Thursday, May 17, 2007

Me Talk Pretty One Day: A book review (with some personal comments)


David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day (New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2000) 272 pages. Sorry, no pictures.

As a young man David Sedaris had problems making the “S” sound. By cruel fate or perhaps just because God has a wrapped sense of humor, he was born into a family whose last name includes two S’s. Then, at the age of seven, his father who was an engineer with IBM, was transferred from New York to Raleigh, North Carolina. There can’t be anything more humiliating for a New York Yankee than to move to North Carolina while in elementary school and be told that you have a speech impediment.

Diane recently proclaimed this book as the funniest ever written. I hadn’t read any of his books, which is odd since he’s an author who has lived in North Carolina. Perhaps the reason is I’ve never got around to reading him is that he disses both UNC and NC State with his proclamation that “Tar Heel powder blue and Wolf Pack red are two colors that manage to look good on no one.” While I don’t know if he’s the funniest author ever, and don't think the above comment was humorous, he certainly ranks up there with some of Twain’s best along with Patrick McManus, Clyde Edgerton, Roy Blount, Dave Barry and Mad Magazine. On many occasions I found myself laughing so hard that people checked to make sure I wasn’t having some kind of hysterical fit. When some of my staff saw the title of the book of my desk, they wondered if I’d written it since I often have problems with R’s and S’s, either leaving them out or putting them where they don’t belong leading to the butchering of certain words. I still think is should be Chicargo, Illinoises. But enough about me, this is suppose to be about this book.

If any of you have ever had to “put down” or "put to sleep" a pet, you should read the chapter on “Youth in Asia.” Who would have thought that such dark topic could be so funny? Sedaris’ parents adopted a Great Dane to fill their empty nest after their kids had left home. This dog gave them the sense of accomplishment they never had with their kids, which baffled the Sedaris children. “Melina’s diploma from obedient school was the biggest joke since our brother’s graduation.” The dog was so big she would greet David when he visited his parents by jumping up on him and hugging his neck with her paws. With her head towering over David’s, she “resembled a dance partner scouting the room for a better offer.”

I learned a new word (at least I think it is a word as I haven’t looked it up in a dictionary to makes sure that Sedaris didn’t make the word up). Pogonophobia is the fear of beards, a disease my mother suffered from for years (My current beard, which is the third I’ve grown, will be 19 years old this summer, old enough to vote!). Only in the last few years has Mom stopped telling me how much younger I’d look without my beard. Maybe this is because my top 40 no longer grows a good crop of hair and it’s hard to look young when you’re nearly bald. But then, this book isn’t about me. Yet, I’ve been to the North Hills Mall in Raleigh as well as have eaten at the Sanitary Fish Market in Morehead City, both places he talks about in the book.

I should warn you about David Sedaris’ sexual preference. This may be the second reason I’ve not gotten around to reading him and why he’s not received more fame in North Carolina. He’s gay and writes openly about his partner, with whom he moved to France which gave opportunity for some humorous reflections on learning the language. Being only able to manage the plural form of words, David becomes a pack rat as everything he purchases, he does in multiples. In one of his last chapters, he humorously places himself in several characters. He’s Monica Lewinsky and shows how she should have handled the Clinton affair. She laments how, sixty years from now, some doctor will be telling his friends that “he’s just performed a hip surgery on the girl who slept with the president.” Another character he imagines himself as is a heavyweight boxer. He’s the “great white hope” to beat the African-American who hold’s the title, but five days before the fight, it comes out that white boxer is gay, throwing white America into a tailspin as they can’t decide which is more important, race or sexual preference.

This book is funny as the author pokes fun at his family, the South, Chicago, New York, the French, the Greeks, his boyfriend and just about everyone else in between. No one is safe from the sting of his pen.

18 comments:

  1. I just looked at your blog a minute ago and your review was not here. Or am I hallucinating? I haven't read a humorous book in ages, I might give it a try.

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  2. Sounds like a good read I may have to check this one out.

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  3. sage - glad you liked it! I read it a few years back, but recently enjoyed seeing Sedaris in person, including his reading the chapter in this book where he and his class mates in french language school try to explain Easter - in broken french - to a Muslim woman . . . I may have to go back and read this book again . . .

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  4. Seawyf, I don't know if you're hallucinating or been reading too much Carlos Castaneda

    Mistress, it's an easy read, each chapter is independent of the others so you got great stopping places. I think you'd find it a hoot.

    Diane, thanks for your recommendation of this book. I remember the section about trying to explain Easter (and all those silly French and American customs that make it really interesting)

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  5. I have read many of his books and I like his humor! His sister is the woman who did "Strangers with Candy" and they are a very funny family.

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  6. Glad to hear he's Southern because I have his first book...I forget what it's called but it has a headless doll on the cover. Now I can stop fretting about Mark Twain and just read that book as my 3rd book from a Southern author. Would this be your first book that includes the word 'boyfriend' and written by a man?

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  7. By the way...do you 'wash' your clothes or 'warsh' your clothes?

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  8. Sage, being a good "suthern" boy I don't want to hear about you "warshing" anything. Does sound like a book I'll check out.

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  9. Kenju, his family might of been your neighbors!

    Murf, What are you're three books for the Southern Challenge? As for the your question about the word boyfriend--the first book I remember reading about a gay lover was James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room," which I read in college. I wash.

    Pat, I wash, but if I was truly a good suthern boy, that'd be for the women folk... Having lived all over this country, I say all kind of crazy things and probably got the worst of my slang from Pittsburgh and Canadians in Western New York (I'm a southern who quite often adds and "eh" to make a question).

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  10. Youngstown, Ohioans say 'warsh'. Since that isn't too far from Pittsburgh, I had to check.

    I will withhold the other two and the comments that they are sure to produce from you until I post the review. :-)

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  11. Good morning Sage, Michelle sent me!
    I must admit that I'm not a big reader but I'll pick up a book every now and then if the recommendation sounds interesting. I was born and raised in Morehead City NC, (the Sanitary Fish Market has photos of my family on their walls) and now I live in Wilmington, and I LOVE reading books that I can relate to, especially those that find the humorous side of living in NC.
    Thank you for helping me pick out my next read!

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  12. Gee Spangirl--I grew up right outside of Wilmington!

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  13. Love the book, love the author. My family has forbidden me from reading Sedaris in airports or on airplanes because I've made an ass of myself doing so in the past. So embarrassing.

    Murf - I beg to differ. My dad was from Youngstown, and he never, ever pronounced it "warsh."

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  14. I totally love David Sedaris. If you ever get a chance to hear him read about his experiences as an elf at Macy's, don't miss it. It usually plays somewhere on public radio around Christmas. He sings "Away in a Manger" like Billie Holliday. I laughed so hard driving down to my Mama's listening to him that I was a danger to others. It may have been from "Holidays on Ice," if you want to look for it on audio, but I'm not sure.

    I just bought "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" (the headless Barbie cover) and look forward to reading it at the lake.

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  15. I'd hate to have to calculate how many Sanitary Fish Market tee shirts we have in our house. :)

    Sedaris is quite popular in our household, too.

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  16. I don't read. And haven't picked up a book in probably 5 years. But my friend Dani suggested this one last winter and so I borrowed and I have to say it is rather hilarious. There were a few times I way laying in bed at night reading a few chapters and I would laugh so hard that I would be crying and my cat would look at me like I was totally crazy.

    Very good book and easy to read as each chapter is it's own story.

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  17. Well I don't know the book but I do know of the author! For us that is a start right? I think I could read this one!

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  18. Awesome review. I'm thinking Sedaris would make good plane reading.

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