Out of everything he's produced (I've read all of his major work and only missed a few short pieces) this is my favorite David Sedaris book. The Sedaris family is certifiably crazy and I love them.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:

A perfect description of the struggle of being gay and finding identity in a sadly still intolerant and homophobic world too. I am often thinking that people have the completely wrong idea that easygoing humorous texts aren´t hard to write and, already second question in this review, I would be interested to know how many edits Sedaris needs until his small diamonds sprinkle like glass cutting and torturing anyone of his protagonists.īeing funny is one of the hardest things, no matter how trivial, dirty, and cheap it might seem and how Sedaris uses his homosexuality for laughs in the same way Woody Allen does it with Judaism There is so much truth about the fact that each dysfunctional, sad, and broken family is destroying each others lives in a unique way and Sedaris´ humor is nourished with the darkness and pain hidden behind the broken veneers of many seemingly happy families. If someone tries it and doesn´t like 2 or 3 stories, I would suggest not to continue, because they are all quite similar mini plots around happenings fueled by the author´s real and fictional experiences. I would really like to know how much of it is authentic and what just exaggerated or fictional, because I could truly imagine super sized families acting in a Malcolm in the Middle or Married with kids style or whatever sitcoms taught us about it.Īnd, not to forget, there are hardly satirical authors that mostly write short stories and articles for magazines, it are mostly novels and these are often so interwoven, deep, and complex that it isn´t easy to get the whole package out of the first read. Sedaris isn´t for everyone, because his weird and disturbing tales are no humor easy to laugh about, because it involves many dark and black comedy elements, some indirect social criticism, and coarse scenes, often dealing with topics that are against the code of conduct of acceptable targets.īut I like it, the mini humor tales are perfect for in between, whenever one doesn´t want to exhaust oneself with reading something more complex or of high quality with full focus on enjoying the art, the perfect stopgap.

Dress your family in corduroy and denim