Naked
by David Sedaris
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Book Summary Information
Author: David SedarisEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-06-01
ISBN: 0316777730
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Book Reviews of Naked
Book Review: My Hero?
Summary: 4 Stars
My roommate would love David Sedaris's particular brand of humor. I won't know this for sure-at least not anytime soon-because he won't read what others would like him to read (book clubs are anathema). Actually, everyone I know likes Sedaris's brand of humor. I've enjoyed my share of NPR Morning Edition and This American Life spots myself. But I can't say that I entirely enjoyed Naked.
Why? The first story, "Chipped Beef" pulled me in immediately, delighted with the power of the young David's imagination, entranced by the unique difficulties he faced as a child, and I laughed a lot. Again, I ask myself, Why did I laugh so much? Well, Sedaris seems to have a knack for describing people who are incredibly familiar and in so doing bring to the forefront their fears and weaknesses and personal oddities. So there are, scattered across the pages, a whole bunch of ordinary people with strange ideas or habits or prejudices exposed.
I think the title for the book is a good one. Not just because it describes what I see as the best story in the book, but because there's a whole lot of exposure going on in the stories. We see people being guided by all sorts of crazy ideas, and as David tells the story in the contexts he sets up, he shows just how crazy their ideas may be. By crazy I think I mean anti-productive, self destructive behavior. Like the man who created jade clocks in the shape of Oregon, fervently worshipping God while being a real ass to David, who was essentially providing free labor for the guy.
But by about the time I got to "Dinah, the Christmas Whore," I realized I wasn't enjoying the book anymore. I found it depressing because everyone just seemed so ridiculous. That's why I think my roommate would like the book. (though we'll never know) He's an existentialist (though he resists labels) who frequently assumes a Camusian posture saying things like "because the universe has no inherent meaning other than what we bring to it, it in its naked state is essentially meaningless." "everything is absurd because nothing is innately meaningful. therefore, it's all worthy of being poked fun at."
The Platonist in me searches for meaning, for edification in this book-any book really. Why should I read this? What can I learn from this? I was reading the book while standing in line at La Mancha Blanca, when a woman, who I later learned was named Kim, told me it was a wonderful book. So funny! She said. Yes, I said, but it's getting difficult for me. Depressing, really. She said, yes-the bit about losing his mother and all, but he comes at it all from such a higher place.
That was shocking to me really. She was sucked back into another conversation before I got to explore what she meant (or maybe I just didn't want to), but I did think about it later. It then occurred to me what the rest of the planet probably knows by the time they learn to tie their shoes-humor does come from a higher place. David Sedaris suffered a lot in his life. And he continues to suffer. And yet he puts it all into a context in which he and his cohorts are absurd. And so we can laugh. And from the laughter we draw strength. That is higher thinking. Do I want to be like David Sedaris? Is he my hero? Mid-way through the book I would've said no way. He's getting pushed around by life-he's essentially a weak character, not a strong one. He is pushed around by life; he simply reports it in a way that makes people laugh. He gets a charge out of diminishing others.
But now I think maybe he is a hero of mine. He's my hero for not rising above human folly-which is everywhere. He rises above it to laugh and to inspire others to laugh. He exposes us for all our absurdities and we laugh. We laugh even when it's all too real and we'd just as soon cry. Why? Because it's really all coming from the same place. But there is tremendous strength in laughter. David Sedaris's breed of laughter sponsors love for humankind, and it sponsors strength. Maybe somehow David Sedaris has joined forces between Plato and Camus.
Will I read other works by David Sedaris? Yes, I believe I will. I believe I will read his stories to remember the strength of laughter. But perhaps more importantly I think I would like to develop a bit of a Sedaris eye-a way of looking at people and situations with a very honest sense of their absurdity, and then love what I find instead of judging it. I'd like to learn how to embrace the absurd. I think Sedaris is my hero in that.
"For the first time in what felt like years, I saw stockings and handbags. Bodies, fat and thin, were packed into slacks and pleated skirts. Every outfit resembled a costume designed to reveal the aspirations of the wearer. The young man on the curb would like to make the first Olympic skateboarding team. The girl in the plastic skirt longs to live in a larger town. I found myself looking at these people and thinking, I know what you look like naked. I can tell by your ankles and the tightness of your belt. The flush of your face, the hair sprouting from your collar; the way your shirts hang off those bony hips: you can't hide it from me."
Naked, p. 291
And it's true-it doesn't seem like anyone can hide much of anything from David Sedaris. Everyone, every situation is exposed. He has the gift, or has exercised the patience to acquire the talent, of really seeing people. Another great mark of a higher state-awareness. But perhaps another reason the book began to wear on me was because of the down side of having that gift:
"The glasses, when worn, gave me the look of someone both enthused and exhausted by what he saw. They suggested the manic weariness inherent in their promise, capturing the moment when the sheen wears off and your newfound gift becomes something more closely resembling a burden."
Naked, p. 291
He offers his vision and bears his burden with marvelously good humor. No, he may not have the wisdom to uplift endless generations of humanity, but he does provide a model for seeing and a tool for aquiring strength.
Yes, David Sedaris, today you are my hero.
Summary of Naked
Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked, Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique worldview-a sensibility at once take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply charitable. A tart-tongued mother does dead-on imitations of her young son's nervous tics, to the great amusement of his teachers; a stint of Kerouackian wandering is undertaken (of course!) with a quadriplegic companion; a family gathers for a wedding in the face of imminent death. Through it all is Sedaris's unmistakable voice, without doubt one of the freshest in American writing.Hip radio comedy fans and theater folks who belong to the cult of Obie-winning playwright/performer David Sedaris must kill to get this book. These would be fans of the scaldingly snide Sedaris's hilariously described personal misadventures like The Santaland Diaries (a monologue about his work as an elf to a department store Santa) seen off-Broadway in 1997. In a series of similarly textured essays, Sedaris takes us along on his catastrophic detours through a nudist colony, a fruit-packing plant, his own childhood, and a dozen more of the world's little purgatories.
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