Naked

Rating:
Summary: Addictive.
Review: David Sedaris takes you on a journey through part of his life in a series of autobiographical essays - each one better than the last. If you're in the mood for a comical autobiography then this is for you!

Rating:
Summary: Disturbingly Honest
Review: I had never heard of David Sedaris until a couple months back when a friend handed me her copy of this book and urged, "You have to read this!"

Not being one for intense reading experiences, I was skeptical that I'd even make it beyond the first chapter. But because I favor sarcasm and cynicism above all else, this book appealed to me. The author's ability to paint such vivid portraits of everyone, from the merest acquaintance to the closest family member, is what pulled me in.

Although this book is a collection of short essays, it does tell a story of a man riding the wave on which his neurotic tendencies take him. Sedaris displays a remarkable ability to view himself and the people around him in a harsh but honest light. If only more of us could be as observant of the world in which we live.

Cynical as the author professes to be, I couldn't help but read a significant amount of hope in between the lines. The chapter in which he discusses his mother's inoperable cancer (as well as his entire family's reaction to it) is told against the backdrop of his sister's wedding. Perhaps I'm overanalyzing here, but I find it difficult to believe that someone who is completely cynical would use such a celebratory occasion as the backdrop to this story.

I can't help but wonder what it must be like to live with a David Sedaris in your life. Were it me, would I be self conscious of every thing I said and every move I made for fear that it would wind up the subject of yet another essay on human fallibility?

Rating:
Summary: One Big Laugh Out Loud!
Review: I would love to give this books five stars but I can't. There were three stories ("Chipped Beef," "Dinah, the Christmas Whore," and "The Drama Bug") that just didn't grab me, so I can't in good conscience give "Naked" a perfect rating. But it's a very strong 4....like a 4.7.

David Sedaris is one of the funniest authors I've ever read. His storytelling is superb and absolutely hilarious! This is a must-read for anyone out there who wants to temporarily escape their own dull lives and live vicariously through someone else. Underneath Sedaris's humorous adventures lies a sadness and fear, but that's what makes the stories so beautiful and genuine. Living with OCD, his mother's death, and realizing and accepting his homosexuality are amongst life's trying situations, to say the least. But Sedaris recounts those experiences with tenderness and dignity. I dreaded getting to the last page, and when I closed the book and put it back on the shelf it felt like I was losing a new friend. So...the solution to that was simple....I just pre-ordered his next book.

NOTE: If you loved "Naked" you'll love "Barrell Fever."

Rating:
Summary: Unique voice, insight and perspective...
Review: David Sedaris is an odd, odd man. That being said, his sense of humor will pull you into his wacky stories. I had tried several months ago to read this book and just couldn't get past the first couple of stories. They just didn't grab me or live up to the "sidesplitting" review on the back of the book. Around Christmas time, I heard him on NPR reading some of his stories I believe from "Holidays on Ice," and they were hilarious. This month, "Naked" was selected for my book club. I decided to borrow the book on tape from the library and, boy, was that the right decision! Sedaris, in my opinion, is meant to be heard not read. Unfortunately, not all the stories are included in the abridged CD. I listened to the stories that were, and read the ones that were not. By far, my favorites are the ones I could listen to. My recommendation would be for others to buy the audio and listen to it as they drive around time. It almost feels like picking up a quirky hitchhiker or a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who keeps you entertained while you mill about town, and even though he makes you a little bit uncomfortable at times, you still are not looking forward to arriving at your destination and having the conversation end...

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly funny
Review: This is one of the most entertaining non-fiction books out there; David Sedaris knows how to make us laugh and cry. Well, okay, he knows how to make us laugh _until_ we cry, and who would want it any other way?

This series of fragmented memoirs is at its most entertaining when Sedaris relates his childhood memories of growing up in a typically dysfunctional family. He never fails to show himself as self-serving, and this brutal honesty makes us love him all the more. And he doesn't spare his family any either; in one memorable scene, his mother and sister are emulating the methods of a fictional detective they enjoy as they read the crime reports in the daily news.

"We know that the girl was held at knifepoint on the second floor of her house," Lisa said, tapping a pencil against her forehead. So the person who robbed her was...not in a...wheelchair."

Moments later, the mother reveals her own brilliant deduction, that a professional thief would have used a gun while this person could only afford a knife, meaning that the culprit was clearly a drug addict.

This is just hilarious material, and while it does become slightly less enjoyable as young David's world expands and grows more complicated, the writing remains top notch throughout. Sedaris joins only a handful of other authors who have written their memoirs with the reader's enjoyment as the first priority.

If you are leery of autobiographical writing because of the self-inflating nature of the genre, please make Naked the only memoir you every buy.

You won't be disappointed.


Rating:
Summary: Necked
Review: NAKED has to be the funniest book I've ever read. I expected to read the book, write my review and be done with it. But, after reading it through the first time, I had to pick it up and read it again. In fact, the first time I read through it, after I read certain 'chapters' I'd go back and read it again. I'll admit I felt a little silly sitting in my bedroom laughing out loud to myself as I read the book, but seriously, it was THAT funny. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a great sense of humor, anyone who feels they lack a sense of humor, anyone who needs a pick-me-up after a hard week. I truly feel this book could be enjoyed by just about anyone. It does use some harsh language from time to time, but nothing I found to be offensive. I is a great book and I would definitely have to say David Sedaris is one of, if not, my favorite authors! If you liked McCrae's THE CHILDREN'S CORNER or Sedaris's ME TALK PRETTY, then you'll love this as well.

Rating:
Summary: RAW AND FUNNY!
Review:
David Sedaris' "Naked" is aptly titled, because he is a writer with no qualms about laying himself and his life bare on the page. Very few writers, I think, would be willing to admit to the insecurities, quirks and downright deceptions that grace the pages of this collection of memories. Were this a work of fiction, many readers would be put off by the bizarre exploits and experiences Mr. Sedaris relates, saying that they are all far too strange to believe.

But this isn't fiction, and the reader may find himself squirming uncomfortably when recognizing the truth of Sedaris' supremely dysfunctional family -- a truth that mirrors far more contemporary American families than any phony Ozzie and Harriet ideal ever could. His sharp-tongued mother, smoking and drinking her way to an early demise due to cancer; his oblivious father, alternately ranting and cajoling his children, trying to teach them the joys of playing golf; and his two sisters, each as puzzled about their parents and the mysteries of life as he is combine to form a nuclear family that is constantly on the verge of a meltdown.

Anyone familiar with Sedaris' other literary works -- "Barrel Fever," "Holidays on Ice" and "Me Talk Pretty One Day" -- or his contributions to Esquire magazine and NPR will surely enjoy this work. To those of you who haven't heard or read him yet, I can't think of a better place to startbut try it for yourself! Pick up a copy! Another book I need to recommend -- as funny as Sedaris, and very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, highly entertaining and funny little novel I can't stop thinking about.

Rating:
Summary: A bandwagon I just can't join.
Review: I don't get it. I just don't get it.

Mr. Sedaris writes well...mostly. He also tells a hell of a good story...sometimes. He is not, however, either consistently funny, consistently insightful or particularly wise.

"Naked" was the literary equivalent of cotton candy. It started off as a really enjoyable special treat, but the taste was so monotonous that you'd had enough midway through.

Of course, it may just be me.

Rating:
Summary: Favorite
Review: This is my favorite Sedaris memoir. I love everything he's written practically across the board, and I know I sound like a suck-up, but it's true. He amazes me with his ability to have me screaming with laughter (no, I am not nuts) one minute and the next chapter have me choking up.

Rating:
Summary: Wicked Funny!
Review: Sedaris writes in a way that is both amusing and poignant, but never self-pitying. His mother, who sounds to me like the best mother of all time, downplayed his rituals and odd behaviour and managed to make him feel much better about himself, to the point of helping him to enjoy her stories about his tics.

All of the stories in this volume contain funny bits, but not all are uniformly hilarious. His tales of being on the road , hitch-hiking to Oregon, working there, and his run-ins with the local crazies are all quite dark, and I found them a little frightening. Sedaris seems to have had a self-destructive period, but even this is chronicled in his usual self-deprecating manner.

I found some of the stories to be particularly heart-wrenching, even while laughing hysterically ("Never mind," my by now disgusted thirteen year old would say. "It's just Mama reading her book about underpants again"). The chapter called,"I Like Guys" was like this. Being a teenager isn't easy for anyone, and Sedaris, who apparently had to come to terms with his own sexuality while enduring a summer camp with other teens at the same time, didn't fare as well as most, quite predictably.

All in all, I do recommend this book, although some people will probably not like his way of laughing through tears at topics such as being handicapped, mental illness, segregation, homosexuality and OCD. It seems that dry, humourless people can be found anywhere. However, even the most easily offended ought to be in stitches after reading the title story, 'naked'. Suffice it to say that Sedaris, who calls a nudist colony in order to get a brochure with which to annoy his brother, becomes quite taken with the idea of making a visit in order to become comfortable with being, you guessed it, naked. Hilarity ensues for the next forty pages, as usual viewed through Sedaris's sharply focused lens of humour and pathos.

Buy this book. Read it, and then put it in a nice safe place on your shelf. That way, when the weather is nasty, or your checkbook is overdrawn, or the new puppy has done what all new puppies do for the hundredth time in one day, you can take it out, reread a chapter, and realize that your life isn't so bad. Things could be worse, after all: you could be David Sedaris, interviewing residents of that nudist colony about the naked chocolate pudding toss. Think of Sedaris as medication, to be taken in daily doses. In addition to Naked, I'd like to recommend The Losers Club by Richard Perez - also very funny!