When You Are Engulfed in Flames
by David Sedaris
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Book Reviews of When You Are Engulfed in Flames
Book Review: Naked barrels engulfed in pretty denim
Summary: 4 Stars
"When You Are Engulfed in Flames" is David Sedaris' fifth full-length collection of humorous essays. I've long been a fan of his writing, which for the uninitiated tends to focus on the more skewed aspects of his family and life. His collections usually include a variety of stories from various epochs of his life - as a child and teenager with his hilarious family, in his twenties (when he did drugs and had a variety of bizarre jobs), and with his boyfriend, Hugh, in Europe.
Most of my favorite stories involve his family, especially stories from his youth. He adds one such gem here - "The Understudy," which features one of the worst babysitters in history, the corpulent and itchy, Mrs. Peacock. This story has more laugh-out-loud moments than anything I've read since....well since Sedaris' last book. I tend to enjoy less his essays about his years when he was an active drug user, although "All the Beauty You Will Ever Need" is one of the better of this genre.
Alas, this collection is a bit thin on stories about his family; perhaps as he gets older he will focus more on recent events filtered through his observational humor style; "Crybaby" is a good example from this collection. The longest section of the book details his attempt to stop smoking in Tokyo, which is not the strongest ending to this otherwise solid collection. Overall, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" is average work for Sedaris; not as good "Naked" but still likely to keep his fans entertained and better than most humor essayists.
Book Review: A Wisdom Borne of Introspection
Summary: 4 Stars
Fans of David Sedaris will recognize, among certain other similarities to Socrates, Sedaris' disregard for "the unexamined life." In fact, it is Sedaris' unwavering introspection which sometimes fuels his critics' disdain--as if the act of writing directly from experience is somehow inferior to that of adopting the bogus omniscient voice so popular among hack columnists and Amazon.com reviewers such as this one.
In reading Sedaris' work, expressing as it does the mechanics of a certain mode of existence, I've felt many moments of personal recognition and even identification--experiences that almost convince me that I actually know Sedaris, even with the potential of confusing me into believing that *he* knows *me*, which could result in either scary or embarrassing results were I to attend a book signing after consuming two or three martinis.
Upon reading "Town and Country," however, I experienced not mere identification but genuine illumination. Sedaris brings the reader to find commonality not with his own experience, nor even with the pathos of some family member or stranger, but with humankind itself.
In *When You Are Engulfed in Flames*, Sedaris crosses the line from straight experiential reportage into ... well, wisdom. He does not preach. However, a life of introspection does seem, finally, to yield more profound results than this reader ever imagined.
Not only is it well worth reading, but it reveals a life well worth living.
Book Review: A toss-up at best
Summary: 3 Stars
Here you will find essays as funny as anything Sedaris has ever written. Unfortunately you will also find some of the most self-indulgent. When Sedaris writes of relationships -- with family and friends and lovers -- we can relate. He takes the ordinary and stretches it to the absurd, often tapping into secret feelings and emotions we thought only we had, and that makes us laugh at him and ourselves. But when Sedaris takes several months off to quit smoking and rents an apartment in Tokyo, as he does for about the last third of the book, he loses something. It's not that he has to smoke and be high to be funny (he doesn't), it's that most of us don't have the time or the dough for such extravagant vacations. We have jobs and we have bills. When Sedaris becomes not an exaggerated one of us, but a neurotic twit with so much money and fame he can slap his name on the cover of anything and know we will buy it, it is hard not to feel a bit duped. The last section of the book is mostly a collection of paragraphs, not essays. It feels lazy. It's hard to imagine anyone outside of his loyal fans (I consider myself one) finding any pleasure here. In the beginning the Sedaris wit says, "Look at us. Aren't we funny." Here, Sedaris is simply saying, "Look at me. Look at me." The joke is growing stale. I am reminded of Picasso, who in his last years would scribble on paper, sign his name, and laugh all the way to the bank. "I am so brilliant, I deserve this."Book Review: When the tail wags the dog
Summary: 2 Stars
Unfortunately, the title of this anthology is the most interesting thing about this latest Sedaris literary offering.
The problems with this anthology can be traced to Sedaris' own success.
One of the pitfalls of literary popularity such as Sedaris' is one's fans tend to scour the Net and greedily devour any of his writings. So, I cannot be alone in having tracked Sedaris's essay output over the years in various periodicals, so reading the same essays in this collection is a bit anti-climactic. Worse, the essays have been edited so that -- in my opinion -- some of the best bits have been excised or reworked into a bland semblance of their original published versions.
Secondly, this mellower, more subtle collection reflects Sedaris's greatly altered status in life. He's no longer the struggling house-cleaner cum Macy's elf cum mover, scraping by to make ends meet. Rather, literary success has given Sedaris an undoubtedly materially comfortable life. He has attained the type of fame that might,indeed, allow him to rub elbows with his favorite soap stars that he wrote of in "Naked" or "Barrel Fever." As a result, Sedaris's life has no great challenges, no need for truly quirky incidents and reflections that were so strong in his lean years.
So I'd recommend this collection to those who haven't combed the Net for Sedaris material, but be advised, many of the stories are watered down.
Book Review: A new favorite author
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been hearing that I have to read Sedaris for some years now. Not a big listener of the radio I had no idea who he was. So when I found this available on audio, when I was looking for something light I finally decided to give him a try. And guess what?? I freaking love David Sedaris. I laughed out loud so many times while driving in my car that I am sure I scared more than one driver.
This collection of essays was funny, sad, poignant, sweet, cute, and hysterical. One story after another with Sedaris doing the reading, it was just a great way to spend time in the car. The scary thing is wondering who is watching you and taking notes- Sedaris bases his tales on people and events that he has observed, his notebook and pen always handy to jot down a few notes. The story entitled Solution to the Saturday Puzzle was one of the funniest I have ever heard and I wonder what the star of the piece, Becky the nasty plane seat-mate, thinks of it- if she has indeed ever seen it.
The ending essays, which cover Sedaris' trip to Japan in order to quit smoking, run the gamut of emotions and were also among my favorite pieces. I just downloaded Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim to my Kindle. I want to compare the listening experience to the reading experience because I so enjoyed listening to Sedaris' rendition of his stories. I think I have found a new favorite, and that always makes me happy!