Rating: 
Summary: bitterly funny
Review: Some of the stories in this book are merely entertaining while some of them have you laughing out loud no matter where you may be. But all of them are darkly bizarre, with a twist of bitterness that doesn't wholly overshadow the optimistic resignation. These things might happen, you might know these characters, but no matter how bad it is, you can't fail to see the humor in it all. David Sedaris has a biting wit and shows that, even in the worst of all possible things, you can still make fun of others and yourself
Rating: 
Summary: Guilty enjoyment
Review: After I had worked out the premise of the first story -- the gossipy, fantastic, ramblings of a homosexual lover of many of the rich and famous ( Morley Safer, Mike Tyson, .... ) -- I was in stitches.
Each story is written from the point of view of a different misfit, but a misfit so close to people we know, that it stops short of being wild fantasy.
I read the book with a sneaking guilt that each scurrilous tale surprisedand delighted me so much.
The last story (and the only true one, I hope) is about Sedaris' spell as an elf at Macy's. Christmas shopping will never be the same
Rating:
Summary: Warning
Review: I read this book on a commuter train and I'm almost frightened at how hard I laughed. It was uncomfortable, like being covered by hundreds of ants or falling into a silo of feathers. The other people on the CalTrain, who were cursed to share a car with me, looked over warily, but I never stopped laughing. I put the book down and I would laugh with the memory of the pages, I opened the book and new images caused me to giggle and chuckle and eventually erupt again in laughter. This book needs a warning label. I emphatically implore all those with heart conditions to not read this book without nitroglycerin tablets handy.
Everyone else should read it, and freak people out by laughing hysterically in the parks and on the buses.
Pages of this book should be pasted in bathroom stalls and the din that would emerge from the john would be so seditious and delicious, people would line up whether they had to pee or not.
Or people would run away, but that would be just fine for those of us who know.
Rating: 
Summary: A mix of entertaining and disturbing tales
Review: I'm not sure how to rate or describe this book. One story, a true tale of the author's experiences as an Christmas elf at Macy's, is one of the funniest things I've ever read. Other stories range from interesting to severely disturbing. There's a letter written by a suicide to be read at her funeral that starts out darkly enough, but turns increasingly darker and more depressing. There are a number dark and depressing of tales of frighteningly dysfunctional and teenage homoeroticism that are just too bizarre and depressing for me to see the humor in
Rating:
Summary: Some of the best "Laugh-Out-Loud" writing you may ever read!
Review: David Sedaris writes about everything from mundane jobs to hilarious suicide notes. Unlike many storytellers, each ending to his tales is a surprise and delight. Best of the book is his essay, "The Santaland Diaries"
Rating:
Summary: A Gem of A Book: Don't Miss It!
Review: According to a blurb on the back jacket of my paperback copy of BARREL FEVER David Sedaris writes with "a satirical brazenness that holds up next to Twain and Nathaniel West". That comparison is accurate. Sedaris you see is afraid of offending no one. He writes with absolutely no regard for political correctness and doesn't care who he offends or which sacred cow gets slaughtered. In essence, reading some of his writing will trigger two responses. The first is to laugh hysterically at the black humor. The second is to squirm uncomfortably as uncomfortable truths are hit home. Sedaris gained a following as a writer and commentator for National Public Radio (NPR) as well as for his play "SantaLand Diaries". The original essay upon which the play is based is among the 12 stories and 4 essays Sedaris includes in Barrel Fever. In the essay, Sedaris is talking about a job he held in New York as an Elf at Macy's during the holiday shopping season. And it is absolutely hilarious. I mean, painfully funny! Another gem is "The Last You'll Hear From Me" which is written as a suicide note from an angst-ridden teenager. Just as great is "Season's Greetings" with its bleak yet hilarious look at a dysfunctional family weighed under during the Holidays. "Jamboree" tells the story of a neglected young adult who moves in with his older sister and her a**hole boyfriend and winds up taking care of their baby. That's a good sampling from the stories part. The essays all focus in one way or another on the day jobs Sedaris held while trying to make it as a writer. Aside that is from "Diary Of A Smoker" which looks at the New York hostility towards smokers. Certain people may be put off by Sedaris' admission in this essay that he smokes pot but "not crack". Also noteworthy among the essays is "Giantess" in which Sedaris talks about working household maintenance jobs while at the same time submitting a story to a contest offered by the titular magazine of erotica. Then we have "The Curly Kind" in which he offers observations from his days as a janitor at the apartment complex where many writers for Sesame Street live. Barrel Fever is a short hilarious collection of fiction and non-fiction from one of the leading darkly comic writers on the scene today. Sedaris has his finger on the pulse of the human comedy and we the readers are the better for it. Pick up a copy of BARREL FEVER by David Sedaris. You won't regret it! Also recommended is THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez.
Rating:
Summary: Comic Masterpiece
Review: Anyone who can actually sit down and read this book without laughing to the point of having tears streaming down their face and a sore stomach should really learn to lighten up and get off the prozac, because it ain't working. The opening story about his love affair with Charlton Heston, Mike Tyson, and going on Oprah is one of the funniest pieces of comedy I have ever come across. The letter read at the funeral and the disfunctional family newsletter at Christmas are two other gems from an overall jewelry case. Like the richest of desserts, the book concludes with the laugh out loud Santaland Diaries. I'm telling you--it's a perfect introduction to an amazing comedic genius. Don't pass up "Naked," "Me Talk Pretty One Day," or "Dress Your Family..." either!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Barrel Fever is a terrific book, especially if you enjoy David Sedaris' twisted humor. His fiction is so crazy, as I was reading it I thought, "is this really true? This has to be true." But after finishing my favorite story, "Season Greetings," I knew it had to be fiction. The ending of that story surprised me beyond belief. "The Last you'll hear from me" is another great fiction story. I enjoy David Sedaris' non-fiction, but I wished he would write more fiction because I love it so. I highly recommend all of Sedaris' work.
Rating:
Summary: Bitter after taste
Review: I haven't read all of David Sedaris' books in chronological order and therefore have only just finished this book. Whilst I think all of his books are definitley worth reading this one left a slightly bad taste in my mouth as some of the stories are off colour.
I now only have to read Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim but am going to wait a while as I feel I need a bit of a break from him as I have read his other books back to back.
I still recommend this book but so far it has been the most disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Average At Best...
Review: Barrell Fever starts off as an obvious first time-type effort from Sedaris, his other later works showing themselves to be glaringly superior. More superior in scope, ideas, ability and humor. Many of the stories within this book aren't what later Sedaris readers are used to. Lots of them are told from the points of view of imaginary people in far-fetched circumstances. Only a few of the writings are presented as life experiences from Sedaris himself and I didn't know that when I bought the book. I'm more of a memoir reader and that's what I was expecting. Many of the stories are pretty trite and simple, often annoyingly so.
One of the better made-up stories is a great piece called, "Seasons Greetings" about a family that is shaken up when a long-lost Korean daughter of the army veteran father shows up on the family doorstep. It has its moments of racism, but I found it really funny.
However, by far, the story "Santaland Diaries," Sedaris' real-life exploits as Macys elf during Christmas-time, is priceless! It could be the funniest thing he's ever written. If you feel like checking out the writer's beginnings, this book is a good start.
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