Naked
by David Sedaris
c. 1997
Little, Brown and Company: New York
291 pages
by David Sedaris
c. 1997
Little, Brown and Company: New York
291 pages
So as stated in the last entry (for Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day) this book came from paperbackswap.com. My life has been kind of crazy this last week, and this seemed the right kind of book for the sort of disjointed reality, so I picked it up immediately after the last one.
I enjoyed this book as much as the other, but in a very different way. I felt that Sedaris did less well in this book of leaving his extraordinary characters with their humanity (here the absurdity level reminded me more of Running With Scissors on occasion, the jade carving Jesus freak and the penis collecting union man come to mind) but perhaps a better job creating the mood and the reality of the situations that he faced.
I am a planner, a worker, a student, a person with goals and a vision for the next step. Sedaris was a hitchhiker, a dropout, a migrant worker living out of a trailer. It is not a life that I can relate to, and really, I know, not a life that I want, although sometimes I wish that I could convince myself to just pack it up and go. (Maybe this is what I am doing with the upcoming trip to Europe, but it seems that spending two years saving money and planning it out will take some of the mystery out of the whole thing, and obviously there is no hitchhiking or migrant apple picking in my future.) I did find myself intrigued by his wanderings, and by the stories, both good and bad that came from them, and that's what sucked me in. This book had a decent amount of continuity, at least the essays were presented chronologically, and that pulled me in a little more than Me Talk Pretty One Day, because there was some sense of "what happens next?" that I felt less in the other book.
And it did make me think more about the way that I lead my life, as a planner, unlike Sedaris, as someone who is mostly the same around everyone, unlike one of his coworkers, as someone who would probably not really enjoy a week at a nudist colony, but who might need it anyway (like Sedaris I suppose).
So all in all, a good book, although another that I will be passing on without a sense of attachment. This is the kind of book that I for one can mostly read and be done with, I would suggest that if you want it, swap for it, so that if it makes a different impression on you (I can see where it might, depending on where you are coming from) you can keep it, and if not, you can send it along until it finds someone who will want to keep it.
Another ringing endorsement for the wonder that is paperbackswap.com.
I enjoyed this book as much as the other, but in a very different way. I felt that Sedaris did less well in this book of leaving his extraordinary characters with their humanity (here the absurdity level reminded me more of Running With Scissors on occasion, the jade carving Jesus freak and the penis collecting union man come to mind) but perhaps a better job creating the mood and the reality of the situations that he faced.
I am a planner, a worker, a student, a person with goals and a vision for the next step. Sedaris was a hitchhiker, a dropout, a migrant worker living out of a trailer. It is not a life that I can relate to, and really, I know, not a life that I want, although sometimes I wish that I could convince myself to just pack it up and go. (Maybe this is what I am doing with the upcoming trip to Europe, but it seems that spending two years saving money and planning it out will take some of the mystery out of the whole thing, and obviously there is no hitchhiking or migrant apple picking in my future.) I did find myself intrigued by his wanderings, and by the stories, both good and bad that came from them, and that's what sucked me in. This book had a decent amount of continuity, at least the essays were presented chronologically, and that pulled me in a little more than Me Talk Pretty One Day, because there was some sense of "what happens next?" that I felt less in the other book.
And it did make me think more about the way that I lead my life, as a planner, unlike Sedaris, as someone who is mostly the same around everyone, unlike one of his coworkers, as someone who would probably not really enjoy a week at a nudist colony, but who might need it anyway (like Sedaris I suppose).
So all in all, a good book, although another that I will be passing on without a sense of attachment. This is the kind of book that I for one can mostly read and be done with, I would suggest that if you want it, swap for it, so that if it makes a different impression on you (I can see where it might, depending on where you are coming from) you can keep it, and if not, you can send it along until it finds someone who will want to keep it.
Another ringing endorsement for the wonder that is paperbackswap.com.
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