David Sedaris

Me Talk Pretty One Day, published in 2000, is a bestselling collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris. The book is separated into two parts. The first part consists of essays about Sedaris’s life before his move to Normandy, France, including his upbringing in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina, his time working odd jobs in New York City, and a visit to New York from a childhood friend and her bumpkinish girlfriend. The second section, "Deux", tells of Sedaris’s move to Normandy with his partner Hugh, often drawing humor from his efforts to live in France without speaking the French language and his frustrated attempts to learn it. Prior to publication, several of the essays were read by the author on the Public Radio International program, This American Life. 

Me Talk Pretty One Day

David Sedaris's new collection, Me Talk Pretty One Day, tells a most unconventional life story. It begins with a North Carolina childhood filled with speech-therapy classes ("There was the lisp, of course, but more troubling than that was my voice itself, with its excitable tone and high, girlish pitch") and unwanted guitar lessons taught by a midget. From budding performance artist ("The only crimp in my plan was that I seemed to have no talent whatsoever") to "clearly unqualified" writing teacher in Chicago, Sedaris's career leads him to New York (the sky's-the-limit field of furniture moving) and eventually, of all places, France. Sedaris's move to Paris poses a number of challenges, chief among them his inability to speak the language. Arriving a "spooky man-child" capable of communicating only through nouns, he undertakes language instruction that leads him ever deeper into cultural confusion. Whether describing the Easter bunny to puzzled classmates, savoring movies in translation (It is Necessary to save the Soldier Ryan), or watching a group of men play soccer with a cow, Sedaris brings a view and a voice like no other--"Original, acid, and wild," said the Los Angeles Times--to every unforgettable encounter."--Jacket.

Mari-Claire Parrin

sara

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

3M Company

A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers and cashiers with 6-inch fingernails. Compared by The New Yorker to Twain and Hawthorne, Sedaris has become one of our best-loved authors. Sedaris is an amazing reader whose appearances draw hundreds, and his performancesincluding a jaw-dropping impression of Billie Holiday singing I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weinerare unforgettable. Sedariss essays on living in Paris are some of the funniest hes ever written. At last, someone even meaner than the French! The sort of blithely sophisticated, loopy humour that might have resulted if Dorothy Parker and James Thurber had had a love child. Entertainment Weekly on Barrel Fever Sidesplitting Not one of the essays in this new collection failed to crack me up; frequently I was helpless. The New York Times Book Review on Naked.

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.

Michael Klepacki

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.

Fran Lewis

Alex Ker

Marisel 

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.

Stephanie Honour

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. 

Jacqui Spears

brendan sudol

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

Celeste Richardson

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!

Jaymie Lemke

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

Trever

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

Fraser Simons

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.

Tameka Young

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

Melody Izard

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.

Christina Wells

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.

Kourtney

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.

Ben Nathan

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.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

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