Don’t mind me, just creepily and hysterically laughing out loud by myself

... هر روز به ما می‌گویند که داریم در بهترین کشور دنیا زندگی می‌کنیم؛ همیشه هم به عنوان یک حقیقت غیرقابل انکار بیان می‌شود ... امریکا بهترین کشور دنیاست. با این باور بزرگ می‌شوی و وقتی یک روز می‌فهمی که کشورهای دیگر هم برای خودشان شعار ناسیونالیستی دارند و هیچ کدام‌شان هم این نیست که «ما دومی هستیم!» وحشت برت می‌دارد.

هروقت کتاب های آمریکایی را مطالعه کردم به شدت پشیمون شدم، که متاسفانه این هم بهتر از کتاب های قبلی که خونده بودم، نبود.
۷۹

E tutti risero, tranne qualcuno.



Non mi ha convinta, ma lo ammetto: sono piuttosto difficilotta riguardo a quello che "dovrebbe far ridere" e David Sedaris mi ha strappato qualche sorriso ma niente di più.
Tolti un paio di capitoli, uno su tutti quello dedicato ai grandi chef e alle loro mirabolanti acrobazie gastronomiche - lì Sedaris ha colto in pieno e ha tutta la mia solidarietà, nonostante mi incanti a guardare in televisione sia Jamie Oliver che Chef Ramsey (e non disdegni troppo neanche Alessandro Borghese)! - mi è sembrato che l'autore volesse fare più o meno la stessa cosa: salti mortali, capriole con avvitamento e tuffi carpiati e tanta fuffa pur di strappare una risata al lettore, laddove un sorrisetto stiracchiato è stato il massimo che sono riuscita a concedergli.
Insomma, un po' come quelle sit-com (esiste un genere equivalente in letteratura?)con le risate registrate in sottofondo durante le quali sembra che il telespettatore sia costretto a ridere per forza: ecco, io lì raramente rido, anzi ne sono infastidita.
Però mi rendo conto che il problema sicuramente sarà di cultura - differente, non lui di più e io di meno! - e di traduzione - perché rendere in italiano lo spirito sottile di un ebreo statunitense di origine greca… Beh, non dev'essere un'impresa proprio facilissima! Ecco sì, lì la differenza di cultura ci sta tutta: se il mio inglese fosse leggermente superiore al me parlare bello un giorno avrei potuto leggerlo in originale e magari sarei riuscita a trarne un'impressione diversa.
Per il resto, anche nei contenuti, mi è sembrata un po' "la lunga strada per restare se stessi" - cioè gay - in chiave un po' troppo forzata, composta da troppi quadretti familiari e non (alla fine lo ammetto non vedevo l'ora di finirlo) slegati tra loro (sketch?) e in cui l'unico legame sono l'autore stesso e le sue "avventure" nel mondo.

As the title suggests, much of Me Talk Pretty One Day revolves around speech and speaking:

> Back in school lil' David (I guess he's still kind of little, isn't he) was forced into correcting his sibilant speech by a highly determined therapist. We're led to wonder if she wasn't stamping out boys' lisps through out the North Carolina school with an ulterior motive.
> A move from NY to Paris prompts David to take French lessons in France with hilarious results.

But that's about all there is to the main topic in this 5 disc set*. The rest is a mixed bag of topics:

> A stint as an avant garde performance artist.
> Drug use.
> His hilariously red-necked brother.
> The lives and deaths of family pets.
> Annoying American tourists.
> Teaching a writing course and having no idea how.
> Learning guitar from a sexist midget.
> Stories about his entertaining father.

That mixed bag of topics brings with it a mix in tone. Some pieces are just flat out funny, while others have a deeper meaning and seem almost too serious to laugh at...and yet I do.

Is there a mix in quality as well? My little jury of one is out on that still. I've listened to this one many times, maybe more than any of his others, and while I enjoy the heck out of it, there are long stretches where I wasn't laughing. Usually the ha-ha down-time is filled with me pondering expansively upon his chosen subject matter, so I'm never bored or disconnected from the Sedaris experience. But those looking for wall-to-wall laughs be warned.


* You really have to listen to Sedaris read is own material to get the full funny out of it. He is a humorist after all, and much like a comedian, you wouldn't get as many laughs from reading a script of their stand-up routine as you would from watching them live.

I've actually expressed my deep, unconditional love for David Sedaris on this site before. With this re-read I realized my love might be a tad unhealthy. You see, last week I was reading this book while a character on a sitcom was reading "When You Are Engulfed In Flames." Rather than being happy that Sedaris was getting quite decent free press, I could only think of the masses of sheer IDIOTS who might venture out to Amazon, purchase something by my true love and then post scathing reviews (with pitiful spelling and punctuation, no less), thus breaking his heart. With that in mind, I beg of you, dear Goodreads members, to read and post about my darling David as much as you wish, but please - don't tell your halfwit Cousin Carl about him. Smart writers are already a dying breed.

Sedaris is witty and I couldn’t help but chuckle throughout the first part of the book, that being said the second half didn’t really hold my attention making this just an ok read for me although I absolutely adored his newest release Calypso. Hoping to find his next book on audio as I hear his stories are even better with him narrating. 3.5 ☆

خُب دیگه، از این به بعد کافیه اسم سداریسُ رو جلد کتابی ببینم، بدون خوندن عنوان می‌خرمش و می‌رم سراغش!
این کتاب یه روند مشخص داستانی نداره، هر بخشش یه داستان جداست ولی خب از لحاظ محتوایی مرتبطن با هم.
زبانش طنزه و خیلی جاهاش بوده که قهقهه زدم، و فک می‌کنم با این وجود کتاب زبان اصلیش مسلما خنده‌دارتر باید باشه و طنزش قابل فهم‌تر:)

اوایل کتاب توی ذوقم خورده بود که چرا اینجوریه! و اصلا در حد انتظارم نبود ولی نویسنده تونست از نیمه‌های کتاب نظرمو جلب کنه

Vastly Oerrated, August 8, 2016

This review is from: Me Talk Pretty One Day (Kindle Edition)

I read the first essay in which the author equated boys who have lisps with homosexuality. Ha ha. That's really funny. If a conservative had written this, he would be pilloried by the same media which celebrates Sedaris. I like Dave Barry, Mike Royko, Florence King, Patrick McManus, P.J. O'Rourke, P.G. Wodehouse, Damon Runyon, Dorothy Parker, Mark Twain, Vered Ehsani, Jerry Clower, Justin Wilson and many other humorists, but this does not strike me as funny.

I just don't care for David Sedaris.

There, I've said it. I've made peace with the fact. I have stared deep into the cockles of my heart, and forced myself to come to the only obvious-but-unpopular conclusion.

I just don't care for David Sedaris.

It was somewhat of an existential struggle for me to reach this conclusion because I'm exactly the kind of person who should like David Sedaris.

I am a sarcastic Generation Xer with an overdeveloped sense of irony. I enjoy reading personal essays about poignant and humiliating events in people's personal lives. Understated comedy is favorite genre. I look at myself in the mirror and practice being droll. Hell, I even like listening to This American Life on NPR. I am exactly the target demographic for the witty, petty misanthropy with which Mr. Sedaris plies his trade.

But, I just don't care for David Sedaris.

I find him to be thoroughly unlikable. He comes across as the type of person who might be fun to have a beer with, but, afterwards, he'd probably make fun of you behind your back. When I was reading this book, I thought that his stories and characters were a little too colorful and a little too perfect to be true. And, as he tells the stories of his childhood, he comes across as a 40 year-old gay man trapped in an eight year-old's body (wow, that sentence doesn't sound right!). After I finished the book, I found that Mr. Sedaris does, indeed, subscribe to a rather fluid definition of "truth"--some of the instances were exaggerated. And, by "exaggerated', I mean "completely made up".

But these revelations have done little to stem the tide of bare-knuckled enthusiasm of his legion of fans. I am confronted by people who are adamant that, despite my protests to the contrary, I really do like David Sedaris. It seems that Mr. Sedaris' work has become a litmus test for a certain level of sophistication. If you tell people that you just don't care for David Sedaris, they look at you like you've got a mullet tucked into the collar of your shirt, a six pack of Old Milwaukee in the fridge, and a Tivo filled up with NASCAR races.

Well, I for one refuse to be pigeon-holed. And, today, I am calling on all like-minded people to join me! And, together, we can...uh not like Sedaris.

Say it with me! We're loud, we're proud...

...and we just don't care for David Sedaris!

My full review of Me Talk Pretty One Day is posted on Keeping Up With The Penguins.

Me Talk Pretty One Day is about astutely-observed adventures in seemingly mundane everyday activities. I’m sure Sedaris occasionally exaggerates and over-emphasises for comic effect, but I am more than willing to forgive him that. It's a great read for when your attention span is shot. The essays are short enough that you can read the whole thing in bite-sized chunks, but the through-line is strong enough that it will keep pulling you back in. I highly recommend!