I’ve read several of David Sedaris’s books by now, but this one is different than the rest. Don’t get me wrong, each story is rich with humor, but there is more depth to these short stories than I was anticipating. I may not be the primary audience Sedaris curated these stories for, but I still got a kick out of their deeply personal and introspective look at life, death, and family.

The recurring setting in this book is the beach house Sedaris has named the Sea Section where he and his family regularly escape to. Through this setting, Sedaris relates stories of their mother and sister’s passing, their father’s bigotry and stubbornness, their relationships as a family of aging siblings, and the increasingly frequent obstacles and embarrassments that go along with getting older. There are poop jokes and tumor jokes mixed in with contemplative reflections on Sedaris’s life now being more in the past than in the future.

I suppose I had always admired Sedaris’s essay craft, but this is the first book of his where I specifically took notice of it. He can tell such an engaging story about often mundane or gross topics because he is able to expertly weave multiple storylines and themes together. His transitions from one topic to the next and back again within a single essay/story are phenomenal and so seamless. It reads like Sedaris is telling you the story himself while getting lost in tangents along the way that all eventually wrap up in the end with a moral or witty callback. This style lends itself well to integrating shock-value with humor with more in depth conversations about life that I thoroughly enjoyed.

This is not a wild ride. This book requires thought and will trigger contemplation. You’ll laugh at the absurdity, but then remember just how absurd this thing called life is, and be grateful someone could be honest enough to put it into words.

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Created Apr 21, 2019 at 10:00am • Submit your own review...