Ryan ChartrandReading a David Sedaris book is like winning some sort of contest. You know that while you are reading it, the guy next to you isn’t, and that makes you a winner. The winner of what exactly, I don’t know. But nonetheless, it is a great feeling of superiority, knowing that in that exact moment of time, you are being let in on a few of Sedaris’s little secrets, while Neglected Nancy over there, well, isn’t.
Okay, let me explain: Sedaris is the kind of writer who can through his text, can somehow convince you that you are his best friend and therefore worthy of getting to know how he really feels about things. The best part is that you might feel the same way, but have never been brave enough to say it out loud.
Author of, “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim” and “Naked,” to name a few, Sedaris’s latest collection of personal essays, “When you are Engulfed in Flames,” more or less captures his psyche in mid-life crisis mode.
In this collection, Sedaris gives us the usual run-down of ordinary life situations made monumental with humor and a twist of desperation. He really is an artist of words, and on a level with his other masterpieces, “Flames,” hits it right on the dot again.
I try not to judge books by their covers, but if I did, I would buy this book simply for the smoking skeleton van Gogh sketch adorning the jacket. It is the perfect precursor to what lies within the pages. Sedaris is the master of cynical wit, as well as original descriptions of the otherwise mundane.
Take the opening story “It’s Catching,” which basically describes a few random conversations had on Christmas day between Sedaris, his family, and his boyfriend, Hugh. Doesn’t sound too exciting, but told with Sedaris’s sharp tongue, we receive the hilarious story of the fear of germs and the worms that lived inside Hugh and his mother. Sedaris attributes this to be the reason he allows Hugh’s elderly mother to handle all of the cleaning and laborious tasks while she stays with them.
“It’s incredibly relaxing, but it doesn’t make me look very good, especially if she is doing something strenuous.” He doesn’t offer any apology for his logic, and it is quite refreshing. “If I was a child and saw something creeping out of a hole in my mother’s leg, I would march to the nearest orphanage and put myself up for adoption.” Ah ha ha ha, yeah.
Moving on from this little opening treat, Sedaris offers a wide variety of the uncomfortable normalcy in his life. In one of my personal favorites, “Crybaby,” he recounts being on an airplane seated next to a large, “Polish” man, who was sobbing over his mother’s death. Feeling enormous sympathy for the man at first, Sedaris slowly begins to feel that maybe the man is pouring it on a bit too thick. He recounts for us the ways in which he dealt with death previously in his life and, although horrible, you cannot help but laugh when he recalls his genuine grief having a bit of “showmanship” to it. “The hope that someone might say, ‘You look like you just lost your best friend.’ Then I could say, ‘As a matter of fact, I did,’ my voice cracked and anguished.” Horrible? Yes. Funny? Oh, God yes.
I can’t admit not liking any of these essays, but rather, not liking the stares I was receiving in public for laughing out loud while reading! What? I’m reading, and it is very funny. Geez!
With the sordid theme of death and dying running throughout the book, Sedaris lets us in on the fact that he himself may not be so keen on growing old, aging and dying. So, he decided to move to Tokyo to quit smoking. But of course.
Entertaining, comical, and wonderfully inappropriate, “When you are Engulfed in Flames,” is smart, unapologetic and worth a read. Put simply, I loved it.
Next week’s read will be, Noble Prize winning author, Jose Saramago’s latest novel, “Death With Interruptions.”