Me Talk Pretty One Day Abridged

Rating:
Summary: Just Hilarious
Review:
Like Richard Perez -- author of The Losers' Club -- David Sedaris doesn't know the meaning of normal. With essay topics ranging from his experience as a methamphetamine addicted performance artist, to his food-hording, Great Dane enamored father, and his false efforts at learning French, Sedaris never fails to hit the hilarious mark. Sure, some of the stories are offensive, but, hey, life can be offensive sometimes.

In any given situation, the reader can expect Sedaris to always say or do the unexpected. In one essay, titled "Picka Pocketoni" a pair of fashion challenged American tourists on the Paris Metro wrongly assume that Sedaris is a local pickpocket, and a stinky, non-English speaking one at that. As they discuss their opinions in increasingly shrill English, Sedaris savors the moment, wondering how best to take advantage. In similar situation I could see myself dying of embarrassment, but not Sedaris. He revels in the opportunity to be seen as quick and dangerous. In fact, he seems encouraged that someone might mistake him for a well coordinated foreign rogue capable of who knows what kind of mischief.

Amongst Sedaris' various ramblings on insomnia induced fantasies some inevitable political humor creeps in. One fantasy, titled "I've Got a Secret" begins: "I'm a pretty, slightly chubby White House intern whose had a brief affair with the President." But then Sedaris makes a 180 shift and "our heroine" becomes known as a brave stoic unwilling to capitalize on her unfortunate circumstances. Then after the press coverage dies down, she writes a best-selling novel under an assumed name and gets down to her life's work: sleeping with professional football players.

Sedaris takes unprecedented pride his refusal to learn any useful French - despite six summer visits and a two-year stay. The book includes several essays devoted this topic. During his second summer in Normandy, Sedaris devotes himself to learning 10 new words per day, in a faux effort to expand his two-word vocabulary of "ashtray" and "bottleneck".

The list includes: "exorcism, facial swelling, death penalty, slaughterhouse, sea monster and witch doctor." In a later story, Sedaris has taken to amusing himself while walking around Paris listening to a pocket medical guide with French-English translations for visiting doctors. His fondest hope is that he'll have to opportunity to try out his new conversational French at some cocktail party in the future:

"That's me at the glittering party, refilling my champagne glass and turning to my host to ask if he's noticed any unusual discharge."

And that pretty much says it all, n'est pas? Don't miss this great book! Two other wonderful books I'd like to recommend include The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, and Naked by David Sedaris -- both funny and entertaining.


Rating:
Summary: Forget Your Troubles -- And LAUGH!
Review:
I purchased "Me Talk Pretty One Day" recently from Amazon and I'm glad that I did. I really needed this book when I got it, as I'd been stressing out over finding a job and a place to live for the past few months. The crappy economy has taken a toll on my patience and my otherwise positive outlook on life. But when I opened up this book and started reading one day, I was fully absorbed into the stories, forgetting my worries.

Sedaris starts with a description of his fifth grade speech therapy lessons for a lisp he couldn't seem to shake. Observations about himself, the therapist, the other kids, and the various ridiculous notions that entered his mind abound, right from the start, and persist right through to the end of the book, describing his adult life in Paris. It's his unique perspective that really turns the stories into something worth reading.

From the first chapter on, he introduces readers to his father, mother, sisters, and brother, each with their own unique characteristics, but managing to share that kookiness gene that seems to have run in the family.

You will read about his experiences at college, and at attempting to make a living by creating contemporary artwork, and later becoming a creative writing teacher, a personal assistant, and a mover.

You will learn of his travels from New York, to Raleigh, to Chicago, back to New York, and finally to Paris. The entire second half of the book focuses on his French adventures, adding another layer of perspective as he finds himself in completely different surroundings.

I am not a particularly avid reader, but I'd quickly read through the entire book in just a few days - simply because it was so fun to read, that I couldn't put it down. I'd found myself reading chapters at a time, staying up late at night to read just one more story. Aside from Me Talk Pretty One Day, let me tell you about two other Amazon purchases I liked, Naked by Sedaris, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez. Truly knockout books!


Rating:
Summary: You'll laugh pretty hard
Review: I went to the bookstore in search of any book that would catch my interest. I browsed through quite a few books but when I read the first page of ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY, I knew I had to have it. It's absolutely hilarious. It's a little bold and crude but its the funniest book I've read. It's wittiness makes you want to scream with laughter. I read the whole thing three times it always cheers me up when I feel blue. My favorite story is BIG BOY. It's probably the shortest but no matter how many times I've read it, it always makes me laugh out loud. Also recently enjoyed a collection from McCrae titled THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. Really riveting material that packs a punch. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Uhh, why the hype?
Review: This is a compilation of about 200 Andy Rooney 60 Minutes essays, just that Andy Rooney is funnier and more interesting.

There is no story here, just the author ranting and raving about his life, which to me, doesn't make a book interesting or enjoyable. I can complain about my own life. Why should we care about Sedarris complaining? Amusing, but once you are done, it will leave you mind forever.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Sedaris is such a master storyteller with his amazing ability to have the reader weeping and laughing from one sentence to the next sometimes. His stories relating his childhood are on one hand painfully real and hilarious. He spares no embarassment for the sake of the story, thank goodness. ;o)

Rating:
Summary: Occasionally funny but mostly just, you know, lame
Review: I don't know what it was, but through the whole book I couldn't shake the feeling that David Sedaris has no soul. Perhaps that is unfair; but it is not unfair to say his book is a soulless, vapid, trite, tired collection of essays with lame titles like "The Youth in Asia." Har har. I feel like every decent joke was something I'd heard or read somewhere else. No one's suing Sedaris for plagiarism? Where's the justice? I gave this three stars mostly because it was such a quick read that there wasn't enough time for me to get annoyed with it. I think I laughed a couple times. Not terrible for 272 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous Essays...both beautifully written and hilarious!
Review:
ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY spends much less time in Sedaris' youth than NAKED did, with the second half of the book entirely devoted to his adventures living in Paris with his current boyfriend Hugh. The first half of the book is made up of his usual assortment of anecdotes and observations. The two pieces that open the book are among the strongest. "Go Carolina" finds the ten year old David encountering a subtle brand of homophobia in his school, where he is forced to take speech therapy to correct his "speech impediment" (read: "gay lisp"). He is pretty quick to catch on to the motivations behind these classes when, right from the beginning, his therapist questions him on his favorite sport teams, which he fakes his way through aware that "there were names for boys who didn't like sports." Especially after noting the complete absence of girls and popular boys among the therapist's students, David finds a particularly clever way to succeed in his therapy without actually succeeding. "Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities" finds him taking guitar lessons, against his will (his jazz-loving father dreams of having a musical family act despite his childrens' lack of interest or ability) from a dwarf named Mister Mancini, whom David comes to think of as a fellow outsider until Mancini clues into his homosexuality ("I'm not into that scene," he tells the bewildered kid). This story has much of the same poignancy of a similar piece in NAKED in which a black substitute teacher stands in front of the class cracking "queer" jokes, thus dispelling any of David's notions of solidarity among discriminated-against minorities. Another very funny essay entitled "Smart Guy" (page 239), is another highlight of the book. If you haven't read ANY Sedaris, ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY is an excellent place to start. The writing is fluid and slightly more sophisticated than in NAKED, each essay concluding gracefully and smartly. So pick up a copy! In addition to ME TALK PRETTY, I recommend RUNNING WITH SCISSORS by Burroughs, THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez


Rating:
Summary: Quite funny, but not sidesplitting
Review: Finally I jumped on the David Sedaris bandwagon, this being the first book by him I've read. It truly is pretty funny. It's a series of essays about his wacky family, living in France, and being on the subversive side of a very straight-laced U.S.

The book cover blurbs oversold it. I read reviewers say they "screamed with laughter" or found it "sidesplitting" or "wildly entertaining." It's mildly entertaining. Don't expect to scream with laughter.

You also have to suspend your belief to some degree. Exaggeration is okay but it's probably a major part of this autobiographical book. The first half is about growing up and adult life, and the second half is about life in France. There's not a lot of continuity here: it's truly a random collection of essays.

I don't want to leave a totally negative impression. Let me tell you two of my favorite lines from the book:

"...my childhood was unspeakably dull. When I was seven years old, my family moved to North Carolina. When he was seven years old, Hugh's family moved to the Congo. We had a collie and a house cat. They had a monkey and two horses named Charlie Brown and Satan."

Another, about a speech therapy class for boys with lisps: "When asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, we hid the truth and listed who we wanted to sleep with when we grew up: `A policeman or a fireman or one of those guys who works with high-tension wires.'"

Rating:
Summary: dysfunctional family!
Review: I can't deny that this book is really funny, I got hooked from the first page reading about his speech problem but after several chapters, I lost interest, it is really hilarious to read about his family, but then the comic mood didn't satisfy me as a reader wanting more essence to his novel. It became a narration of a gay 40 something male and his wretched life, from drugs, failure in school, living in Paris with his boyfriend and really nothing substantial. Even when he talks about his family and how weird they are, you laugh hard, but then he leaves it as an open window for you to comment. You wonder what made him lead such a life, his parents? the way he grew up?

The writing is easy and smooth. You feel sometimes as if he is actually talking to you which makes it a fun read.