Me Talk Pretty One Day
by David Sedaris
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Book Reviews of Me Talk Pretty One Day
Book Review: Done, David
Summary: 5 Stars
David Sedaris has a voice like no other. His observations seem random but somehow produce compelling autobiography on its own idiosyncratic terms, even if it isn't a straight-through chronology of his life. This book moves quickly through signposts in his life, as he evolves from an effeminate boy with a lisp...to a guitar-strumming college dropout...to an aimless writing teacher in Chicago...to a self-proclaimed no-talent performance artist...to an American living abroad with his partner Hugh in France. What ties these different stages together is his constant sense of the absurd and an acute ability to include himself in that world, not as an observer but as someone who creates an existence that is simultaneously at odds with yet strangely compatible with the world around him. Sedaris seems as much an eccentric as everyone else in the book, especially compared to his family, even compared to his deliciously wacky sister Amy, but he still stands out as a character without alienating the reader, no mean feat. Sedaris does not use cheap sentiment, and I like how he takes me on his journeys no matter how bumpy.
The second half of this book focuses on his adventures settling into the Gallic world, where his boyfriend owns an 18th century house in the French countryside. Sedaris does not take the easy way out by ridiculing the French but hilariously describes the quixotic nature of language barriers. The chapter, "Jesus Saves", is a great illustration of how he captures the quirkiness that befalls all sorts of international students trying to make sense of the French language on their terms by having everyone explain what Easter is.
But I have to say my favorite section is earlier on when he discusses his succession of pets and the sadness he felt when someone brought up "euthanasia" for his aged cat Neil, in the aptly named chapter, "The Youth in Asia". Sedaris brings up a cherished memory for me by remembering "Fatty and Skinny", the Japanese movie that showed up periodically on Saturday mornings with Kukla, Fran and Ollie in the sixties. His vivid recollection of this movie completely embraces me, as his memories match mine completely, especially when Fatty climbs the pole to the cruel taunts of his schoolmates and then cries out his friend's name for forgiveness of his failure, I had the privilege of meeting David Sedaris at a book signing this past summer where I could share this with him, and so in my copy of this book, he signed.... How funny and dear this man is, and what a wonderful read this book is.
Book Review: Sedaris tops even himself
Summary: 5 Stars
I wouldn't have believed that David Sedaris could get any funnier, but he has. With "Me Talk Pretty One Day," Sedaris strolls down something of an autobiographical lane. The title story refers to his efforts to learn French in a language class in France (he has inconveniently neglected to learn French before having moved to France with his lover). From his beginnings as a performance artist (one of his friends specialized in a performance piece that involved the artist being shot in the shoulder with a rifle), Sedaris moves on to moving (see the scathing summations of all the folks he's ever had the bad luck to move, including the woman who had not bothered to pack up a single item before the movers arrived) and other things. Sometimes he takes a side trip, as when he goes home to visit his father and his sister Amy happens to be there as well. Amy, who hasn't been home in some time, decides to wear a fat suit the entire weekend. The effect of the fat suit on Mr. Sedaris is mind-bogglingly funny--he spends the entire weekend trying subtly to get her to eat less, to go out for a quick run--anything to get her to lose weight. But the best thing by far has to be the classroom full of sundry nationalities, all trying in their crippled French to explain to a Moroccan student what Easter is:"It would seem that despite having grown up in a Muslim country, she would have heard it mentioned once or twice, but no. 'I mean it,' she said. 'I have no idea what you people are talking about.' The teacher called upon the rest of us to explain. The Poles led the charge to the best of their ability. 'It is,' said one, 'a party for the little boy of God who call his self Jesus and . . . oh, s--t.' She faltered and her fellow countryman came to her aid. 'He call his self Jesus and then he be die one day on two . . . morsels of . . . lumber.' The rest of the class jumped in, offering bits of information that would have given the pope an aneurysm. 'He die one day and then he go above of my head to live with your father.' 'He weared of himself the long hair and after he die, the first day he come back here for to say hello to the peoples.' 'He nice, the Jesus.' 'He makes the good things, and on the Easter we be sad because somebody makes him dead today.' Part of the problem had to do with vocabulary. Simple nouns such as 'cross' and 'resurrection' were beyond our grasp, let alone such complicated reflexive phrases as 'to give of yourself your only begotten son.' " Humor writing doesn't get any better than this.
Book Review: Funny But Not Solely About France or the French
Summary: 3 Stars
As I purchased this book simply because it appears on so many Francophile Amazon.com listamania lists, I prepared myself for a throughly enjoyable and hysterically humorous read based on the 400+ reviews that pumped up the pleasure factor of this book to the almost unrealistic level of master satirist Mark Twain. While the book is funny, I was disappointed to discover that it really was not about France or the French---the essay entitled "Me Talk Pretty One Day", indeed narrates the author's amusing and insightful struggle with learning the French language while at a language school in Paris, but it is only one out of perhaps four or five essays about France, the majority of the book deals with Sedaris' issues with himself and his colorful family back in the US. (Now, please, just because I am warning those Amazon customers who wish to purchase a book about France and the French and were directed to this book by listamania listings, don't immediately click the "no" button as if the rest of my review isn't worth reading. Alas, I was sadly misdirected as most likely others are, too and should not be penalized for telling the truth as I see it. Nor should anyone rate anyone's review negatively simply because it expresses an alternative opinion.) Because of this misdirection, I read the first half of this book--which has nothing to do with France--with anticipation of when France and the French were going to pop up in the author's humorous anecdotes and musings regarding this understanding of life. By the time I got to the second part, where Sedaris travels to Paris with his boyfriend, I had already realized that this book of essays was just that: a book of essays containing only a few essays about France. I confess to skimming through the contents of each essay before deeming it worthy of my time--sorry to those of you who simply love everything Sedaris--and I will say that the French essays in the book are well worth the read---I just wish there had been a whole book dedicated to just this topic. Therefore, if like myself, you have happened upon this page simply to read a book about France, save your money and either read the few French themed essays in the library or bookstore. Buy instead "On Rue Tatin"--the telling of an American woman and her husband who buy an old convent north of Paris or any of the Provence books by UK author Mayle. These books are not meant to be funny in a satirical manner, but instead convey an idea of the French and their country from alien prospectives.
Book Review: He sure talks pretty to my ears
Summary: 5 Stars
Are you ready to read a book that is written as relaxed as you are reading it? David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day is one of the funniest true to life books I have ever read. This book takes you through David's dysfunctional childhood all the way up to his life in the present. The situations he encounters in life are written so beautifully that you feel like he is sitting next to you at a party and everyone is laughing around him. I started reading the first chapter, which is written about his eccentric father who loves his family but has problems expressing support for his weird children, next thing I know I'm on page 112 and hanging on his every word like it's juicy high school gossip. Reading further in the book you come to know that David Sedaris's inner thoughts remind you of the thoughts you giggle about to only to yourself. The life of David Sedaris you would think would be filled with happy childhood memories surrounded by scholarly achievements and lots of money. After putting the book down I forget sometimes this guy is the author of a National Best Seller and not a buddy of mine. You can find truth and humor in every one of his chapters as well as a story you can relate to. Using humor and a great writing technique Sedaris takes you to Paris where he has moved without knowing anything about the French language. He enrolls in a French class where he is instructed by a professor who takes her language a little too seriously. This chapter starts his many triumphs to win over the life of Parisian in a country that hates him. With his adventures changing in every chapter you never become bored with each insight he pulls you closer. Sedaris's descriptive storytelling style is the greatest I ever read and I'm not surprised I haven't heard of him sooner. When you think your life is crazy read a couple chapters and you can put that same funny twist on life and survive anything with a good sense of humor. The last chapter like the first is about his father, there you see his father may be strange but the respect he has for the man that wanted David to be happy and supported no matter what crazy dream he would follow. Finishing the book I reflected on the many different struggles David Sedaris lived through the most was drugs and the influence it had over his art and what he did to overcome his addiction. The end result impresses me the most; he has taken a troubled life and made it a funny learning experience that all can relate too. -Lee from Louisville
Book Review: Baring your soul in boxer shorts and black socks
Summary: 5 Stars
Having just finished Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, I felt really let down. Not because the book was a failure in my eyes, but because it was over, and I had no more opportunities to laugh out loud,nudge people and say, "Hey, listen to this!" Which doesn't exactly buy me any points with anyone. The book is the best of its genre: ascerbic and witty and, as I used to tell my creative writing students, self-effacing. One can hardly point out the absurdity of others without showing his own, and Sedaris does such a clean, uncluttered job of it that my critical editor demon, who lives in the hope that she will get a good piece of prose to chew up and spit out, goes hungry, and I am fed just enough. He manages to tell just enough, enough to make the reader believe in the truth as stranger than fiction essays in the book. I was being treated like an adult, one with enough intelligence to see much more than is on the paper, trusted with intimate details of a life strangely lived. Sedaris is the kind of writer that makes you want to meet him, hang out with and talk to and listen and try not to be embarrassed at the fact that he is maybe oblivious to the social laws he is breaking by sitting in boxer shorts and black socks in an outdoor restaurant. And I want to do the same. On a trip to England, my husband and I watched Miss Firecracker on the television in our room instead of joining in with the rest of the country's celebration of the 50th anniversary of D Day, which just happened to begin when we arrived, and which I was unaware of until getting off the plane. As we staggered into Heathrow, hundreds of signs were waving, hoping to connect with the great numbers of older couples,politicians, and entourages that had accompanied us on the flight. And on our return,a week after OJ drove down a California highway with a disguise and his passport, we were oblivious to the event and sordid details until we hit Boston. That's the kind of thing Sedaris helps us see--the embarrassment and confusion of coming into the room and knowing everyone is talking and then they suddenly turn to look at you and you want to think you don't know why but you have probably six reasons tucked away ready to jump up and own the enbarrassment and humiliation.
I loved this book, pure and simple, and hope others who avoid nonfiction like the plague, as I do, will give it a try.