[September 2012]
Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
number of voters: 6
percentage of voters who finished the book: 100
highest rating: 8
lowest rating: 5
average rating: 6.92
*****
There are a limited number of people in the world who could
pull off Me Talk Pretty One Day, an
autobiographical selection of short stories that straddles topics from the
devastating lows of drug addiction to the social humiliation of a turd that
refuses flushing.
David Sedaris has so much Voice with a capital V that your
life feels—without a hint of jealousy—wholly unremarkable in comparison. The
book unfolds in chaotic bursts of nearly-normal-No-wait-this-isn’t-normal-at-all
stories. It all feels larger than life and yet somehow almost completely
ordinary. (You may have taken a French class, but it was never as interesting
or comical. Your father may have had a nickname, but nothing as quirky as “The
Rooster,” who refers to himself in the third person. You possibly have created
a work of art at some point in your life, but—guaranteed—it was not a
performance piece in which you heated up a skillet of plastic soldiers and
poured a milkshake over your head.)
Reasons you might like this book: It is authentic,
hilarious, remarkable. It is about a not-so-average average guy whose life is
sometimes messy and messed up but maybe no more than you, the average reader.
Reasons you might not like this book: It is visceral,
shattering, unpleasant. It is about a once drug-addicted, often messed up
not-so-average average guy whose life is often well-intentioned and rarely in
one piece but maybe no more than you, the messed-up reader.
Like it or not, you won’t read anything else quite like a
David Sedaris book. Guaranteed.
(Milkshake not included.)
