Naked (original 1997; edition 1998)

I've been interested in sampling Sedaris's work for some time now, but since nonfiction is not my typical genre of reading, he has remained lurking in the background. Fortunately, my friends decided to pick this collection of essays for our book club, and I finally read an author that has received much positive buzz in the reading world. The book is a collection of autobiographical essays, and they are arranged in relative chronological order, starting when he is a young boy and moving forward through high school, college, and adulthood. Each essay has a focus, such as David's OCD ticks and how he handled them, or the Christmas when his sister took him to help her coworker, Dinah, who was a whore not altogether trying to put her life to rights. One essay examined his struggle to accept his own homosexuality, built around a summer trip he and his sister took to Greece. Another featured his grandmother, an austere Greek immigrant who hated and was hated by his mother, was misunderstood by her grandchildren, and lived out a lonely old age shuffled between his house and various nursing homes. The penultimate essay is about his mother's death, and feels raw. I found it to be the most powerful essay in the collection. The final piece is the namesake for the book, "Naked", and it explores the time Sedaris spent a week in a nudist colony, making the title of the book both literal and figurative.

As the descriptions indicate, the essays frequently deal with heavy or tragic issues, but the author relies on a wry voice to deliver humor in each case. Also, many of the characters Sedaris encounters are so quirky and odd, and the situations equally bizarre, that the comedy is inherent in the story. Sometimes, we just have to laugh at the odd and possibly cruel vagaries of our world, and Sedaris can really make his readers laugh. Lest you think that he is too flippant about everything, the author includes commentary that shows these events affected him deeply, occasional self-criticism, and an understanding of himself and an obvious desire to be honest with his own flaws. The majority of his essays deal directly with himself or his family; the humor and intended laughter is therapeutic.

I enjoyed reading this book. Sedaris has a smooth prose style that is easy to read and very personal. I felt as if we were having a conversation at times. The descriptions are evocative and powerful, albeit frequently comic. Yet, this is not just a collection of essays intended to make a person laugh. It's not a joke book. As I mentioned above, the subject matter is serious, and the writing feels cathartic. Sedaris opens up the deeper meaning in his odd encounters, and there are multiple levels of interpretation for each essay. For instance, being naked is an actual occurrence in the final piece of the book, but ideas of vulnerability and how we try to cover ourselves recur throughout every essay. Another common theme is the marginalized person, who we encounter in a large array of different misfortunes, from the mentally insane to the handicapped to the hitch hiker. Sedaris frequently relates to these folk who are cut off from mainstream society, and reacts with alternate empathy and revulsion to their plight. His interactions with them force the reader to reevaluate how she responds to others that don't conform to societal expectations. These are but a couple illustrations of the deeper meaning Sedaris delivers, in a book that doesn't let a relish towards entertainment detract from weightier meditations. Sedaris's humor is his avenue to pursuing truth about life and humanity and death. ( )

I love David Sedaris. Whenever I feel like really indulging myself I will escape to a locked room and spend a couple of hours reading David Sedaris. This man is a genius, he can tell you things about his life and his family that should shock and repulse you but the way he delivers the story just makes you want to be a part of it all. This particular book speaks about his Mother as do all of his books - what a woman! She is deep and shallow, realistic and a bullshit artist, sophisticated and crude. He also tells tales of his hitchhiking adventures that just make you happy that you own a car and can drive while wishing you had the balls to do some of the things he has done, but it is told with such self deprecating humour - none of the "look at me, look at me" crap that a lot of biographical works seem to be. ( )

These essays look back at his earlier life: his family, hitchhiking, early jobs, his disabled female friend, Chicago. Probably not very amusing when the events took place. ( )

wonderful! ( )

Sedaris annoyed me yet again. I am skeptical at how this book was one of the bestsellers. Pompous declaration of it being uproarious and comical baffled me as I was looking for an anecdote to bring a chuckle or at least a half-witted smile on my face. Alas! All it gifted me was utter annoyance and an unbearable urge for Valium.
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