Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
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Book Reviews of Me Talk Pretty One Day
Book Review: It's so funny I nearly peed my pants
Summary: 5 Stars
I have never read a book this hysterical in my life. In this quirky autobiographical piece Sedaris tackles everything from a speech therapist who is out to correct every lisp in the boys with homosexual tendacies, to his galavanting in Paris where he visits all the movie theatres but none of the tourist attractions, to his prank playing sister who finds it amusing to create shocking situations (she yells out "good luck beating that rape charge David" right before he steps out of his subway car).
Some of his stories border on the absurd but his true talent is for finding humorous twists and perspectives on the mundane parts of life that many of us have perhaps pondered in a similar fashion but never had the true courage to vocalize. I read half of this book out loud to my husband and he and I were both gasping for breath as we shook with laughter. Read just one chapter and I dare you to put it down. This is one of those books I know I will return to again and again because it isn't a linear plot but a collection of great moments that you want to share with those around you.
My only regret is that it took me this long to pick up one of his books. I plan to read them all and you should too. Unless you don't have a sense of humor or are uptight when it comes to being politically correct in which case I highly recommend you stay away from this.
Book Review: A good dose of laughter!
Summary: 5 Stars
Annotation: A humorous autobiographic novel by David Sedaris outlining random events in his life. His unusual life stories tell of his childhood lisp troubles and speech therapy classes, his guitar lessons taught by a midget, his struggle to become an artist and trying to learn and survive the French culture and language.Author bio: David Sedaris was born in New York and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He's openly and happily gay. He lives in Paris with his boyfriend Hugh Hamrick. He has worked as a housecleaner and, as a part-time elf for Macy's. Many of his plays have been produced, and his essays are featured regularly in The New Yorker, Harpers, and Esquire.
Evaluation: This was a very very good book. My sister had read it and recommended it to me. This was the first book I had picked up in a long time and was pulled into it by Sedaris' humor. At times, especially during class, I would find myself trying to hold in my laughter as to not make a scene. I usually have a hard time getting into a book when I first start reading, but this book started out with an interesting and of course humorous tale of Sedaris' speech therapy classes. I finished this book in about a week because every time I picked it up, I didn't want to stop reading it. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs a good dose of laughter.
Book Review: Me Like Book Very Much
Summary: 5 Stars
Rarely is the utter hilarity and irony of life captured so perfectly in a novel, but David Sedaris meets, and triumphs the challenge in his newest book, "Me Talk Pretty One Day". From his experiences growing up in a family of six children in North Carolina, to his adulthood in New York City and later to a small town in France, Mr. Sedaris writes like most of us think, with a wonderful comedic touch and a zany take on the most routine of activities. His strange, but close-knit family is a story in itself; a sister with an un-humanely knack for suntanning, a father who eats things wayyyy past their expiration date, and a mother who can smoke without ever removing the cigarette from her mouth, just to name a few. Guitar lessons taught by a midget and speech therapy, he has the childhood we all have but none discuss openly. Even more hilarious are the tales from France, where he studies France medical terms ("It is now time to deliver the afterbirth") and discusses the items brought back from customs (guides to skin rashes or suede fetus w/umbilical cord, anyone?). This book had me in stitches, and instantly became my favorite of all time. I'd recommend anyone who doesn't mind crying of laughter in public, and who needs another person to assure them that their view on life isn't crazy...A must-read!Book Review: Me Talk Pretty One Day has the kind of stories Sedaris fans will love, and Sedaris-virgins will love to discover.
Summary: 5 Stars
Arguably the most famous work in the canon of David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day has the kind of stories Sedaris fans will love, and Sedaris-virgins will love to discover. Since reading Naked and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, I've been amazed by Sedaris's talent for turning mundane life into fascinating explorations of the human experience, and have made it a passive goal of mine to read all his six books. With stories centering around family members or childhood figures (each with the kind of clear, constant voice you can effortlessly hear inside your head as you read), Sedaris must have an incredible memory, detailed diary, or convincing imagination. While those expecting to hear heartthrob stories of excitement and adventure will be disappointed by the National Public Radio-ready prose of Sedaris's books, everyone will be able to appreciate the mastery of his writing and brevity.
Some of the stories contained in Me Talk Pretty will be familiar to listeners of NPR's This American Life, which I believe speaks more to their strength than their redundancy. The book contains quite a bit on his experiences in France (touched upon in other works), and has a bit too much Andy Rooney-esque nostalgia at times, but Me Talk Pretty is Sedaris at his best.
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Book Review: one of the funniest books I've read
Summary: 5 Stars
This is how funny this book is. I had read it 2, maybe 3 times before I ever attempted to read any part of it out loud to anyone. It's so funny I still couldn't make it past about the third paragraph without having to stop reading because I was laughing so hard. I stopped every other paragraph throughout, choking and snorting and gasping with laughter. Really it was a shameful performance on my part. But this isn't the best indicator of how funny the book is. What should really tell you how funny the book is is that even though mine was not exactly a smooth or even fully comprehensible reading, my listener still laughed. A lot.These essays are amazing. At times I thought that Sedaris has just had an unusually funny life filled with strange characters, that he has better material than the rest of us. But then I thought, shoot, I've taken language classes and spent time in a country where I didn't speak the language, and I didn't get even one really good story out of it. It takes talent to have seen the humor in many of these experiences, and talent to have preserved that humor on the page. Throughout the book Sedaris makes much of his drug-addled brain and mediocre intelligence, but he's clearly a genius.
I'm reading it for about the fifth time now, and I'm still laughing too loud.