Refined_edge's Full Review: David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
I finally got around to reading this after seeing a bunch of articles about David Sedaris and his other talented siblings (it may not be the best example of her work, but his sister Amy is known for her short-lived Comedy Central series "Strangers With Candy"). He also spoke at Yale a few months ago, and now I'm even more upset I missed it.
In "Me Talk Pretty One Day", Sedaris tells a series of stories that span his life on fast-forward. He begins with his home life in North Carolina and dealing with his elementary school speech impediment, and takes him through to being 40 and living in France with his boyfriend. A major theme is dealing with language barriers, whether it is trying to outsmart his speech therapist by going to extreme lengths to avoid the letter "s", to learning French in Paris from a teacher who does nothing but insult the class.
I'm a longtime Dave Barry fan, so it's hard to find a humor "novel" that really works for me. Many have failed. But this one succeeded. Sedaris speaks matter-of-factly about things that would give anyone pause- his sister wearing a fat suit home for the holidays to shock their father, his younger brother talking like a gangster. The final piece had me laughing like crazy- he describes his father's lifelong habit of hiding food all over the house "just in case", and later eating things that have grown mold, gone rancid, or become otherwise unedible. It's disgusting, and he knows it, but what can he do- he loves his family, and they're funny.
I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of his books. My only real complaint was that some of the stories seemed to end rather abruptly, and sometimes almost on a down note. But I enjoyed it overall.
"As far as I was concerned, the French could be cold or even openly hostile. They could burn my flag or pelt me with stones, but if there were taxider...More at HotBookSale
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