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Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays

david sedaris

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In David Sedaris’s world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz, and the National Enquirer, Sedaris’s collection of 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 teenage suicide tries to incite a lynch mob at her funeral; a bitter Santa abuses the elves.

David Sedaris made his debut on NPR’s Morning Edition with “SantaLand Diaries”, recounting his strange-but-true experiences as an elf at Macy’s, and soon became one of the show’s most popular commentators. With a perfect eye and a voice infused with as much empathy as wit, Sedaris writes stories and essays that target the soulful ridiculousness of our behavior. Barrel Fever is like a blind date with modern life, and anything can happen.

Parade --
Music for lovers --
The last you'll hear from me --
My manuscript --
Firestone --
We get along --
Glen's homophobia newsletter vol. 3, no. 2 --
Don's story --
Season's greeting to our friends and family!!! --
Jamboree --
After Malison --
Barrel fever --
Diary of a smoker --
Giantess --
The curly kind --
SantaLand diaries

196 pages, Paperback

First published June 1,1994
Literary awards
lambda literary award, 

This edition

Format
196 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 1994 by Back Bay Books
ISBN
9780316779425
ASIN
0316779423
Language
English

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About the author

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david sedaris

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David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next book, Naked (1997), became his first of a series of New York Times Bestsellers, and his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating and often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, his Greek heritage, homosexuality, jobs, education, drug use, and obsessive behaviors, as well as his life in France, London, New York, and the South Downs in England. He is the brother and writing collaborator of actress Amy Sedaris.
In 2019, Sedaris was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
30(30%)
4 stars
41(41%)
3 stars
29(29%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
jiwoo1024
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book is pretty good, though I didn't really find my stride until we moved out of the realm of fiction, and into the world of creative non-fiction. His essays were absolutely great, while his early pieces seemed to be written solely for the author. I'd recommend Me Talk Pretty Some Day, or Dress Your Family in Corduroy above this one.
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zarielcore
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Sedaris' first book and it shows. I am glad that he switched to the autobiographical stories and left the straight up fiction behind. reads like a john waters film, but could be better. i'd say this book is for sedaris completists and that others should just stick w/Naked.

Very weak. Just go ahead and read the later books.
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anarrowstrail
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Written before Sedaris the author had fully settled on Sedaris the character but displaying occasional glimpses of the biting wit we'd come to know and love, this collection of essays and short stories covers familiar, but uneven, ground. I was curious to read his fiction, but during the stories I found myself counting pages until the next essay. At least in the case of the eccentric, one-of-a-kind Sedaris family, fact proves stranger -- and definitely more entertaining -- than fiction.
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eroticmixologist
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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If I’m ever lost, stranded in the desert, dehydrated, impacted wisdom teeth, severely burnt skin, half-transformed into a blue bird of paradise, fully delirious, I hope that I am fortunate enough to have a single page of David Sedaris flutter past me in the hot dry wind. After I’m done reading, I’ll use the page as a tissue to wipe my final tears, and die contented (and to be very clear, in this scenario I would not have died happy if it weren’t for the final reading of David Sedaris)
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musicgirl012
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Il primo libro di Sedaris che io abbia letto, e rischia di restare l'unico. Questo racconto semi-autobiografico a singhiozzo, nonostante alcuni momenti resi godibili dall'acuto spirito di osservazione dell'autore, mi ha talvolta irritato ma più spesso annoiato. Può darsi benissimo che io non capisca il suo senso dell'umorismo, sempre che a infastidirmi non sia stato invece il gigantesco e sfacciato egocentrismo di cui mi pare dia prova il narratore, e che solo a tratti viene interrotto da benvenuti ma troppo rari momenti di autoironia.
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YubiJane
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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i love this book david sedaris is absolutely hilarious couldn’t put it down
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arseface
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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this shit is crazy. would read again and again. too disgusting for 5 stars.
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koitrl
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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After reading Sedaris's much better written (and funnier) Me Talk Pretty One Day earlier this year, his debut book of stories and essays is disappointing. The short stories, in particular, are uneven, many of them contrived, failed attempts at being whimsical, absurd or shocking. I guess he's just not very good at making stuff up.

The one gem is the final piece, the now famous SantaLand Diaries, chronicling his experiences as a 33-year-old working as an elf at Macy's elaborate holiday display. The tone is witty and self-deprecating, the pacing immaculate, the observations detailed, vivid and pee-your-pants (um, like one of the SantaLand visitors) hilarious.

I only wish the rest of the book had been this good.
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