A collection of essays by a sharper-edged version of David Sedaris who doesn't seem to be trying to be likable - perhaps more like H.L. Mencken than Sedaris in that respect, albeit less politicized.

A witty bunch of stories from Rakoff's youth, where he used humor and charisma to float above the surface of negative or scary experiences. From wilderness survival camp to a spiritual retreat run by Steven Seagal to freezing his sperm before starting chemotherapy, it covers a lot of ground.

First: I hate audiobooks that only contain “selections.” What is the motivation behind it? The Fraud audiobook available through Audible omits several sections, including—go figure—what seems to be the most talked-about story in the book, Christmas Freud. If, like me, you want the audiobook experience but need to have completed the book entirely, here are the sections not present on Audible:

- Before and After Science
- Hidden People
- Extraordinary Alien
- The Best Medicine
- Christmas Freud
- We Call It Australia

Second: this review (https://themillions.com/2005/05/fraud...) almost fully overlaps with my feelings about Fraud. It’s impossible not to compare Rakoff with Sedaris, a comparison which inevitably favors Sedaris. I cared less for the meta stories about Rakoff’s journalistic assignments and more for the stories in which he wrote about himself (in the Sedaris mode), the sperm bank story being the best of the book. As so many other reviewers have mentioned, that Rakoff eventually died from a resurgence of the cancer he discusses in the story makes the writing feel so painfully intimate.

I just like these newyorkian intelligents who wittily tell about their life and the phenomena they meet in the course of it. Rakoff is entertainingly sarcastic about everything, which would be annoying if everything did not include himself too. A Canadian well settled in the Big Apple Rakoff travels around the world and finds oddities in Tokyo, Iceland and at Loch Ness, and never looses his ability to say his opinion in so many (many!) words. Towards the end of the collection the essays start to bind together, and when the last one reveals his Hodgin's lymphoma in his twenties the reader, despite of being slightly irritated by his besserwisserism cannot but love him and wish him all the best.

Kinda uneven, but still a good read for us NPR/This American Life nerds.

Rough start to this book. I didn’t start to feel really interested in the stories or writing until about the third story. After that it was still hit or miss, I would not be drawn into the story until a few pages in. I did enjoy the last three stories pretty well. I think the style of writing is one I am particularly attuned to. The writing is very David Sedaris, so if you like him you will probably enjoy this book.

I know David Rakoff was a genius because he basically tells time and time again, "hey! look at my genius" and I'm not sure how I feel overall because I loved certain essays...but some rubbed me as pretentious AF.

The comparisons between Rakoff and Sedaris seem to be second nature: Sedaris all the way. Rakoff seems to me to leave the reader at such a remove as to not be able to fully enter his world. I always felt like a spectator. If the most I can say for the essays is they all have a few brilliant funny lines, yet none of them truly overwhelmed me, then I don't think it this was a success.

I like these more the second time. Verbose, yes, but oh, so true.

I expected this to be hilarious. It wasn't. It was mildly amusing a few times. That was all. This is David Sedaris without the likability. And Rakoff's attitude to animals in general, is pretty off putting.

An amusing book of travel memoirs. Rather like David Sedaris lite (I hate myself for even thinking that phrase), very wordy right-hand-on-the-book-left-hand-on-the-dictionary type stuff about, effectively, the pervasive feeling of always wanting to be somewhere, maybe even someone other than you are right now. Or maybe that's just projection, seeing as that's the overwhelming drive in my life up to now. Who the hell knows, he says, arms uplifted in exasperation as if giving praise to the God of Who the Hell Cares.

I love some snappy clever essays to break up longer books. Would've liked this about .5 stars more if I understood more of the pre-2000s cultural references

I enjoyed love dishonor marry perish die when I read it almost 5 or 6 years ago. But this series of essays felt disconnected and not entirely worth it. Some were interesting vignettes but always seemed to end just as I was getting invested. While that may have been intentional, I wish more time was spent on the denouement than on analysis of the rising action of each anecdote.

I’m also pretty sure I initially requested this book thinking it was a memoir in essays by David Sedaris.