Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The… (edition 2006)

by David Rakoff

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1,031	30	7,438	(3.54)	18

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Member:	UCLA_LGBT
Title:	Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems
Authors:	David Rakoff
Info:	Anchor (2006), Paperback, 240 pages
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Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff

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Showing 1-5 of 30 (next | show all)

These are funny little essays, many of which seem to start as reporting stories, but are more a launching pad for his thoughts. He’s a really good writer who reminds me a bit of David Sedaris for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. He’s kind of the low-key version of Sedaris, not as dark, weird, or quite as laugh-out-loud, but more subtle and observing the outside world as much as his own.

I’m a little hesitant to give it 4 stars because it’s not the kind of book that blows you away, it’s just a solid, well written, funny read. (

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bongo_x | Apr 6, 2013 |

this slim book of essays bowled me over--Rakoff is funny, perceptive and merciless as he examines such American preoccupations as eternal youth, food, and the pursuit of perfection in all things.

nmele | Apr 6, 2013 |

Some parts are clever but he's no david sedaris. (

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WinstonDog | Apr 4, 2013 |

The title is a misnomer; Rakoff is not, in fact comfortable with luxury; he is in some ways even uncomfortable with the fantasy of luxury. A better title would be Discomfort. Though the book belongs firmly in the genre of Gay Men Observing Culture, Rakoff, though anxious, is less neurotic than David Sedaris and kinder than Augustin Burroughs. A quick read, gentle and enjoyable, but not momentous. (

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OshoOsho | Mar 30, 2013 |

I didn't really understand this book. The stories were amusing enough -- but didn't get how they all really connected. Maybe they weren't supposed too... and in that case, I didn't really like the book. I might be missing something, but who is this David Rakoff person and why did he get to try/do all these crazy things? I don't know... I was pretty bored by this, actually.... (

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goldiebear | Jan 17, 2011 |

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It's a terrific idea for a book, perfectly suited for a self-indulgent and self-analytical generation, and Rakoff has some stinging things to say. But there's no getting around the fact that, at heart, this is more a collection of vaguely related magazine pieces (much of the material here has already appeared in places like Details, Harper's Bazaar, Seed and GQ, and on public radio's "This American Life," where Rakoff is a regular) than a coherent seriocomic manifesto.

added by jlelliott | editThe New York Times, Jennifer Lee (Oct 2, 2005)

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Don't Get Too Comfortable

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Lambda Literary Award (Humor, 2005)

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George W. Bush made me want to be an American.

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Wikipedia in English (2)

List of The Daily Show guests (2005)

Mathew Laibowitz

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0767916034, Paperback)

David Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess. Whether he is contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings populism of Hooters Air; working as a cabana boy at a South Beach hotel; or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot—where he is provided with his very own personal manservant—rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly skewered. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. Simultaneously a Wildean satire and a plea for a little human decency, Don’t Get Too Comfortable shows that far from being bobos in paradise, we’re in a special circle of gilded-age hell.

(retrieved from Amazon Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:19:40 -0500)

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▾Library descriptions

In these essays, social satirist Rakoff journeys into the land of unchecked plenty that is contemporary America, skewering overconsumption, greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. Whether contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings populism of Hooters Air, working as a cabana boy at a South Beach hotel, or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot--where he is provided with his very own personal manservant--Rakoff takes us on a grand tour of our culture of excess, and comes away from his explorations hilariously horrified.--From publisher description.… (more)

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