, is well worth picking up for a gander. Split into halves, the first collection of essays deals with Sedaris' childhood and 20-something stumblings and the second half explores his move to France with his partner, Hugh. Both sections examine Sedaris' literal and figurative struggle to find a voice, as a lisping homosexual in the South and as a bumbling American transplant with mediocre French in Normandy.As always, Sedaris' charm lays in his ability to take everyday experiences, like the misery of childhood speech pathology classes or the awkward enthusiasm of a parent for music lessons, and mold it into an amusing anecdote with the capacity to draw laughter from his text. I find Sedaris' dry humor incredibly entertaining and engaging though some criticize him for being negative. He can occasionally be a bit high-brow and I think that upper-middle class readers may enjoy his work more than the less epicurian reader.
At any rate, I highly recommend reading at least one of Sedaris' books. He's one of the best American humorists of our time and he manages it without resorting to a crassness that makes you feel tarnished when you're done.
No comments:
Post a Comment