Me Talk Pretty One Day | David Sedaris | It's so funny I nearly peed my pants

Me Talk Pretty One Day | David Sedaris | Great send-up of the French

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Me Talk Pretty One...

	Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris Back Bay Books, 2001 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 724 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

David Sedaris became a star autobiographer on public radio, onstage in New York, and on bestseller lists, mostly on the strength of "SantaLand Diaries," a scathing, hilarious account of his stint as a Christmas elf at Macy's. (It's in two separate collections, both worth owning, Barrel Fever and the Christmas-themed Holidays on Ice.) Sedaris's caustic gift has not deserted him in his fourth book, which mines poignant comedy from his peculiar childhood in North Carolina, his bizarre career path, and his move with his lover to France. Though his anarchic inclination to digress is his glory, Sedaris does have a theme in these reminiscences: the inability of humans to communicate. The title is his rendition in transliterated English of how he and his fellow students of French in Paris mangle the Gallic language. In the essay "Jesus Shaves," he and his classmates from many nations try to convey the concept of Easter to a Moroccan Muslim. "It is a party for the little boy of God," says one. "Then he be die one day on two... morsels of... lumber," says another. Sedaris muses on the disputes between his Protestant mother and his father, a Greek Orthodox guy whose Easter fell on a different day. Other essays explicate his deep kinship with his eccentric mom and absurd alienation from his IBM-exec dad: "To me, the greatest mystery of science continues to be that a man could father six children who shared absolutely none of his interests." Every glimpse we get of Sedaris's family and acquaintances delivers laughs and insights. He thwarts his North Carolina speech therapist ("for whom the word pen had two syllables") by cleverly avoiding all words with s sounds, which reveal the lisp she sought to correct. His midget guitar teacher, Mister Mancini, is unaware that Sedaris doesn't share his obsession with breasts, and sings "Light My Fire" all wrong--"as if he were a Webelo scout demanding a match." As a remarkably unqualified teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago, Sedaris had his class watch soap operas and assign "guessays" on what would happen in the next day's episode. It all adds up to the most distinctively skewed autobiography since Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia. The only possible reason not to read this book is if you'd rather hear the author's intrinsically funny speaking voice narrating his story. In that case, get Me Talk Pretty One Day on audio. --Tim Appelo

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It's so funny I nearly peed my pants

I have never read a book this hysterical in my life. In this quirky autobiographical piece Sedaris tackles everything from a speech therapist who is out to correct every lisp in the boys with homosexual tendacies, to his galavanting in Paris where he visits all the movie theatres but none of the tourist attractions, to his prank playing sister who finds it amusing to create shocking situations (she yells out "good luck beating that rape charge David" right before he steps out of his subway car).

Some of his stories border on the absurd but his true talent is for finding humorous twists and perspectives on the mundane parts of life that many of us have perhaps pondered in a similar fashion but never had the true courage to vocalize. I read half of this book out loud to my husband and he and I were both gasping for breath as we shook with laughter. Read just one chapter and I dare you to put it down. This is one of those books I know I will return to again and again because it isn't a linear plot but a collection of great moments that you want to share with those around you.

My only regret is that it took me this long to pick up one of his books. I plan to read them all and you should too. Unless you don't have a sense of humor or are uptight when it comes to being politically correct in which case I highly recommend you stay away from this.

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Great send-up of the French

For anyone who has ever been to France, or anyone who has suffered the indignities of learning a foreign language, this is the humor book for you! Only be sure to read it in private, because if you're like me you might find yourself laughing out loud on public transportation, which can be embarrassing! Enjoy!

ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY

THE BOOK ARRIVED PROMPTLY, IN GOOD CONDITION AND I WILL PURCHASE FROM THE SELLER IN THE FUTURE.

loved it

Its a great book, although some parts had me grimacing rather than laughing, I really enjoyed it.

An amusing memoir

As much as I'm a fan of biographies - particularly historical ones - I've never been really enamored of autobiographies. Generally, they are too self-serving, which is to be expected: you can hardly be really objective when writing about yourself. Indeed, David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day is self-serving, but at least it's not in the standard way. Instead of being the hero of his book, Sedaris is often the lead buffoon.

Of course, that is to be expected. This is really a collection of semi-autobiographical essays which often does obvious fact-bending to get some good humor. Does the humor work? Usually, yes, and that's the key to success for a book of this nature.

Me Talk Pretty One Day is divided into two parts. The first part - titled "One" - is a series of essays about Sedaris's life in the United States, coping with speech therapists (due to a lisp), drugs and teaching. The second part - "Deux" - deals with life in France, where Sedaris goes with his lover (it is no secret that Sedaris is gay and he gets some humor out of this, but most of it has less to do with homosexuality as with relationships in general).

The typical problem with these sorts of books is that they are best read in small doses, maybe an essay or two at a time; otherwise, the humor begins to acquire a bit of sameness that dulls it a bit. Unfortunately, this conflicts with my cover-to-cover-and-on-to-the-next-book attitude, which may have cut into my enjoyment a little. But I still found this to be a breezy and funny read; it may not be a riot, but Me Talk Pretty One Day is good enough to get the occasional chuckle and have you at least smiling the rest of the time.

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