Me Talk Pretty One Day

He’s so adorable.

Witty and easy to read. Maybe like a 3.5? Laughed out loud a couple times #Yas

I'm surely not biased in rating this, as an American who moved to France about a year ago. But really, this is wonderful—Sedaris at his best.

Being comedy, some of his stories don't always age gracefully—and his outspoken, privileged, neo-liberal musings certainly rub me the wrong way at times—but Me Talk Pretty One Day, the oldest of his works that I've read, has aged mostly like fine French wine. Touching as always, if lighter than some of his more recent work, and consistently hilarious.

Very funny book

3.5/5

So far my favorite Sedaris book. His gift for slicing through the muck of human sentimentality, vulnerability and absurdity, with razor sharp precision and wit, never disappoints.

The first 3 pages of this book completely hooked me: it was hilarious, light-hearted and entertaining. By the last page, I was irritated with the main character and couldn't was happy to be finished. He was just so damn ignorant! Although initially funny, the outlandish scenarios he got himself into gradually became predictable, and they lost their charm. How did this book become a national bestseller? Voters must have only read the first chapter.

Sedaris’s voice was in my head for every word of this book, reading it aloud to me. I laughed out loud countless times.

My favorites were "Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities", "Jesus Shaves", and the titular story.

Mini review now posted! Rating: 3.5 stars I’m not a big nonfiction reader, and Sedaris is about as different from me as another English speaker could possibly be, but this was amusing. I didn’t love every essay, but they were never boring. My favorites were The Youth in Asia, an essay about the family’s childhood pets that was absolutely hilarious; Me Talk Pretty One Day, about David’s experiences in a French class for adult foreigners living in France; and Jesus Shaves, which takes place in the same French class as the students use their broken French to try to explain Easter to a fellow student. David’s grasp on the French language is tenuous, especially in regards to grammar. He gets his point across, but his own comparison of his French speech with that of Yoda is incredibly accurate. If you’re looking for something funny and light and true, this is a good choice!

I thought it kinda stalled in the middle of the book while he was in France. Meh.

3.5 rounded up because it made me laugh a few times.

DNF 25% in. To be honest, the authorial voice rubbed me the wrong way and as a result I couldn’t get invested in the story. Didn’t find it funny.

Hilarious! This was my first audiobook and I loved the stories especially since they were told in Sedaris' own voice. Loved it!

Not as funny as I was expecting - but pretty darn funny. I think it would have been better to hear Sedaris tell the stories - and I think the fact that I was reading the large print edition interfered. But it still is definitely worth reading.

Hmm, this is the 2nd David Sedaris book I've read, and I think I'm just going to give up. Some of his writing is witty and quite funny, but I personally just can't get into his format. It reads like a series of short stories, where I prefer a more linear storyline. His writing is amusing, but not wholly entertaining. As much as I want to enjoy his books, because there are some funny bits in there, I think I'm throwing in the towel on this author.

I wanted to like this book. I looked through my friend recommendations and saw a lot of 4- and 5-stars. I was told time and time again that he was SO FUNNY and he is a bestseller after all. And we all know that crowds of people can't be wrong. This book elicited exactly 2 chuckles out of me. Two. No more, no less. I sat there reading stories always thinking "how is this funny? How does anyone find this amusing? Do I need to move to Paris to think it's funny?" I just don't "get" this type of humor. Oh well.

Good, funny, quirky. I enjoyed it and will probably want to read something else of his, but I wasn't in love with it. Want some well written short personal essays, this is the way to go.