I’m staying home for the holidays, as opposed to traveling to hang with the fam, and that’s got me feeling a little melancholy. My siblings have been dutifully rearing nieces for me, and Mum’s settling into a new house. Dad builds cozy fires in his fireplace and now has wireless high-speed Internet! So, to cheer up about missing all of them this winter and to survive the holidays, I nabbed this collection of a dozen David Sedaris stories, loosely gathered around the holiday theme. The Sedaris monologues I’ve heard on This American Life often riff on his dysfunctional family life and rarely fail to crack me up, so it seemed just the ticket.
What an uneven book! The memoirish stories are hilarious–sometimes poignant, sometimes dark, always a pleasure. “SantaLand Diaries” (fear and loathing in Macy’s at Christmastime), “Dinah, the Christmas Whore,” “Jesus Shaves” (must-read for anyone who’s tried to learn a foreign language as an adult), “Us and Them,” “Let It Snow” (best read aloud to your mum or younger siblings, once you’ve all survived childhood), “Six to Eight Black Men” (for more cross-cultural holiday cheer), and “The Monster Mash” comprise the good stuff. The remaining stories, written as straight fiction, are utterly unfunny. They predominate in the first half of the book and are so disappointing they nearly prevented me from reaching the good stuff, a factor that only increases my resentment. I’ve since concluded that the book is a sloppy and cynical stocking-stuffer-friendly repackaging of content pretty much available elsewhere. Skip it altogether, listen to the audio book instead, or seek out the good stuff in other collections or on the radio:
- Sedaris reads from “SantaLand Diaries” on NPR and on This American Life
- “Jesus Shaves” on This American Life 148: The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Suit
- “The Monster Mash” on a recent Halloween episode, 319: And the Call Was Coming from the Basement
- This American Life Episode 87 is entirely devoted to the humorless fiction pieces, maybe tolerable in audio form? Also, “The Cow and the Turkey” is performed in Episode 305: Holiday Spectacular.
Missed you at Thanksgiving and will miss you again on Dec. 21st. Hugs, kisses, and snugs to the furry babies! XXXOOO
I love the humor of David Sedaris and especially his sister, Amy. I tried reading Holidays on Ice last year, and I guess I read most of the unfunny stories too, because I actually stopped reading it. However, may I suggest…David’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and Amy’s hilarious etiquette/cook book guide “I Like You”. Both of those books are fabulous and sure to keep you laughing if you are suffering a little Seasonal Affective Disorder this time of year. Sorry to hear you won’t be making it home for the holidays though. We will miss you lots at my Ladies Winter Solstice fest!
Toshski! What a relief, your validation that I simply started on the wrong Sedaris book. I appreciate the tips and will definitely look into “Me Talk Pretty” and the sister’s etiquette book. If Amy Sedaris can so handily harness adorable bunnies to sell Microsoft products, then she can pull off just about anything! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vC9taroEsI
You lovely ladies have a fabulous Winter Solstice!