Rating:  -
Everybody is entitled to their own opinions...i just feel I was duped into reading this by all of the positive reviews I read on Amazon and all over the back page. About 100 pages into this thing I couldn't go on anymore, it's just a waste of time. I didn't understand that point of the book...it wasn't funny....wasn't interesting....no points....I can go on and on.
That being said, it is definitely down there but it is not the most-overrated "comedy" I have read, that would go to "Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself" by Alan Alda. If you want to read a funny book go for J. Maarten Troost's "Getting Stoned With Savages" or "The Sex Lives of Cannibals" but not his 3rd book.
Rating: -
Not worth my time especially for a book club..
i had to read it and forced myself to read each page
Rating: -
Dont see what the big deal is. This guy is only moderately funny at best. There were two chapters that even elicited a chuckle. His sister Amy is much funnier. Dont waste your time with David.
Rating:  -
David Sedaris writes humour of the New Yorker, and does so very successfully. I read one of his articles about a fellow airline passenger who was weeping due to a recent bereavement. Sederis, initially sympathetic, reminisced about his own past bereavements - mainly broken hearts - and how he had used them to assume a sympathetic persona. He concluded the article by thinking how his fellow passenger was just a tad overdoing the tears. It was quite a complex piece, done with pace and humour. I like it so much I bought this book.
It's a collection of pieces which I presume were articles published separately before. I committed my usual mistake, and read the book from cover to cover, so that by the end there was a certain staleness and sameness to the articles. However, in general, I think the first section - dealing with Sedaris' family and youth were very funny. His family is of Greek origin, his father, sister and brother seem odd enough to provide even a less gifted humourist with material Sederis himself in gay, and grew up with a lisp for which he went to speech therapy - the first story, about the Speech Therapist, is for me, the best in the book. He manages to poke fun at himself, at his parents for sending him, and he exacts revenge (after all these years) on the speech therapist herself; all while keeping the reader interested and on his side. Remarkable.
The second section of the book is a lot less interesting. He goes to France with his boyfriend, and has funny things to say about the French, about American's in France and about French language and culture. Even though the humourous tone is maintained, and he tries to be ironic about the `gee-whiz' nature of American's observing the French, I think he falls into his own trap here. A much better book on this is Adam Gopnick's (another New Yorker writer) `Paris to the Moon'.
Nonetheless, the book is well worth a read. The humour is sustained and there were several times I laughed out loud. If you can dip into and out of this book over time, I think it's very rewarding .
Rating:  -
Yes, yes, yes! By far my favorite of his books. It follows a clear path of his life and is generally a great read. If I ever want someone to read a David Sedaris book I start them here. It shows off his unique writing style and his wild stories perfectly. I had some issues with a few of his books being hard to follow because his stories constantly jump, but this one follows perfectly and is easy to follow. The stories are laugh out loud funny. Would recommend anyone read this book.
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