Reviews
2.5/5
Listened to this as an audiobook. I really like David Sedaris stories and he is an excellent narrator. I very much enjoyed the stories about his relationship whit his dad. I am also happy that he didn’t continue to experiment with the fictional short stories he had in in his previous book. I like his creative non-fiction style. Of course, as in his every book, there were some stories repeating. Like those that were already published elsewhere or some in his own previous books. Every year I tell myself that I will not buy another David Sedaris book because by the time I read almost all of his stories in the New Yorker etc. but I still do because he is good. I hope he can write more about his relationship with Hugh. Hugh seems like a very interesting person.
I think I've been a bit let down with a couple of Sedaris' more recent books, so I didn't have much hope for this one. I was wrong. It was a delight to read, and I chucked and read aloud some funny bits to my husband. Not all are winners, but such is the case with a collection of essays. Enjoyable.
Look inside for good snail joke.
The author visits some of his favorite topics (shopping, working with Amy, speaking French, Hugh) and adds new material related to aging, teeth, COVID, book tours, and death. Now that his father has died, the gloves have come off and we learn how truly difficult it has been for David and his siblings, and how their father may have been responsible in no small way for Tiffany’s suicide. Yes it is still a very funny book with bits that made me laugh out loud. I would occasionally pause the audiobook and repeat some of the lines to my husband. But at other times, and because I’ve been listening to David Sedaría tell me his stories for decades, it felt like a punch to the gut. I hope it was cathartic for some of these stories to finally come to light.
