Me Talk Pretty One Day
by David Sedaris
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Book Summary Information
Author: David SedarisEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2001-06-05
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 288
Book Reviews of Me Talk Pretty One Day
Book Review: Ah...good old David Sedaris...
Summary: 4 Stars
...reading his stories is like watching your crazy neighbors scrapping next door through a hole in the wall, and it's hard not to look away. You just think...thank God that's not my family! Like his other books, Me Talk Pretty is made up of numerous humorous (and hopefully exaggerated) anecdotes from Mr. Sedaris' recent and not-so-recent past.
In the first story, a young David hilariously attempts to outwit the Agent--actually a young female speech therapist assigned to rid him of his lisp. About halfway through the book, after self-depracating discussions of his failures as guitar student, performance artist, and creative writing teacher who pulls his lesson plans from daytime Soaps, Sedaris again broaches the topic of "talking pretty". This time, he is trying to learn French. He wants to live with his boyfriend in a tiny Normandy village, which is difficult if the only French word you know is "ashtray".
I thought the depictions of his French class and village life were the highlight of this collection, especially "Jesus Shaves" and it's discussion of Easter. When Sedaris makes the faux pas of mentioning the American tradition of the Easter Bunny, his (decidedly masochistic) French instructor corrects him: "here in France, a giant bell flies in from Rome bringing chocolate for all the boys and girls." David observes that "a bell has all the personality of a cast-iron skillet." And when a Moroccan muslim student asks about the point of Easter the other students, in their limited vocabulary, provide comic, wholly inadequate explanations.
Bottom line: extremely addicting fare from Mr. Sedaris...laugh-out-loud funny in a macabre sort of way.
Summary of Me Talk Pretty One Day
A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers and cashiers with 6-inch fingernails. Compared by The New Yorker to Twain and Hawthorne, Sedaris has become one of our best-loved authors.David Sedaris became a star autobiographer on public radio, onstage in New York, and on bestseller lists, mostly on the strength of "SantaLand Diaries," a scathing, hilarious account of his stint as a Christmas elf at Macy's. (It's in two separate collections, both worth owning, Barrel Fever and the Christmas-themed Holidays on Ice.) Sedaris's caustic gift has not deserted him in his fourth book, which mines poignant comedy from his peculiar childhood in North Carolina, his bizarre career path, and his move with his lover to France. Though his anarchic inclination to digress is his glory, Sedaris does have a theme in these reminiscences: the inability of humans to communicate. The title is his rendition in transliterated English of how he and his fellow students of French in Paris mangle the Gallic language. In the essay "Jesus Shaves," he and his classmates from many nations try to convey the concept of Easter to a Moroccan Muslim. "It is a party for the little boy of God," says one. "Then he be die one day on two... morsels of... lumber," says another. Sedaris muses on the disputes between his Protestant mother and his father, a Greek Orthodox guy whose Easter fell on a different day. Other essays explicate his deep kinship with his eccentric mom and absurd alienation from his IBM-exec dad: "To me, the greatest mystery of science continues to be that a man could father six children who shared absolutely none of his interests."
Every glimpse we get of Sedaris's family and acquaintances delivers laughs and insights. He thwarts his North Carolina speech therapist ("for whom the word pen had two syllables") by cleverly avoiding all words with s sounds, which reveal the lisp she sought to correct. His midget guitar teacher, Mister Mancini, is unaware that Sedaris doesn't share his obsession with breasts, and sings "Light My Fire" all wrong--"as if he were a Webelo scout demanding a match." As a remarkably unqualified teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago, Sedaris had his class watch soap operas and assign "guessays" on what would happen in the next day's episode.
It all adds up to the most distinctively skewed autobiography since Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia. The only possible reason not to read this book is if you'd rather hear the author's intrinsically funny speaking voice narrating his story. In that case, get Me Talk Pretty One Day on audio. --Tim Appelo
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