Me Talk Pretty One Day Abridged

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Summary: humor is back
Review: i started listening to sedaris on NPR and have followed his publishing career with glee, from BARREL FEVER to NAKED and then HOLIDAY ON ICE. he has done it again with this book -- I especially relished the second half of the book, but the entire work resonates with his rapier wit and unque styling. for another even more raucous read, try SELLEVISION by augusten burroughs....

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Summary: Hysterical!
Review: The best of all of his books, by far! If you've ever lived (not just visited) in a country where you were still learning the language or ever tried to learn French, you will thoroughly relate to Mr. Sedaris and his trials in France! It's absolutely hysterical!

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Summary: HILARIOUS!!!!
Review: A hilarious trip down memory lane for David Sedaris, shared with us through clever, funny, insightful essays. Glimpses of his childhood, family, therapy sessions, guitar lessons, career challenges, adventures in Europe easily makes him everybodys favorite underdog. He says he has no talent, mocks himself and makes you laugh and weep. This gentleman can write. This hilarious affair of the heart is a "must- read". Wait until you read "Picha Pocketoni" and "Nutcacker. com deux. David Sedaris is a very talented "writeroni". Oops- excuse the pun.

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Summary: Laugh-Out-Loud Funny
Review: David Sedaris' typical irreverence takes a new, French turn in his latest book of essays. Reading through Sedaris' struggle to be a fluent American-in-Paris is truly hilarious, and his gift for communicating the irony and comedy of humanity (both his own and that of the people he encounters) reaches its pinacle in this book. A must-read for anyone!

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Summary: I was sorry when it ended.
Review: After finishing David Sedaris' latest, I found myself missing him in the same way tend to miss Holden Caufield. A true and funny friend gone away. Like most most gay guys I find Sedaris endlessly endearing while endless annoying. I wish he would write a novel but he's probably too lazy. A wonderful read.

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Summary: Me laugh loud and out at book by Sedaris!
Review: "Me Talk Pretty One Day" was my first introduction to the warped mind of David Sedaris. I don't intend for this to be my last introduction. I laughed out loud at some of the hilarious tales Sedaris tells, which sometimes are so outlandish, they can only be true. (Hording spoiled fruit? A brother who talks to his dad like he would his bar buddy? Performance art with sock puppets? No one can make up this stuff!) His essays on the more mundane, like the challenge of New York Times crossword puzzles and the idiosyncracies of Americans in Paris, are also funny. It might take a certain sense of humor to get some of this, though. I read a few stories out loud to my husband, and he didn't laugh at all of them. Must have something to do with my husband's IQ... (But that is another Sedaris story!)

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Summary: David's At It Again- Only This Time in Full Force
Review: I have always been an avid reader of David Sedaris since I first went to a live reading of his at my University auditorium. His true-to-life stories always make me chuckle; his poignant and descriptive narrative is very relative to what my peers and I experienced growing up in the 80's. I highly recommend the text to any new reader of Sedaris' work. The chapters are short and always keep your attention. Enjoy! and T'amuse bien! (have fun!)

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Summary: Bubble gum for the brain - just what I wanted
Review: I can't remember laughing outloud so much while reading. Proves that truth is funnier than fiction. Sedaris has a unique ability to poke fun at himself and his family, and it was fun going on this ride with him. This was a selection in a book club I'm in, and all of us got a kick out of it. Favorite chapter - The Rooster - totally killing me!

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Summary: Another Good One
Review: I think David Sedaris and Henry Alford are the two funniest people writing right now. Sedaris's new book is perhaps more commercial than his other ones--some of the topics are a little more obvious than ones he's tackled before--but it is no less funny. Can we blame him if he wants to laugh about foreigners making funny lingual mistakes, or waiters in pretentious restaurants? Granted, these topics are sort of like shooting fish in a barrel. But they're no less funny for being obvious.

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Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I decided to order this book after hearing the author read two of the chapters on national Public Radio (NPR). Both chapters covered his life in France. It seemed quite a novel idea; an American sharing his experiences on life in France, unsuccessfully trying to come to grips with the vagaries of the French language. On each occasion, the stories were very witty, and delivered superbly. On this basis, and on the understanding that the book would be "more of the same", I decided to order it without delay. Unfortunately, I found the book very disappointing. Why? First, the number of words per dollar is very low. Okay. Never mind. What else? Second, only 2-3 chapters (toward the end of the book) are devoted to the challenges of life in France. The rest covers the authors' earlier years in the USA, and is not in the same league as what I heard on NPR. Overall, the book cannot be described as "funny". The chapters are generally unrelated to each other, merely representing a relatively disjointed collection of anecdotes lacking a true punchline or meaning. It took me approximately three hours to read the book, and I felt no enlightenment or fulfillment afterwards. Repeatedly, I gained the impression that the author is trying to emulate Bill Bryson. The problem is that he does this very unsuccessfully. Perhaps I should just blame NPR for giving an entirely false impression of the book.