When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
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Book Reviews of When You Are Engulfed in Flames
Book Review: Sedaris Bravely, Quirkily Walks and Laughs Through "Flames."
Summary: 4 Stars
When engulfed in flames you might negotiate with death, swear to give up bad habits, distract yourself with new sights and sounds, console yourself for being better off than those you observe. Mostly you feign bravery by persevering, then realize it's what bravery often is.
David Sedaris laughs in danger's face so you can too. He encounters enough in his uncomfortably funny essays forming "When You Are Engulfed in Flames." Again supported by family members and his relatively anchored partner Hugh, Sedaris reasons with his mortality as a gift human skeleton in "Memento Mori." He stares threats his newly discovered sexuality during lengthy travel: first as a youth with a truck driver wanting intimate favors in "Road Trips," then arguing for privacy against a prying New York cabbie in "Town And Country."
Sedaris' displays his gifts of style economy and characterization, walking close to but not crossing the line of deviancy. This is not only at "Town & Country's surprisingly downbeat ending, but throughout his neighborly friendship with an accused molester in "The Man In The Hut." He makes himself the solid nutty center amidst the flakes and nuts to whom he can say, "It - I - could be worse." His airline tales in "Crybaby" and "Solution to Saturday's Puzzle" are less disturbing but no less quirky or funny.
Sedaris' draws and contrasts quick personality archetypes without resorting to caricature. Mrs. Peacock, the greasy, abusive babysitter terrorizing the young Sedaris children in "The Understudy," mirrors Helen, David and Hugh's abrasive foul-mouthed tenant neighbor in "That's Amore." "Little Mike" and his wife, crude drug dealer David explains his sexuality to in "All The Beauty You Will Ever Need," foreshadows the longest, most involved portion of his book.
"The Smoking Section" takes the book's final third, reading like a one-person play or novella more than the swift kicks of Sedaris' hit "Me Talk Pretty One Day." It details his efforts to quit smoking while adjusting to new culture, living in Tokyo with Hugh. His results are painful, petty, funny twists on the traditional "fish out of water" : he experiences a literally stinky barber, comments on the strange taste of crackers and Japan's unusual but refreshing public formality and kindness (not to mention struggling throughout with its language). All to cheat the gift human skeleton's contention "You are going to die....someday."
Sedaris plays fair when it suits his purpose. His allowing himself superiority to the characters he observes/creates - from the struggling student to the old people and children he beats at swimming and outreasons- allow you empathy for them even at their most unsavory. In the end, Sedaris final answer to what you do "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" is the one we've always known. Stop, drop, roll (with life changes), ask for help (from teachers, friends, family) and accept it where you can get it. Recommended.
Book Review: First experience with David Sedaris... should I look for more?
Summary: 4 Stars
This was my first David Sedaris book, I know I've read at least one other article, and I may have read others (but I never paid attention to who the author was). I've read, and heard, that I needed to read some of his other works. The uniqueness of the cover art on his many books makes it easy to remember that his books are all around the bookstores.
So I gave it a try with When You Are Engulfed in Flames.
I enjoyed it, and was surprised later to read that many loyal fans considered this collection of essays a let-down. In particular, I liked his long treatise on his efforts to give up smoking during a long visit to Japan:
[In regards to depictions of smoking in high school textbooks,] Sedaris wrote, "It seems crazy to cut smoking mothers out of textbooks, but within a few years they won't be allowed in movies either. A woman can throw her newborn child from the roof of a high-rise building. She can then retrieve the body and stomp on it while shooting into the windows of a day care center, but to celebrate these murders by lighting a cigarette is to send a harmful message. There are, after all, young people watching, and we wouldn't want them to get the wrong idea" (p. 250-251). Ouch!
But there's a humor there as well that can't help but make you chuckle: "I peeled away my [nicotine] patch last night and was disgusted by the cruddy shadow it left. It feels like I've been wearing a bumper sticker, so instead of replacing the one I took off, I think I'll just go without and see what happens. As for my three hundred dollars' worth of lozenges, I still haven't opened them, and don't think I'm going to. What I've been doing instead is rolling index cards into little tubes. I put one in my mouth when I sit down to write, and then I slowly chew it to a paste and swallow it. I'm now up to six a day and am wondering if I should switch to a lighter, unlined brand" (p. 276). I'm chuckling even as I type this!
There's enough here that I want more. Time to look for one of those distinctive covers!
Book Review: I'm still not going to quit smoking, but.....
Summary: 4 Stars
A thoroughly entertaining collection of essays. I don't recall reading Sedaris before, although I am familiar with the titles of his previous collections. I really don't know why he's been under my radar, and I'm not going to let him remain there any longer.
This collection intrigued me at first because of praise I had read for the longest piece, "The Smoking Section," in which Sedaris describes the end of his decades-long cigarette-loving addiction. It is a really well done essay, funny and true. Since he and his partner, Hugh, go to Japan as a place to quit the `cancer stick,' it's also an essay full of garbled Japanese-to-English translations, and the fun of Sedaris' realization that he is the absolute worst student in his Japanese class. My only (selfish) wish is that he had picked up a smoke at the end and rejoined the outcasts.
I laughed out loud in several places, and my favorite essay is "Town and Country," in which Sedaris is shocked at the vocabulary he hears from a well-heeled older couple on a plane, and then equally dismayed by a conversation he has with a cabbie in New York. Another little gem is "Old Faithful," the tale of a boil that grows on Sedaris' tailbone, and the ministrations of the faithful Hugh. "Solutions to Saturday's Puzzle" is hilarious, as the author begins filling in his Times crossword puzzle with responses to the harpy he's seated next to on yet another flight. "Eighteen across: `Not impressed.' Eleven down: `Whore'."
"That's Amore" is a rather sweet essay about the crabby, feisty old lady who lived in the same apartment building with David and Hugh in the early 1990s. She's a real scrapper, bigoted and yet big-hearted, and the genuine affection between Helen and the two men is palpable and never cloying. I guess I'll be working backward, but it's on to "Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim" for me.
Book Review: Almost as Good as Sedaris Can Get
Summary: 4 Stars
At almost 400 reviews and counting, it may be impossible to add anything unique to readers' impressions of this book, but I'll try. It was lent to me by a close friend to read in-between my Vine reviewing duties and I thought I'd never get to it. But having ordered a few hard goods thru Vine instead of books the last few times, I was able to sneak it in my satchel and take it on my 2-week vacation without feeling a trace of guilt for leaving the other, less entertaining pulps at home. Sedaris is a favorite and I'd skip a meal if I had to in order to read a few chapters.
This particular book meanders for a short while then quickly centers on his personal quest to quit smoking. Accompanied by his patient partner, Hugh, they leave France and go to Japan on a "David-quits-smoking-vacation" of sorts. The writing is full of his classic sly touches and is one of the few TRULY laugh-out-loud books I've read in quite some time. I enjoyed his take on many of Japan's oddities and in a strange way it made me want to visit that country even more.
While it's not Sedaris at his over-the-top best, it's darn close. There are tidbits of his upbringing and half-mentions of his crafty circus-like family, but nothing like we've seen in the past. They are supporting cast with bit parts in this book, not lead actors. Mostly, I missed his cigarette-slinging mother with her late afternoon cocktail, dolling out dry sarcasm to whatever young David tried his best at. (Seriously, who wouldn't want a mother like that?) But I can't blame the guy, this is new territory and through Sedaris' eyes, it looks pretty good.
An entertaining read, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" is more than worthy of the few bucks you'd have to shell out to get it, even used. As for the copy sitting next to my computer presently, my friend may have to steal it in order to get it back. Sorry Maria.
Book Review: Fun, short, true stories by NPR's funniest voice in comedy.
Summary: 4 Stars
Another hilarious collection of essays by David Sedaris. This was another book that I read aloud to my husband. A lot of this book had to be read in private though, and not around relatives. It's definitely adult reading and adult language!
The portraits he paints of every day people doing things that are absolutely crazy in a way that makes them seem mundane is his calling card and he does this to excellent effect in this new novel. Whether it's the woman that lives alone in an apartment building that acts like she runs the place (and really does), the crazy people he hitchhikes with in the early 70's, his parent's take on art, or the people he meets in his attempt to quit smoking in japan, it's all written with a humorous edge and a sarcastic wit that makes even the most outcast and odd palatable.
There were several parts where he seemed to go over the edge beyond funny into really being almost sad, pathetic, or even hateful. But, the rest of the book is so well written and his humor continues to be so endearing that you can't help forgiving it as you continue on.
When You Are Engulfed In Flames is an excellent, strange, but very well written series of comedic looks into David Sedaris' life and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to read some fun, short, true stories by NPR's funniest voice in comedy.