When You Are Engulfed in Flames

I liked this book. It was funny & clever, especially the author's struggle to quit smoking. I suggest you also buy the author's best work, "Naked".

I did enjoy most of the essays. Some of my favorites involved a bad babysitter who fools the adults, but not the kids (the Understudy); a raspy-voiced next door neighbor named Helen (That's Amore); an annoyed wife on an airplane flight (Solution to Saturdays Puzzle); and an invented talking skeleton (Memento Mori); to name just a few.

To any fan of David Sedaris' essays this is a treat. It is so nice to have them available in one place.

Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris (Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, 2004, etc.) defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life. The author's faithful fans probably won't be turned off by his copyright-page admission that these pieces, most seen before in the New Yorker, are only "realish." They feel real, whether Sedaris is revealing his troubling obsession with a certain species of spider or describing a lift from a tow-truck driver who kept saying things like, "yes, indeedy, a little oral give-and-take would feel pretty good right about now"-the ring of truth adds to the book's horrified-laughter factor. The author still draws from the well of familial tragicomedy in pieces that dissect his parents' taste in modern art ("Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool") and their reactions to what he wrote about them in his first book ("fifty pages later, they were boarding up the door and looking for ways to disguise themselves"). Most of the essays, however, chronicle expatriate life in England, France and Japan with his long-suffering and improbably talented boyfriend Hugh. Sedaris positions himself as a hapless Bertie Wooster to Hugh's Jeeves, lazily allowing his partner's mother to clean their apartment ("I just sit in a rocker, raising my feet every now and then so she can pass the vacuum") and marveling at Hugh's interest in, well, doing things. A highpoint is "All the Beauty You Will Ever Need," which starts as a rant about his boyfriend's ludicrous self-sufficiency ("Hugh beats underpants against river rocks or decides that it might be fun to grind his own flour") but twists into a sharp declaration of lovethat's all the more touching for its lack of sentimentality. Just when Sedaris seems to have disappeared down the rabbit hole of ironic introspection, he delivers a cracking blow of insight that leaves you reeling.

Also highly recommended is Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs.

I very quickly became a huge fan of David Sedaris' books. This was the best yet. Many laugh out loud moments. Highly recommend.

Woo... just read some of the other reviews, and it looks like I liked this book more than the majority. Or at least, felt more strongly about it, since so many are just "mehs". I don't think this collection had as many strong, stand-out essays as his others. But I also think that Sedaris is best listened-to; his pacing sometimes doesn't translate to the page (or at least my head) and it certainly improves his work. Given that, I still thought this was a good collection that's worth reading, if only for "The Smoking Section," his diary of quitting smoking while staying in Japan, along with reflections on how he started smoking and what happens afterwards. It's a nice comparison to learning French in "Me Talk Pretty One Day." His essay on their awful neighbor, Helen, was another really good one. And there are several airplane/airport/hotel situations that you'll appreciate if travel much. Or if you've ever just really hated the person you had to sit next to. Or if you're a competitive cryer. Oh, and if you're dealing with mortality, refer to the chapter on the gift of a skeleton... I cannot remember titles for the life of me!

Overall, the collection seems to focus less on his siblings and parents and more on his life with Hugh. I was lucky to hear him read from these essays while they were still being published, and those memories sort of mixed with reading them. I keep drawing comparisons between his and Hugh's relationship and mine with my husband... it never comes out sounding right, but I see strange similarities. Now I just need to publish and make money selling books. :)

Okay, so back on track - this was a good book. It's not what I'd start on if I'd never read David Sedaris. But it's a good follow-up.