Naked Abridged

Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Summer Read
Review: Sedaris, the author of NAKED, employs a voice so natural, so believable, that the reader feels like a brother or sister in the Sedaris family, listening to David retell war stories before Thanksgiving Dinner. Several elements work wonderfully together to acheive this. First is the casual writing style. While others have expressed concern with the lack of editing, it seems apparent that a more formal style would sacrifice some of the warmth that is so vital to this book. Second is the sadness that tinges even the most giggly stories. Sedaris never fails to remind us that there is a real person narrating, and thus avoids much of the detachment prevalent in many other "hot" young authors. Finally, it is refreshing to read a novel with a gay protaganist where the sexuality is not a primary issue. Because the narrator's sexuality is a given, the issue is allowed to slip smoothly into the stream of the text - this novel could do more to quash negative gay stereotypes than many more strident novels. Add to this delightful mix a natural gift for self-deprecating humor, and the reader is left with a real sense of warmth and attachment for both book and author. Excellent job

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Summary: Do read!
Review: Sad and funny. Great insight into OCD and American families

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Summary: Barely naked
Review: Yes, I laughed. Yes, I thought the stories were funny. Yes, I think the postmodern world is full of deep irony and aching chaos. Yes, I like laughing over the abyss. Yes, yes, yes. But I'm not sure any of that makes up for poor writing. Sedaris is talented--but I got the idea this book had been shunted through the process, brought out too early in its life. Too many missteps, in the end. The final story, for example, the one about the nudist colony, cannot keep its tenses straight, and ends up shifting in awkward and strange ways from the present to the past tense. A better editor? Perhaps. A better writer. Not likely. Just more time to revise and rethink--and develop deeper reserves of humor, not just those founded on the misery of others

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Summary: "Naked" exposes Equal Opportunity Offender
Review: David Sedaris' acidic re-telling of personal life experiences is a singular masterpiece of razor-sharp wit and American satire. Chapter by chapter Sedaris leads us through the embarassing, enlightening, and distrubing episodes of his life without any regard to shame, euphemism, or delicacy. What emerges from these softly-woven narratives is an endearing and hilarious portrait of a smart-ass coming of age. Whether he's describing the handicapped, nudists, gays, or religious extremists, Sedaris exposes in paragraphs the irony and hypocrisy that others would need volumes to describe. At the same time, his incidental frankness and honesty solicit the our sympathy and laughter. Finally, satire has arrived which is neither self-indulgent or pompous

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Summary: An Interesting and amusing journey...
Review: David Sedaris proves that truth can be stranger, and more entertaining, than fiction. This collection of essays about his life read like a woderful amusement park ride, be it a roller coaster, fun house or house of horrors, each essay gives a you a sense of what life must have been like for one, sometimes troubled, young man!!! Some essays touched a spot that each gay man has gone through in one way or another, some left me ammazed that he was around to write them at all. Buy your ticket sit back and enjoy the ride...Deffintly an "E Ticket"!!!!!

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Summary: Stripped To The Bone By Guffaws and Laughter
Review: Eagerly awaiting Sedaris' next book since closing the cover of Barrel Fever, I turned first to the title chapter that closes the book. I was laughing so hard and crying so much by the time I reached the end that I forgot that I still had the rest of the book to read. If I had the opportunity, I'd do a little snooping around and find out where the nudist park is that Sedaris visits, then go just for the sheer pleasure of following in his bare footsteps. I can hardly wait to breeze through the other chapters to see what else he's been up to since his days as an elf during one Christmas at Macy's. I can still hear the description of his department store escapades while listening to Sedaris for the first time on NPR during the holiday season a couple of years ago

Rating:
Summary: The Funniest Book Without Pictures I Know
Review: Sedaris is a funny man who writes funny things. Do you have a sense of humor? Do you like to laugh? Well, I sure do, and this book brought tears of helpless laughter careening from my eyes, ears, and lips until I was reduced to a puddle of my former self. If you read this book, do so in the presence of a loved one who is schooled in the teachings of Heimlich, so that you won't die when you choke from laughing. I love you all...

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Summary: A Howl on every page. A hoot 'n a holler in every story.
Review: David Sedaris' latest book is short; he is obviously a very kind author. If the book were any longer, my wife would have thrown me out of bed due to the excessive shaking resulting from held-in laughter. In "Naked", Mr. Sedaris' youth in North Carolina is explored through the tongue-in-cheek examination mode that he first displayed in "Barrel Fever". His style would not be termed Southern charm, unless you are talking about Terry Southern. Mr. Sedaris is Woody Allen with a definite attitude. His survival in a Greek patriarchal home watched over by a Greek grandmother, resembling Circe, is detailed from a cockeyed angle. Most of the short stories are cooly observed by his wise-cracking mother, a woman you would want to date, if she wasn't your mom. Details of the stories are better left unsaid. This is a book not to be read in public. You will be stared at as you laugh uncontrollably; the last such book that caused a public spectacle for me was Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces"

Rating:
Summary: Was It Worth The wait?
Review: Hmmm...Yes! Sedaris' first book "Barrel Fever" left me aching for more of his self-deprecating sense of humor. Aching for over a year, in fact. His new book, although a bit more serious in tone, still is jam packed with the humor so twisted that we are sometimes afraid to laugh and enjoy it. Sedaris is a master at developing characters psychological foibles( In Naked we are led to believe they are his foibles) in such a way that even the characters don't reallize that they are slightly demented. " A Plague of Tics" is the best and most memorable of the seventeen stories partly because we can identify with the small boy's compulsive behaviour, which he deems totally acceptable and has even driven his complacent mother to do the same. Most every person can find an awkward moment looking back through their childhood years and Sedaris seems to find the most painful ones and make them plainly and unabashedly comical.

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Summary: ONLY SLIGHTLY DISAPPOINTING
Review: THERE IS NO DEBATING THAT SEDARIS IS A WICKEDLY FUNNY SATIRIST. NOTHING IS SACRED WITH THIS MAN, AND THAT'S AS IT SHOULD BE. I LOVED HIS FIRST COLLECTION, AND APPRECIATED "NAKED." HIS ESSAY "A PLAGUE OF TICS" IS ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL, AND WORTH THE PRICE OF THE COLLECTION. THE MEDITATION ON HIS MOTHER'S DEATH , "ASHES," IS BY TURNS FUNNY AND HEART- BREAKING. ON THEIR OWN, THESE PIECES WOULD STAND UP JUST FINE. AS A COLLECTION, HOWEVER, THEY SEEM TO BE SLIGHTLY REPETITIVE, AND I FOUND MYSELF BECOMING IMPATIENT WITH THE AUTHOR. HOW MANY TIMES CAN HE SWEAR OFF HITCH-HIKING AFTER VARIOUS BRUSHES WITH DEATH BEFORE WE BEGIN TO WISH THE GUY WOULD JUST LEARN HIS LESSON AND MOVE ON? IF YOU'RE A FAN, BUY THE BOOK. IF YOU HAVEN'T YET DISCOVERED SEDARIS, READ "BARREL FEVER."