Honesty. Pure, unrivaled honesty. Even Augusten Burroughs' tales of family crazies cannot touch the honesty of David Sedaris's written word, and Me Talk Pretty One Day is no exception. He is brutally honest when describing his father's obsession with saving and eating food long past its expiration date. He is painfully honest when he discloses his drug abuse while feigning artistic inclinations. I think it is this honesty that makes me love Sedaris. I am truly jealous of the candor with which he can tell any story, no matter how embarrassing or slandering it might be. It amazes me that his honesty can literally make me sob but a few pages later can make me laugh until I cry.
The dramatic, emotional swings are paralleled in the bi-continental setting of the short stories in Me Talk Pretty One Day. Sedaris explores the entire spectrum of his life from the time he is his South Carolina grade school taking speech lessons to lessen his lisp to his forays into learning French while living in France, the short story providing the title line. The book is full of binaries: self-conscious pre-teen to self-accepting fifty-something, despising his family to accepting the quirks of his parents and five siblings, and drug addicted to stone sober. These binaries are not special to Me Talk Pretty One Day, however. Naked, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Blue Jeans all exemplify Sedaris's honest look at the changes one takes in life. He is able to poignantly address crazy neighbors and Christmas whores but also look at the funny side of death and addiction. Perhaps the thing that makes Me Talk Pretty One Day special is that Sedaris deftly balances the bittersweet with absurd in a way that, at the end of the book, makes you feel like you've just walked away from one really great therapy session where you realized that a) you can deal with your problems and b) at least you don't have it as bad as this Sedaris guy.
And it is so funny. I laughed until I snorted. This is not to say that Sedaris's other books are not funny because they are very much so, but Me Talk Pretty One Day just has something special about it that makes it unique. Again, Sedaris's honest look at himself is what makes it so personal and like a close best friend. He is able to find the humor in the fact that he is not as smart as his partner and his partner makes him feel better about this fact by stating that he is good at things like "vacuuming and naming stuffed animals." My favorite part of the book occurs in the short story with the same title as the book, in which Sedaris takes us through his evolution from speaking one French word at a time ("ashtray" and "bottleneck") to speaking French phrases: "'Is them the thoughts of cows?' I'd ask the butcher, pointing to the calves displayed in the front window. `I want me some lamb chop with handles on `em.'" I can open to the page this quote appears on and laugh out loud like I had never read it before.
This book is so worth the money and time. If you've not read Sedaris before, this is a great place to start. If you are a longtime fan of Sedaris, you will appreciate his ability to make you think deeply about hilarious instances and to make you laugh at things you probably shouldn't laugh at.
The dramatic, emotional swings are paralleled in the bi-continental setting of the short stories in Me Talk Pretty One Day. Sedaris explores the entire spectrum of his life from the time he is his South Carolina grade school taking speech lessons to lessen his lisp to his forays into learning French while living in France, the short story providing the title line. The book is full of binaries: self-conscious pre-teen to self-accepting fifty-something, despising his family to accepting the quirks of his parents and five siblings, and drug addicted to stone sober. These binaries are not special to Me Talk Pretty One Day, however. Naked, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Blue Jeans all exemplify Sedaris's honest look at the changes one takes in life. He is able to poignantly address crazy neighbors and Christmas whores but also look at the funny side of death and addiction. Perhaps the thing that makes Me Talk Pretty One Day special is that Sedaris deftly balances the bittersweet with absurd in a way that, at the end of the book, makes you feel like you've just walked away from one really great therapy session where you realized that a) you can deal with your problems and b) at least you don't have it as bad as this Sedaris guy.
And it is so funny. I laughed until I snorted. This is not to say that Sedaris's other books are not funny because they are very much so, but Me Talk Pretty One Day just has something special about it that makes it unique. Again, Sedaris's honest look at himself is what makes it so personal and like a close best friend. He is able to find the humor in the fact that he is not as smart as his partner and his partner makes him feel better about this fact by stating that he is good at things like "vacuuming and naming stuffed animals." My favorite part of the book occurs in the short story with the same title as the book, in which Sedaris takes us through his evolution from speaking one French word at a time ("ashtray" and "bottleneck") to speaking French phrases: "'Is them the thoughts of cows?' I'd ask the butcher, pointing to the calves displayed in the front window. `I want me some lamb chop with handles on `em.'" I can open to the page this quote appears on and laugh out loud like I had never read it before.
This book is so worth the money and time. If you've not read Sedaris before, this is a great place to start. If you are a longtime fan of Sedaris, you will appreciate his ability to make you think deeply about hilarious instances and to make you laugh at things you probably shouldn't laugh at.
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