Fraud: Essays

Generally amusing - the Tom Brown Jr camp essay was particularly interesting to me, as was the Freud-in-the-window experiment. Rakoff's essays mostly struck me as too self-serious to be really funny, but he's clearly very sharp and a good writer.

This collection of essays are the offering of a compatriot of the laudable “this American life” crew. After hearing him read on the show a few weeks ago I felt it likely worth my while to grab his book if he was anywhere near as thoughtful and entertaining as his fellows david Sedaris & Sarah vowell; lucky me, he is.

Unabashedly intellectual and fiercely opinionated, this author has a facility of language somewhat rare in the ranks of the modern humorist. Not since twain and wilde has such a fierce wit been paired with such keen nuance of the written communique. Highly educated and ruthlessly self deprecating rakoff leads us into a series of fascinating excursions to places no less far flung than Tokyo, reykjavik, & new show more jersey,

narrating with his distinctly wicked but undeniably compelling perspective. While not more than occasionally laugh out loud funny, this book felt somehow less trivial than most of the humor reading I do. Peppered with words and phrases I had to look up (she admits to her chagrin) I walked away from this one feeling edified; not just because I felt safer armed with my dictionary, but because of the amusing yet nonetheless consistently thought provoking observations of this transparently erudite author. Well worth it, recommended. show less

I found Rakoff's book thoroughly funny, especially his experience working at a ice cream parlor for a funny Greek couple.
Some of the stories though, I felt as though I was waiting for the funny/interesting parts.
Overall, a very funny book!

Yes, they're both funny. Yes, they're both writers. Yes, they both contribute to the greatest radio show on earth, This American Life. And though they also both happen to be called "David," there are major distinctions to be made between Sedaris and Rakoff. I love them both, but I think I have to lean toward Rakoff purely on the basis of his cynicism, world-weariness and irritation. Having not only read the book but listened to the audio cd, I can say without qualification that this is one of the funniest books I've read/heard, ever. Period.

I read this book hoping it would be like a David Sedaris book. Silly me. No one is like David Sedaris! I still really liked the book and will probably read another one by Rakoff. I feel a little smarter after reading this book. I look up words I'm not sure of when I read and I lost count of how many I had to look up in Fraud! It was like he was writing with a thesaurus in hand.

I have enjoyed David Rakoff's essay on PRI's "This American Life" for years, so I was quite excited to read this book of essays. The first several essays were quite light and clever, with just a hint of darkness...classic Rakoff. As I read on, however, the essays lacked any hint of snarky and, well, just wern't funny. Now, this might have been by design. Mr. Rakoff is not David Sedaris (although on the radio they have very similar voices) and his goal is not to make us laugh. Perhaps, he intended to ease the reader in with the lightness and once we were hooked, bring on the deep. And this is not to say that they were not well written, just not exactly what I signed up for. I don't know if I will read him again...might just stick with show more listening to him on "TAL". show less

This is much better on the second reading, especially now that David Sedaris no longer inhabits the comedic land he used to dominate. Rakoff is a frequent contributor to NPR's "This American Life". He's an actor, a writer, and a gay man. Yet, in a recent testosterone contest -- the staff and host of "T.A.L." all had their testosterone levels measured -- he outperformed the second highest T-level guy by more than double! (True fact. Google it if you don't believe me.) In fact, the one sports-playing, jock guy on staff scored lowest in his T-levels.