The Best of Me

I think it's a big mistake to read this book without the audiobook narrated by the author himself. He is morbidly funny. Some essays will make you want to recoil in second-hand embarrassment. Sedaris' narration sets the tone of this book. There were also some live recordings included in the audiobook (I found myself laughing along quite often with the audience). His humour may be an acquired taste for some people. For example, he will talk about his sister's suicide then move on to his prostate exam experience next. Some essays are fables with a hint of dark comedy. Many of the nonfiction pieces are about his family and life growing up in North Carolina. The fiction pieces are brilliant as well (i.e. Jesus Shaves, The Cat and the Baboon, and The Motherless Bear). My favourite essays would have to be "Solution to Saturday's Puzzle" and "A Guy Walks into a Bar Car". I like how he writes about his relationship with his mom, dad, and siblings. Each member of the family is very unique. He has 5 other siblings thus making it a very vibrant and interesting household to live in. Those childhood memories inspired many of his essays. He talks about his family in a candid yet sincere way. The concluding essays were slightly more solemn. He writes about death and changes in his family dynamics. There were also some reflection pieces as he looks back in his career and the successes he’s achieved. I found myself laughing quite a bit while reading this essay collection. I recommend this book to those who need a laugh and looking for an easy read. I think this is also a good introduction to David Sedaris' work for those who are interested.

Enjoyable comic writing that had me laughing out loud in places, with some autobiographical stories that are very touching.

I listened to it’s audiobook and listening to David Sedaris is always amazing. Unfortunately I read many of the stories in the book already and the fictional stories, I didn’t enjoy that much.

Guys.. it's David Sedaris, like I'd give anything he wrote less than 5 stars especially when its a compilation of all the best things he's written. Always do audio. Not sure if it's in the hardcopy of the book but the interview at the end was also a real treat. 10/10 Sedaris stan 4eva.

In the past couple of years, I distanced myself from Sedaris. I felt uncomfortable reading some of his work, and I thought, well, by 2021, you'd think he'd have disclaimers for some language or takes from years past. And then, last night, I had the privilege of having him sign a book of his that I hadn't even read yet, and as I approached the table he was seated at, surrounded by markers he himself had brought with him, he asked if I was in high school. I'm 22.

I'm 22, but I started reading Sedaris when I was 15. I know it was my freshman or sophomore year of high school. I wanted to write an essay about When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and my teacher at the time was apprehensive. Maybe she thought the subject matter was too inappropriate for a 15-year-old. I found this shocking considering I had turned in poetry that should have gotten me sent to a counselor or at the very least some further questioning. Instead, in the margins of where I describe a moment as a seven-year-old imagining my body falling off of a six-or-so-story balcony, she wrote "cryptic." Yes, quite so.

Sedaris' work can be controversial, sure. But it is within his blunt and absurd writing where he unpacks these quiet truths, and one moment you find yourself giggling at the word sphincter but then tearing up because you're not sure if your family has ever truly loved you in a way that you could ever understand or translate.

He says, "Seek approval from the one person you desperately want it from, and you're guaranteed not to get it." So when he asked if I was in high school, I could have lied, but I told the truth. And I felt that within mere seconds of speaking to this man who would never remember me, but whose words would pleasantly haunt me for the rest of my life, I had already disappointed him. What a relief.