Naked

1997 New York Times bestseller Naked by David Sedaris is a hilarious assortment of short essays that are memoirs of the author's offbeat life. The facetious, yet incredibly heartfelt, essays give the reader a window into Sedaris' life and a resilient perspective on human nature.

Naked includes an extremely self-conscious trip to a nudist colony, as well as other comical escapades. Sedaris' rants are addictive because of their cleverness, emotional pull, and inescapable truth. Sedaris weaves subtle signs into his recollections of his youth that he would later realize he is homosexual. He tackles what can be a touchy subject with honesty, humor, and elegiac descriptions of the prejudice he encountered because of his sexual preference. One of Sedaris' most commendable talents displayed in Naked is his ability to make the mundane or taboo refreshingly uproarious.

When it seems entertainment often focuses on stories of the affluent and exceptionally poor, Sedaris gives a voice to the middle class. His vivid storytelling of growing up in small towns in New York and North Carolina is simply a treat. The most enjoyable parts of the book are Sedaris' side-splitting accounts of traveling with a quadriplegic and his dry-humored mother who spent an afternoon making fun of his tics with his delighted schoolteachers.

Although Naked was impeccable overall, the quality of stories fluctuated and weak essays needed better stories immediately after them to redeem the book. "Dinah, the Christmas Whore" was dull in comparison to the other chapters. The title set expectations high for a chapter of hilarity, but the story only consisted of descriptions of a stereotypical drunk stumbling around on Christmas.

This book would be a pleasurable read for anyone because the voice is strong, tart, and perfect for the universal and satirical content it relates. Even though few have lived as eccentric a life as Sedaris, the messages and experiences are easy to relate to and timeless. Naked sets a formidable precedent that Sedaris' later books, Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, would also match.

David Sedaris does it again with this hillarious compilation of short essays. His storytelling ability is unparrelled in today's world. A great bedtime, beachtime or anytime read!

"Naked" is the first book by David Sedaris that I've read, and I must say, I was kind of disappointed. I've heard so many great things about the author's writing, and this book just did not live up to my expectations.

Every chapter of "Naked" is Sedaris's satiric take on a different aspect of his life. There are some very humorous stories in the book. My favorites include Sedaris's descriptions of his odd childhood ticks, tales about his crazy old grandmother Ya-Ya, the description of an odd painting job he held for a few weeks, and of course the nudist colony experience. Although these stories are all funny, some of them are much better than others, and certain chapters drag on for entirely too long.

The only author I can think of to compare Sedaris's work to is Augusten Burroughs, and maybe that's why I can only give "Naked" three stars. I am a huge fan of Burroughs, and in my opinion his autobiographical stories blow Sedaris's work completely out of the water with their absurdity, outlandishness and wickedly clever humor. I'm not saying that Sedaris is a bad writer...he's not. However, if you enjoy this type of memoir, I encourage you to pick up Burroughs' "Running with Scissors" or "Dry" instead.

I was very disappointed with this book. I've enjoyed Sedaris' essays on "This American Life" and loved his "Holidays on Ice" book, so I was really looking forward to this. It simply wasn't funny. I found it sarcastic, angry and even depressing. It wasn't just self-deprecating, it was mean-spirited.

I definitely do not recommend it.

About a third of the way through David Sedaris's book, I wondered how I had not heard of this guy before. This guy was funny. No, not just funny, he was really funny. He didn't just make me laugh while reading his book, he made me cry I was laughing so hard. So why, why had I not heard of someone so side-splittingly funny? A couple chapters later, I understood why. A few more chapters after that and Naked went into a dive bomb. While there were some redeeming moments near the end, he never fully recovered and I returned the book from whence it came with a sigh, thinking of what could have been. So what went wrong? Let me tell you first what went right. The moments where David was a kid and shared stories about his experiences growing up, those were the priceless moments, those were the hilarious, tear-inducing scenes that were impossible not to enjoy. His description of his sarcastic mom, his crazy grandma, his golf-obsessed dad with mutilated friends were priceless. They were characters you could like and laugh at, at the same time. Then comes stories from Sedaris's college days and afterwards, and you begin to think, "You know, I don't really like this guy." And it is hard to laugh with a guy that you end up not liking. This is a guy who is an unapologetic drug abuser, uses obscenities with graphic language and descriptions, takes advantage of people, looks down on others. Some of these he tempers with a measly sentence at the end of a chapter showing that he has since learned better, but you don't believe it. It doesn't feel sincere, especially in the way he has written it. There are aspects of his childhood self that linger and allow you a view of the Sedaris that you miss, but alas, they are only glimpses. It was with great effort that I finished Naked, and it was with a bitter taste in my mouth. If I could chance to read more from Sedaris's childhood, I might venture back into those waters, but until then I will avoid him and think of what might have been.