This is a collection of non-fiction essays about the worldly, liberal, raunchy, sometimes gross, life of a middle-aged, white, bad-mouthing gay man with daddy-issues. If that's not your thing, kindly move on now.

If that is your thing, I’m glad, because David Sedaris makes me laugh my ass off. His skill at finding the humor in every mundane situation is astounding and I aspire to be as perceptive as he is. Through this book, the reader learns about Sedaris’s young life and relationship with his father, about his travels around the world, and about his often tumultuous love affairs. While each essay is self-contained and can be read individually, they are together as a collection for a reason because each gives insight into the others and offers a more complete picture of Sedaris’s life and antics.

But be cautious sharing Sedaris’s work with just anyone. He holds nothing back when talking about his sexual orientation, political affiliation, and racist family members. All is done to be humorous, but he is not everyone’s comedian. Especially the “joke essays” he includes as the final few chapters are jar-droppingly forward, but clearly sarcastic and designed to be extraordinarily inflammatory for the wrong audience.

I listened to Sedaris read this book, which I highly recommend. There is nothing like the way he is able to give the characters their own voices, bring in sarcasm at the appropriate time, and pause for dramatic effect just perfectly. A few of the essays throughout the audiobook were read in front of a live audience, which is something I wasn’t expecting. The audio quality of these portions wasn’t the best, but not terrible either, and the added laughter of the audience was a welcome surprise. Also, should you choose to listen to the audiobook, there is an exclusive treat at the very end involving the “Pimsleur people.”

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Created Feb 19, 2019 at 4:47pm • Submit your own review...