Book: Me talk pretty one day

[liv]

Author: David Sedaris

Details: (c) David Sedaris 2000; Pub Abacus 2002; ISBN 0-349-11391-2

Verdict: Me talk pretty one day is vaguely amusing but not really my sort of thing.

Reasons for reading it: I think zdamiana had good things to say about this.

How it came into my hands: Oxfam bargain table

I haven't really got much to say about Me talk pretty one day. I'd thought it was a novel but it's just a collection of essays. It reads like stand-up comedy written down. There were one or two things that made me laugh out loud, but mostly I'm not really into the kind of self-deprecating, making light of being an oppressed minority style of humour. It's the kind of humour that is traditionally thought of as Jewish, though in this case Sedaris is an outsider because he's gay. But anyway, it doesn't really amuse me very much.

Which is not to say it's bad, it just didn't really grab me. I liked the first couple of stories relating to Sedaris' childhood, and some of the ones from Part II about Sedaris' attempts to learn French. But really, the main merit of MTPOD was that it was better than having nothing to read over a 9-hour journey.

Comments

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

I'm used to hearing Sedaris read his essays on National Public Radio, so I eagerly read each one of his collections as soon as they come out. I think that when you "hear" his voice as you read, they are much funnier. He is so innocent in his delivery, so straight-forward and yet a little squeaky... eh, I can't explain. But Me Talk Pretty One Day is one of my favorite books to read when I just need to veg out and laugh a bit.