A collection of stories and essays by humorist and NPR commentator David Sedaris based upon his own experiences and the hidden perversity that can be found in Anytown, U.S.A. Here are images and blasphemies that nice people don't dare look at--blatantly exposed and told with the clear, casual voice of intimate knowledge. Sedaris' humor is born of compassion and his tales range from the sharing of cheery Christmas letters featuring infanticide, to experiences of the Gay and Famous (Charlton Heston and Elizabeth Dole, for example), to the lives of siblings named Hope, Faith, Charity and Adolph and to alcoholics and chain smokers you can laugh with.


From Publishers Weekly
'Morning Edition' commentator Sedaris presents a satirical collection of stories about contemporary American society. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Ironic, detached, cool, with an eye for the perverse and weird, Sedaris seems to have all the tools of your basic postmodern humorist. There's only one problem: the guy ain't funny. In a dozen stories and four "essays," Sedaris swings hard (not too hard; postmodern requires that you not sweat), but he rarely connects. The one hit in the collection is saved for last. "The Santaland Diaries," which originally aired on NPR's "Morning Edition," is a mordant account of Sedaris's experiences as a Christmas elf at Macy's. It could be compared with Waugh-mid-level Waugh, that is.Thomas Wiener, formerly with "American Film"Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Whole Earth Review
. . . refreshing, enlightening and hysterically funny . . .


From Booklist
Sedaris' sardonic wit will already be familiar to listeners to National Public Radio's Morning Edition, but the venom he exposes in these pages proves he is more than a cuddly curmudgeon. Here he lets loose with a devastating comic ire worthy of Dorothy Parker. Demonstrating low tolerance for human foibles, his misanthropic humor is vindictive and nasty. More than once it crosses the line of good taste, but it's also extremely, relentlessly funny. The short stories in this collection dwell on themes of domestic hell and self-delusion as dysfunctional families tear each other apart and losers refuse to see how pathetic they are. The essays, some of which have in different form been heard on radio, effectively and humorously detail the seeming contemporary cultural conspiracy to destroy the individual. His "Santaland Diaries," which depicts his experiences working as an elf at Macy's during the winter holiday season, in particular is a minor classic. Benjamin Segedin


From Kirkus Reviews
NPR storyteller Sedaris chronicles a society slightly removed from the mainstream and characters who don't quite fit in with the masses. Deadpan exaggeration gives this first collection a satirical edge. The narrator of ``Parade'' discusses his homosexual relationships with stars whose straightness has never been questioned (Bruce Springsteen, Mike Tyson, and Peter Jennings), using the same matter-of-fact tone to describe the torrid affair of Elizabeth Dole and Pat Buckley. In ``We Get Along,'' Dale lives with his mother, who is full of anger against her deceased, womanizing husband and every night spitefully calls a woman she suspects had an affair with him. Distancing himself from both parents, Dale tries not to rock the boat while keeping some secrets to himself. ``Glen's Homophobia Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 2'' is a parody of the persecuted in which any minority group could be substituted to replace the whining homosexual who bemoans his suffering at the oppressive hands of society in a style so over- the-top as to be laughable. These and nine other stories are followed by four essays. ``Diary of a Smoker'' is also an account of persecution (by nonsmokers); ``Giantess'' relates Sedaris's experiences with a magazine of erotica about enormous women. Far exceeding them in wit is ``SantaLand Diaries,'' previously read on NPR's ``Morning Edition,'' which describes his seasonal stint as a Macy's elf. Four days of rigorous training on the eighth floor barely prepared him for the crowds, the Santas, and the unending barrage of questions. Throughout the collection, without slapping the reader in the face with a political diatribe, the author skewers our ridiculous fascination with other people's tedious everyday lives. Life may be banal here, but Sedaris's take on it is vastly entertaining. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

ANNOTATION

This volume contains hilarious short stories and essays from popular NPR personality David Sedaris, detailing the cultural conspiracies, domestic delusions and misanthropic underbelly of modern America. "A satirical brazenness that holds up next to Twain and Nathanael West."--New Yorker.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In David Sedaris's world no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Liebowitz, and the National Enquirer, Sedaris's collection of stories and essays is a rollicking tour through the national Zeitgeist: a do-it-yourself suburban dad saves money by performing home surgery; a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a bitter Santa abuses the elves; a teenage suicide tries to incite a lynch mob at her funeral.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

`Morning Edition' commentator Sedaris presents a satirical collection of stories about contemporary American society. (June)

Library Journal