Me Talk Pretty One Day
by David Sedaris

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Book Summary Information

• ISBN13: 9780316776967
• Condition: New
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Book Reviews of Me Talk Pretty One Day

Book Review: Me Talk Pretty One Day
Summary: 5 Stars

She is by far the most attractive member of the family, yet she spends most of her time and money disguising herself beneath prosthetic humps and appliqued skin diseases. She's got more neck braces and false teeth than she knows what to do with and her drawers and closets overflow with human hair. (Sedaris 137)

In the same story Amy wears a "fatty" suit home for Christmas to frighten her father who is obsessed with his daughter's appearance and has her face painted with bruises and scars for a magazine shoot. In the Sedaris style Amy is not just weird and entertaining but also very lovable.
These family stories make up most of the first half of the collection. Due to his eccentricity, Sedaris' father is a favorite subject. In Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities he tries desperately to have his children form a jazz quartet. This of course results is a series of disappointments when each child eventually quits their assigned instrument. This story also includes a bit about Sedaris' dream to sing jingles in the voice of Billie Holiday which can be fully appreciated only when listening to the author read the story himself (this is an excellent book to listen to on tape). Sedaris' respect for his father comes out in Genetic Engineering, through a story about his work at IBM and his children's absolute disinterest in his job. In Twelve Moments in the Life of the Artist Sedaris' father's naive humor is a welcome addition to an otherwise long-winded story. Through all the stories, his family threads its way through bittersweet memories and ridiculous situations with Sedaris' own blend of tender sarcasm.
The second half of the book is made up of stories primarily about Sedaris' experiences in France. There is virtually no transition between the stories about his childhood in North Carolina and these later stories about learning French and living in Paris with his boyfriend. However, the quality of the stories makes up for this abrupt leap of time and place. After reading other stories in this book and stories in Barrel Fever and hearing pieces on National Public Radio, it is clear that Sedaris is an excellent observer of culture. He is in fine form in Me Talk Pretty One Day.
In several stories he writes about the challenge of learning French. Sedaris' observations of both French culture and language are outrageously funny and touching. In the stories Me Talk Pretty One Day and Jesus Shaves he describes his French class taught by a teacher whose "temperament was not based on a series of good and bad days, but, rather good and bad moments" (Sedaris 170). In See You Again Yesterday he writes an overview of his first six trips to France with his boyfriend Hugh. Reading it makes me marvel at the unending patience Hugh must have. As the stories develop so does Sedaris' grasp of the language; by Smart Guy Sedaris is taking an IQ test in French.
In many of these stories Sedaris uses his experience in France to reflect on American culture. I Pledge Allegiance to the Bag is a dissociated view of America that most Americans fail to see. But at the same time, as in all these stories, Sedaris forces us to laugh at ourselves. In Picka Pocketoni Sedaris listens as an American couple assumes he is French (and therefore can't understand a word of English) and berates him for smelling bad and being a pick pocket. Sedaris creates a snapshot of these quintessential American tourists. I can see them with their fanny packs and cameras and Sedaris quietly hunched in the corner, waiting to write it all down.
Though some of the stories are too long, namely Twelve Moments in the Life of the Artist and The Late Show, Sedaris repeatedly redeems himself. He is weird and can laugh at himself. He is sweet and sarcastic in the same breath. He is a talented story-teller. Sedaris says the things we think but tells them better than we would ever hope. Above all, he is hilarious.

Summary of Me Talk Pretty One Day

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