Product Description

A riotous collection of memoirs which explores the absurd hilarity of modern life and creates a wickedly incisive portrait of an all-too-familiar world. It takes Sedaris from his humiliating bout with obsessive behaviour in 'A Plague of Tics' to the title story, where he is finally forced to face his naked self in the company of lunatics. At this soulful and moving moment, he brushes cigarette ashes from his pubic hair and wonders what it all means. This remarkable journey into his own life follows a path of self- effacement and a lifelong search for identity leaving himself both under suspicion and over dressed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29882 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 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

Twisted, Insane and Hilarious! Unique!
Only David Sedaris can take a mundane activity and turn it inside out so intensely and simply that you can't stop laughing. This collection includes his morbid Greek grandmother who turns the family life upside down until they force her into not one, but two nursing homes where she traumatizes all around her. As a youngster, Sedaris finds an old pornographic novel with horrible typos that speaks of relentless incest. Passing it down to his sisters, they all develop a fear of their "sexual prowling" parents. Senior Sedaris tricks the kids into going golfing only to have sister Lisa have her first period at the fourteenth hole in front of all the Golfing big shots. Does the author stop hitch-hiking after several attempts on his life? No. This he finds exciting, made all the better when he can produce marijuana to calm any fag-hating drivers. The stories are alarmingly fresh and Sedaris' viewpoint is so violently skewed, you wonder how he lives his life at all. This is a hilarious outlook on life.

The three I've recently read, and you should too
I've recently come across three fantastic funny books. The first was called BARRING SOME UNFORESEEN ACCIDENT and it just blew me away. Second was THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES by Ceclia Ahern, and finally, last but not least NAKED by Sedaris.

If you like to laugh, you'll enjoy these books, but I have to say that NAKED was the best yet. Now, I've not read a lot of Sedaris, but he's one funny guy. The book is a hilarious collection of memoirs, essays, the usual hodge-podge that Sedaris somehow manaages to make work. Possibly the best story is A PLAGUE OF TICS which involves his literaly "nakedness" in front of a bunch of loonies. Sedaris is a master storyteller of immense proportions and his humour translates easily from America to England. Kudos to the master.

Cure for selfish whining about family
David Sedaris writes mostly about his family (including himself), but instead of relying on the tired old wouldyoubelieveit style to get their personalities across, he makes obsessiveness, predictability and contemptuous familiarity seem normal and inevitable. Which they probably are. The writing is very 'straight' for such a hilarious book, and it's appallingly and brilliantly clear - you're not spared just exactly how everything felt, even though he doesn't exactly tell you.