughing so hard during "Jesus Shaves" I thought I'd have a heart attack and they'd have to cart me out of there. In dark times, books like this keep you alive.

Rating:
Summary: My personal favorite
Review: I have all of David's books - think I'm a bit of a fan? Yes. But of them all this was easily my favorite of his collections based primarily on the second half (the book is divided into parts "One" and "Deux") which recounts his time spent living with a partner/boyfriend in France. I nearly burst a spleen when he recounted his difficulties with shopping. David's caustic, observational. and self depricating humor is not for everyone - though everyone I know thinks his stories are laugh out loud funny. If you've enjoyed any of his earlier works, don't miss out on this one!

Rating:
Summary: Me stop laughing one day (but not anytime soon)
Review: David Sedaris has found a way to take the subtext of life and put it on paper in a shameless, self-revealing way that leaves the reader gasping with laughter. To take all the little, disjointed comments that you run through your head, but would never say aloud to anyone, whip them into chapter/book form, and find the courage to publish them so that millions of readers can see how absurd you are takes a rare form of courage, a strong sense of self, and great talent. David does it with a flair. If you can't find something to identify with and laugh about in this book, then you are a pompous stuffed-shirt, and you'll probably show up as a character in David's next book!

Rating:
Summary: this book funny me made laugh
Review: I hate short stories. They leave me wondering why the author didn't think the character or the plot significant enough to explore in the greater detail of a novel. That said, I really enjoyed Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day". The first half of the book, "One", was filled with stories about Sedaris's family. Stories of the sort that every family retells around the kitchen table when gathered together again as 'grown-ups' (Remember the time Amy came home in the fat suit and dad thought she'd REALLY gained all that weight?!? Mom and Dad love that new dog more than they EVER loved us kids when we lived at home!). Amusing and fun to read. "Deux (Two)" recounts Sedaris's time as an "ex-pat" in France. Having struggled through French, German and Spanish myself and watching my own ESL students learn to untangle reflexives made this half of the book particularly amusing. Fun, witty, loony and irresistibly funny: just like the reviews say.

Rating:
Summary: bad sense of humor?
Review: It's simply a long-haul airplane book. I quite did not understand the eulogies from other readers.