Book summary

Another collection by bestselling satiric essayist David Sedaris, author of NAKED and ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY and frequent contributor to the public radio show THIS AMERICAN LIFE. Some of the essays are in the laugh-out-loud vein to which Sedaris fans are accustomed, including an over-the-top look at Dutch Christmas traditions, and Sedaris's encounter with some lost tourists as he is drowning a mouse. But many of the works provided here, while still touched with dry humor, are more poignant pieces about his eccentric, troubled family, including observations on his mother's alcoholism, his father's inability to talk directly to Sedaris about Sedaris's homosexuality, and his sister Lisa's resentment of his relentless mining of their shared past in his essays. As always, Sedaris manages to seek out the bizarre in daily life, whether he is reminiscing about the past or musing about the present.

Media reviews

"...[S]ardonic, funny and wry....Mr. Sedaris [is] in fine funny form."