Product Description

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 stories and essays is a rollicking tour through the American Zeitgeist: a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a teenage suicide tried to incite a lynch mob at her funeral; and in his essays, David Sedaris considers the hazards of rewards of smoking, writing for Giantess magazine, and living with his scrappy brother Paul, aka 'The Rooster'. With a perfect eye and a voice infused with as much empathy as wit, Sedaris writes and reads stories and essays that target the soulful ridiculousness of our behaviour. Barrel Fever is like a blind date with modern life - and anything can happen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17638 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'This is a man who could capture your heart and lift your spirits while reading out the ingredients of a rice cake.' Observer 'His best, funniest, most satisfying book.' Time Out 'Sedaris writes with a gentle but unfailing acuity and a keen eye for t

About the Author
David Sedaris lives in Paris. Raised in North Carolina, he has worked as a housecleaner and most famously, as a part-time elf for Macy's. He is a regular contributor to Esquire and Public Radio International, and his essays have been featured in The New Yorker and Harper's.

Customer Reviews

Makes One Wish For Misery!
No one writes quite like David Sedaris. This collection of stories and essays reaches new highs/lows in comedy so caustically humorous, that guilty pleasures become real. Revel in his memoir of his love affairs and fights amongst the rich and famous such as Charlton Heston, Pat Buchanan, Chuck Connors and his ultimate love, Mike Tyson. Listen in on Sedaris' account of living with his aunt and hearing all of his Mother and her sister's sordid stories. Nothing smacks of hilarious hypocrisy more than Sedaris telling his freind Gill he that he drinks too much while he cannot understand why using the vacumn cleaner as a pillow unintentially is wrong. If you have ever known a smoker, "Diary Of A Smoker" will have you licking ashtrays to stop from laughing. Of course, Sedaris chooses his most famous story, "The SantaLand Diaries" for last. This is the ultimate barometer for true magic in the commercialized Christmas world we all have to endure. Barrel Fever is worth it just for this one essay!

Sensational - a rare thing, a laugh-out-loud book
I first encountered David Sedaris when cruising through the original amazon,com site, and have gone on to buy this book for every available birthday present that I've needed for the last six months. The book is a series of short episodes (rather than stories) all with a twisted and unusual perspective. Each one of them is laugh out loud funny. To provide a point of reference with UK comedy is difficult - it would appeal to anyone who likes a laugh and who maybe prefers something quirky rather than straight-forward. Having recommended it to one friend, he phoned me the next day to say he'd read the whole thing and declared it was his favourite book. Buy it and laugh.

Sedaris is the funniest man alive
None of David Sedaris's books have disappointed me. Neither have those of Chuck Palahniuk or Jackson McCrae, so I know when to stick with a good thing when I find it. This said, "Naked" is not quite up to "Me Talk Pretty" but that's not saying much---it's still a very funny book. This "memoir" covers everything from Charlton Heston, Pat Buchanan, and Mike Tyson, if you can believe that. One note for those who are or have been a smoker. You have to read "Diary of a Smoker" included in this book. Buy it for nothing if not that. I also recently enjoyed the book "Katzenjammer: Soon to be a major motion picture" by J.T. McCrae which is about as close as you can get to Sedaris without actually being him.