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Summary: Don't delay --get hooked on Sedaris right away!
Review: I just purchased the audio version of Naked, and while I'm not finished with it (I've been listening to it on my commutes to work) I wonder to myself, "What took me so long?" Friends and co-workers have been telling me about Sedaris for 4 years. I listen to This American Life on NPR from time to time, but always miss any Sedaris readings. I can find little time to read anymore, and finally, FINALLY, I decided to purchase the audio version.
And now I am bitter because I have denied myself for the last 4 years! The stories are priceless, particularly when they involve David's mother. Her sharp wit is the highlight of the book. I know that David loses her to illness in this book, and I miss her already! What a wonderful tribute! If only we were all able to so skillfully preserve the essence of someone we love!
If you want to laugh out loud, to the point where you have tears in your eyes, listen to Naked! Not only will it endlessly amuse you with the most intimate details of life in the Sedaris household, it will bring you a greater appreciation of your own family's little quirks!
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Summary: david sedaris is the funniest writer on the planet
Review: Like Me Talk Pretty One Day, this book made me laugh out loud and make other weird noises that caused people to look at me strange. Why don't they mind their own business?I couldn't help but get the feeling that this was a sort of tribute to his mother. If so I can't think of a better way to do something like that.
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Summary: people will think your crazy
Review: People will think your crazy as you laugh out loud to the book of short stories by Sedaris . I read the book on vacation at the jersey shore and I couldn't put the book down, whether I was by the pool or at the beach; I had to have it with me at all times.
This book would be worth it if it only had 2 stories in it, those being C.O.G and Naked. though funny as hell, this book isn't easy on Sedaris's family or for himself for that matter. he lays all on the line in a book no one should pass up.
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Summary: Hilarious!!!
Review: You will never have so much fun laughing at people no matter how many books you read. I hate to say that I laughed at David Sedaris' past, his life, but I couldn't help it. This is the most side splitting memoir I have ever read. The most enduring image I have is when Sedaris says he used to mow the lawn in a football helmet. No one semed to understand why I laughed so hard at it, but you just can't help but laugh. But above all, you can't help but be impressed with how soothing and simple Sedaris' writing is. It's painful and redeeming, but all in all, it's excellent.
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Summary: Shhh... this is a library!
Review: Warning, do not read this book in places where you have to be quiet. You will be laughing out loud. I don't care if you are on an airplane, in a public coffee shop, a library or at home alone. You will laugh till it hurts. This book is dirty, funny, funny, and funny. I bought it to read in the airport between flights, and I thought my bag was going to be searched for "happy pills" I have given about 6 of these books away, and everyone likes it! Read all of his books. He might be the funniest man alive.
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Summary: Funny and yet familiar...
Review: Gotta love a writer who can describe the smell of grandmas. Buy this and give it to people you love.
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Summary: Not For Everyone
Review: The seventeen essays collected here proceed in a chronological order that appears to validate their autobiographical appearances-all of which leads one to wonder if this is a memoir, a series of short fiction, or some conglomeration of the two. The truth (in as much as anyone other than Sedaris himself will ever know), is likely to reside somewhere on the more autobiographical end of the spectrum. Indeed, the title is emblematic of the entire book-both a clever nod to the last story (which paradoxically revelas the least about his mental being), as well as a clear signal that the contents are meant to display Sedaris, psychological warts and all. However, readers must be warned that the first essay is very different stylistically from almost eveything else, it's a riffing fantasy which is best skipped lest it provde too distracting. In the first part of the book, the essays tend to be bref and mostly unmemorable. Sedaris's early childhood is marked by an afflication of nervous tics (resembling in many ways the compulsions suffered by those with Tourette's syndrome), which never fully disappear until he takes up smoking in college. The second essay, "A Plague of Tics" sets the tone for the whole book, which carries throughout its frequently amusing pages, an element of whining self-pity. In this essay seems to be saying, "Look at me, I'm so messed up, no one understands or cares. But I can make a joke out of it and mock myself at the same time." And in the third story, "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out," the pattern is established that Sedaris will never fail to go for the one-liner or easy joke-even milking the idiosyncracies of his ancient Greek grandmother (who one suspects deserves better) for all they're worth. Granted, nothing should be sacred or off-limits to humor, and the chuckles are pretty good, but one can't help but feel a little sorry for Sedaris that the only way he can write about his grandmohter is by mocking her. Indeed, some readers are likely to find Sedaris a thourougly unpleasant character. Many of these early stories also concern his childhood and teen fantasies, which he captures quite well. "The Drama Bug," in particular, is an excellent example of momentary teenage obsession (in this case with acting), and the disillusionment that follows close behind. A large number of the stories revolve around wierd work or life experiences he choses, including volunteering in a mental hospital, picking apples, carving jade clocks ("C.O.G."), living with a quadraplegic ("Incomplete Quad"), hitchhiking, paint stripping ("Something For Everyone"), and vacationing at a nudist colony ("Naked"). This last essay is among the most disapointing, as it is the one expedition which he seems to have embarked upon soley to gather material for his next book and is not rooted in anything within him. Throughout the book Sedaris treads the line between mocking people and being self-deprecating because he mocks people. He's snobbish when it comes to the poor working class and devoutly religious, and seems to think that as long as he acknowledges he's snobbish, it's OK to gp ahead and make fun people. It's an odd kind of snarkiness that can be very off putting-that is, if you stop laughing long enough to recognize what he's doing. In the end, the book is a bit wearying, it's probably best consumed in small chunks. And ultimately, even though Sedaris is letting the reader peek into his head, there's a lot he's not putting out there. Probably the closest he comes to honesty is in "Ashes," about his mother's death from cancer.
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Summary: Histerical fits
Review: I got to read excerpts from this book in my english class Sr. year of highschool, I enjoyed it so much I bought the book. I read it, gave it to my mother, and then passed it along to my college roommate freshman year who kept me up at night with histerical fits of laughter! Needless to say it is funny. The chapter "Plague of Ticks", is a personal favorite, funny yet a true story. Overall the book is a must read, and I also recommend his other books including "Me Talk Pretty", though the Christmas one I think you can skip.
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Summary: LOVE this book
Review: This is my favorite book. Sedaris has a sharp wit and i really think he comes to maturity in this book. The stories are original, hillarious and even heartwarming. This is a MUST buy book.
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Summary: Occasionally humorous, more often pitiable
Review: NAKED by David Sedaris comprises seventeen chapters of ostensibly amusing autobiographical reminiscences spanning his North Carolina childhood through teenage years to young adulthood. Finishing NAKED didn't leave me feeling good. There's a tinge of unhealthiness about the author's humor that reminds me of the faint odor of sickness perceptible while walking down an otherwise spotless hospital corridor. Perhaps it's because David's wit is based on the shortcomings of others and/or his own poor self image. Quite often, his target is other family members. About a sister: "Lisa couldn't be trained to scoot the food scraps off her soiled sheets, much less shake out the blanket and actually make the bed." About his father: "My mother had stopped listening to him years ago, but it was almost a comfort that my father insisted on business as usual, despite the circumstances (of his wife's cancer) ... He had made a commitment to make her life miserable, and no amount of sickness or bad fortune would sway him from that task." About himself: "The moment I realized I would be a homosexual for the rest of my life, I forced my brother and sisters to sign a contract swearing they'd never get married. ...My fear was that ... one by one they would abandon us until it was just me and my parents ..." Sedaris characterizes his mother as a chain-smoker and an alcoholic; his father as one that ignores a daughter's terror when her first menstrual period begins even as they're attending a pro golf tournament. And family togetherness is the time they confront the mystery of which one in the group - parents, six children and grandmother - is substituting the bath linens for toilet paper. However, it's not always about dysfunction. I did find it droll when one of David's sisters, a waitress, brings home on Christmas Eve a co-worker who's also a part-time prostitute. Ho, ho, ho! There's more to NAKED than remembering warm familial fuzziness, as when Sedaris was off at college, on a cross-country bus ride, picking apples in Oregon, or visiting a nudist camp. Yet, the humor during these interludes follows much the same tenor - occasionally amusing, more often pitiable and sad, always joyless, and ultimately tiresome. Is Sedaris a gifted writer? Yes, he is. And I'm giving NAKED three stars instead of two for his different perspective on life. But I don't think I'll buy any more of his books.
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