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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
A guys walks into a bar …
From here the story could take many turns. A guy walks into a bar and meets the love of his life. A guy walks into a bar and finds no one else is there. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless. In Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, Sedaris delights with twists of humour and intelligence, remembering his father’s dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant) and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered pygmy. By turns hilarious and moving, David Sedaris masterfully looks at life’s absurdities.
This collection of 19 essays and six monologues contains some material familiar to those who listen to David Sedaris’s successful Radio 4 show, although there was much here that was new to me. I found the collection a little slow to get going and didn’t enjoy the earlier pieces as much as I did the latter ones, while the targets of some of the monologues (specifically included as he’d met a number of teenagers looking for pieces to perform for school) a little too broad for me to really enjoy the humour. That said there were some essays where I genuinely laughed out loud (particularly one where Sedaris finds himself on the verge of buying the skeleton of a murdered pygmy and one where he succumbs to his father’s demand that he get a colonoscopy) and I’ve always enjoyed Sedaris’s willingness to reveal his own foibles and shallowness. For that reason, I will pick up his back catalogue as I eagerly await his next collection.
Of the monologues, my favourite was JUST A QUICK EMAIL, which I’d previously heard Sedaris perform on radio but still had me in stitches. It’s a thank you note for a wedding gift of vouchers for 2 free pizzas but the way Sedaris slowly draws out the background to it is exquisitely done and has a great punchline. By contrast, I BREAK FOR TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE and IF I RULED THE WORLD are a bit herring-in-a-barrel for someone of Sedaris’s talents – each involves a right-wing Christian protagonist objecting to liberal policies on gay marriage, abortion etc and I didn’t really see the satire in picking on such easy targets.
My favourite essay was UNDERSTANDING UNDERSTANDING OWLS, which starts with Sedaris explaining how he came to acquire owl-related memorabilia for his partner, Hugh, and how a search for a stuffed owl led him to being offered a complete pygmy skeleton. Equally good is EASY, TIGER, which is about language and travel and shows Sedaris poke fun at the absurdity of conversations on language tapes and THE HAPPY PLACE which is about Sedaris’s decision to undergo a colonoscopy. I also enjoyed the melancholy elements of A GUY WALKED INTO A BAR CAR, which sees Sedaris reminisce about a train journey undertaken as a younger man.
Ultimately, if you’re into dry, wry humour then you should definitely check out this book and I’ll definitely be getting Sedaris’s other work.
The Verdict:
This collection of 19 essays and six monologues contains some material familiar to those who listen to David Sedaris’s successful Radio 4 show, although there was much here that was new to me. I found the collection a little slow to get going and didn’t enjoy the earlier pieces as much as I did the latter ones, while the targets of some of the monologues (specifically included as he’d met a number of teenagers looking for pieces to perform for school) a little too broad for me to really enjoy the humour. That said there were some essays where I genuinely laughed out loud (particularly one where Sedaris finds himself on the verge of buying the skeleton of a murdered pygmy and one where he succumbs to his father’s demand that he get a colonoscopy) and I’ve always enjoyed Sedaris’s willingness to reveal his own foibles and shallowness. For that reason, I will pick up his back catalogue as I eagerly await his next collection.
From here the story could take many turns. A guy walks into a bar and meets the love of his life. A guy walks into a bar and finds no one else is there. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless. In Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, Sedaris delights with twists of humour and intelligence, remembering his father’s dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant) and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered pygmy. By turns hilarious and moving, David Sedaris masterfully looks at life’s absurdities.
This collection of 19 essays and six monologues contains some material familiar to those who listen to David Sedaris’s successful Radio 4 show, although there was much here that was new to me. I found the collection a little slow to get going and didn’t enjoy the earlier pieces as much as I did the latter ones, while the targets of some of the monologues (specifically included as he’d met a number of teenagers looking for pieces to perform for school) a little too broad for me to really enjoy the humour. That said there were some essays where I genuinely laughed out loud (particularly one where Sedaris finds himself on the verge of buying the skeleton of a murdered pygmy and one where he succumbs to his father’s demand that he get a colonoscopy) and I’ve always enjoyed Sedaris’s willingness to reveal his own foibles and shallowness. For that reason, I will pick up his back catalogue as I eagerly await his next collection.
Of the monologues, my favourite was JUST A QUICK EMAIL, which I’d previously heard Sedaris perform on radio but still had me in stitches. It’s a thank you note for a wedding gift of vouchers for 2 free pizzas but the way Sedaris slowly draws out the background to it is exquisitely done and has a great punchline. By contrast, I BREAK FOR TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE and IF I RULED THE WORLD are a bit herring-in-a-barrel for someone of Sedaris’s talents – each involves a right-wing Christian protagonist objecting to liberal policies on gay marriage, abortion etc and I didn’t really see the satire in picking on such easy targets.
My favourite essay was UNDERSTANDING UNDERSTANDING OWLS, which starts with Sedaris explaining how he came to acquire owl-related memorabilia for his partner, Hugh, and how a search for a stuffed owl led him to being offered a complete pygmy skeleton. Equally good is EASY, TIGER, which is about language and travel and shows Sedaris poke fun at the absurdity of conversations on language tapes and THE HAPPY PLACE which is about Sedaris’s decision to undergo a colonoscopy. I also enjoyed the melancholy elements of A GUY WALKED INTO A BAR CAR, which sees Sedaris reminisce about a train journey undertaken as a younger man.
Ultimately, if you’re into dry, wry humour then you should definitely check out this book and I’ll definitely be getting Sedaris’s other work.
The Verdict:
This collection of 19 essays and six monologues contains some material familiar to those who listen to David Sedaris’s successful Radio 4 show, although there was much here that was new to me. I found the collection a little slow to get going and didn’t enjoy the earlier pieces as much as I did the latter ones, while the targets of some of the monologues (specifically included as he’d met a number of teenagers looking for pieces to perform for school) a little too broad for me to really enjoy the humour. That said there were some essays where I genuinely laughed out loud (particularly one where Sedaris finds himself on the verge of buying the skeleton of a murdered pygmy and one where he succumbs to his father’s demand that he get a colonoscopy) and I’ve always enjoyed Sedaris’s willingness to reveal his own foibles and shallowness. For that reason, I will pick up his back catalogue as I eagerly await his next collection.
