"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

David Sedaris may be one of the most interesting (and perhaps influential for some) thinkers of this century. Thankfully, he decided to put his ideas on paper, and as a result we were treated to some of the most unique, thrilling, thought-provoking and funny novels of all time, such as Naked for example, one of his most famous works.

Deciding to provide a tad of insight into his own life, David Sedaris wrote Me Talk Pretty One Day, a collection of 27 essays, many of which originally appeared in newspapers such as The New Yorker.

The book itself is dedicated to his father, Lou, who tried with exasperation to manage all the details of his children’s lives. In traditional Sedaris style, he manages to draw humor even from depressing situations, such as his father’s desperate battle to try and put the kids into a jazz band together.

Also, he talks about how his father’s punishment for being overly involved was David’s brother Paul who became known as "The Rooster", somewhat because of his outrageously loud, half-literate and profane language. In addition to that, keeping with the theme of language, Sedaris recounts his own experiences in France, and how difficult it was for him to learn the language. 

His look on things is a very interesting one and worth taking into consideration, as he seems to be able to interpret everything within context. For example, despite the fact that he was a grown man, he knew that he couldn't "feel superior to a toddler", mainly because he was a strange man in a strange land.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (Book cover)
All in all, I could spend all day talking about all the different stories he recounts, but that would be better left for you to do on your own. Regardless of what you even think about books in general, there is no doubt that most find a way to like or relate to Sedaris’ mystifying writing. In the end, Sedaris always had a reputation from draining the life out of people and exhausting them, and that’s exactly what this man’s running thoughts will do to you. 

You will be jumping from story to story (such as his recollection of a cat’s cremation, transitioning straight into his mother’s cremation) without ever feeling like what you are reading doesn’t have its place there.

David Sedaris (Author)

David Sedaris


Personal site

David Sedaris is an American comedian, humorist and author who received national recognition back in 1992 when his essay, "SantaLand Diaries" was broadcast on National Public Radio.

Since then he has been publishing essay collections, articles and audio recordings on a very regular basis, and they include Me Talk Pretty One Day and When You Are Engulfed in Flames.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

“The Locked Door” by Freida McFadden – Roots of a Lost Innocence

Image
  Freida McFadden has been quietly writing some exciting and original thrillers in her spare time from being a practicing physician, and The Locked Door is one of her latest offering in the genre.  It tells the story of Nora, a surgeon and daughter of a serial killer now in jail, who sees her life assaulted from the dark as someone begins to recreate her father's work with the exact same signature.
Read more

“The Lost Colony” by A.G. Riddle – A New Home Among the Stars

Image
A.G. Riddle's Long Winter Trilogy Series is one many of us will remember for the amazing story it brings of humanity's last stand against an overwhelming enemy in times of hopelessness. In The Lost Colony , the third book in the series, we follow James and Emma on their own respective struggles as humanity tries to settle itself on a new planet with an unseen danger none could have foreseen.
Read more

“Winter World” by A.G. Riddle – Ice Age from the Void

Image
A.G. Riddle is a true literary explorer seeking to push humanity to its limits and beyond, setting them on a desperate collision course with something beyond its understanding in Winter World . With a sudden ice age dawning on humanity entire swathes of land become uninhabitable and people begin dropping like flies, with anarchy reigning supreme. Looking to the stars for a miraculous solution, the remnants of humanity find a massive mysterious object floating near Mars ...whatever it is, our civilization's hopes of survival rest entirely in its hands.
Read more

“The Girl on the Stairs” by Barry Ernest – The Small Thorn you Can’t Ignore

Image
Girl on the Stairs , by Barry Ernest and with a foreword written by David Lifton, is an exploration of one specific aspect of the JFK assassination. More precisely, it looks into what a little girl by the name of Victoria Adams saw on that day while standing in the staircase of the Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald was supposedly making his escape.  Actually, it is more about what she didn’t see than what she did see. Victoria was on the staircase Oswald supposedly used, at the exact same time he supposedly used it. If he were to be there, even the little girl she was, Victoria would have noticed a nervous man quickly running down the stairs. However, she says that on that day, she was alone there, with nobody to be found, especially Oswald.
Read more

“Three Comrades” by Erich Maria Remarque – The Other Side of the Barricade

Image
The two World Wars have been documented, discussed and depicted from virtually every perspective imaginable, ranging from small children caught in a crossfire all the way the leaders of each country. However, it seems that here is a startlingly small amount of attention dedicated to the small hiatus period between the two wars, a time during which many changes came to pass in Germany in a very short amount of time.
Read more