About this title: Through a series of comic anecdotes, quirky essayist David Sedaris touches on the highlights of his life to date, including his cross-country hitchhiking trip; his discovery of Shakespeare in rural North Carolina; his various odd jobs as a migrant fruit picker, a jade polisher, and a woodwork refinisher; a family Christmas Eve spent with a prostitute fresh out of jail; and his trip to a nudist colony.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: First edition thus
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780316777735ISBN:0316777730
Description: Very Good. Tight, sound copy with little to no wear. Light edge bumps; minor bend top front cover edge. Bottom corner of interior pgs slightly bent. Clean, crisp text--no marks. Very nice copy in gift condition. 291 pp. read more
Edition: Softcover Ed
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Little Brown & Co, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780316779494ISBN:0316779490
Description: Very Good/softcover. 0-316-77949-0 Light edge wear. Text is clean of markings. read more
Binding: Audiobook Cassette
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Date Published: 4/1/1997
ISBN-13:9781570424816ISBN:1570424810
Description: Very Good. 1570424810 May show signs of shelf wear. Choose EXPEDITED shipping, receive in 2-5 business days. Please email with questions. read more
Edition: First Edition (stated)
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Back Bay Books/ Little, Brown & Company, Boston., New York, London
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780316777735ISBN:0316777730
Description: Caroline Hagen (Book Design); Chip Kidd (Cover Design); Peter Zeray/ Photonica (Cover Photo) Used-Acceptable. First Editions, Collectibles! 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 291 pp. Binding is solid and tight. Pages are clean and unmarked. Corners worn and bumped. Small tear on bottom of spine at back cover page. read more
Okay...I just figured it out! I have been trying to figure out why so many people rate this book so highly. This book is just like Dumb and Dumber. If you like the movie Dumb and Dumber you will probably like this book. I like some sophistication/intelligence with my humor. I really, really, hated that movie because they want you to laugh at the lowest common denominator. I don't do that, I like someone to know something, be something, understand something in order to make me laugh. Ha...there you go. David Sedaris is writing to the Dumb and Dumber crowd. I feel light now, happy. I love when something finally makes sense.
So far the subject matter is, uh, not virtuous, lovely, or of good report (if you know what I mean). The language is embarrassing. I have gotten some laughs out of some parts, but the fact that I feel like I have to wash my hands and brain after every time I pick it up means those laughs are too emotionally expensive!
I will write more if it comes to me. Often after I sit on something for awhile it becomes better because I forget the gross parts. I will let you know if my opinion changes.
I just finish through pg 120:
I really don?t know what to think of this book. I just read two chapters that were only funny a few times, however they were insightful and almost, dare I say, touching. My heart broke for the kid as he went to camp and worried about being gay. I thought his goals for being an actor and his willingness to work hard at it was uplifting. His realization that his mom was the best actress of all was smile inducing. Dinah, the Christmas whore just left me with my jaw on the floor. This author I disliked so handily 80 pages ago just endured himself to me. The compassion of his sister and mother was my favorite. I thought he, throughout the book, has been able to balance his young perception of people with the realization that his perception was inaccurate very well, crazy well, really.
Now to read on?.
Pg 250
I am finding this book oddly touching and thoughtful. I no longer think I will throw the book away when I am finished. It isn?t a book I would ever keep in my house, but I have a friend that, I believe, would enjoy it very much. I think I will try to send the book to Chris. I have read his blog a couple of times and while it is way too gritty for me to enjoy it does remind me of Sedaris somehow. I won?t read this book again and can?t really say I like it. I am afraid that if I gave it three stars someone else might think it would be smart to read it. I can?t and won?t recommend it, but I would be lying to say I am sorry I have read it.
In the end
I was touched by a few things in this book. Sedaris does have an interesting outlook on life and the people around him. I have a great appreciation for being surrounded by people who use clean language. The nasty language was the hardest part for me. It is hard to blame the author for all the sexual odd moments if he was really writing about his own life experiences. Again, that left me with an appreciation for the people I have run into and had as friends throughout my life. I was most touched by his story about his mother?s death. I felt like he wrote candidly and with a refreshing frankness. I don?t think it would be the same for me or my family, but I could totally see how it could work that way for others.
I would never read this book again. I can?t imagine why I would ever pick up a book by Sedaris again. I can?t give it any thumbs up but I don?t regret reading it."
"Sometimes I finish a book that feels good despite some of the uncomfortable things I found among the pages. Naked is the opposite, for despite the humor and insight I wanted to rub many of the passages out of my memory. I can't, and I cannot recommend the book. It was an exercise of wading through too much waste for too little worth.
David Sedaris has a voice that is real, blemished and unapologetic. Whether 100% or 10% of the book is factual is not important; it's how he tells the stories that make them unique. Unless you don't mind swearing, sexual content, meanness and filth, on which the book relies too much, avoid reading it."
"I love David Sedaris. I wish that he lived next door. In this collection of essays, he touches on his life experiences--both offbeat and disturbing. In "A Plague of Tics" he explains how his youth was plagued by a variety of behaviors that made him less than popular with both his teachers and other students (licking the lightswitch repeatedly in the classroom, etc.). In "Next of Kin" he tells about finding a cheesy porn novel in the woods (which was full of typos) and eventually nearly every member of his family (except his father) read it. In the title essay, he describes the week that he spent in a low end nudist camp (please don't call it a colony--that makes it sound like a cult). On a darker side, he touches on topics such as realizing in high school that he was homosexual and the reaction of the family when his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. I highly recommend these essays."
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