When You Are Engulfed in Flames

I don't share much of a background with David Sedaris, I'm not from a "middle class" family, I have no college education (IVY LEAGUE even, c'mon), no one in my family has had anything to do with the arts, I'm an only freakin' child, I'm born bred and have always lived in the North West, I don't even have a passport let alone the means to live in any country I please... The list could continue and for some readers things like this make Sedaris' writing out of reach, even insulting. The thing is though we seem to have absolutely nothing in common we do have one thing, tiny as it may be, we the commanality of being human and living during this particular era. That is what connects me to him and his writing, his humble humanity. He knows he isn't a beauty queen, he consistently blunders through life making mistakes, playing the fool even and yet he has this amazing ability to WRITE about it, to share it with thw world and make fun of himself OUT LOUD to millions of readers. I love him for that, I love him for the fact academia hasn't sapped the humanity out of him and made him feel blunder proof or at least made him a blunder snob, hiding behind eight letter words that no one knows the true meaning of, ducking behind an Ivy league education. I picked this particular book up because my best friend is in the hospital, has been, will be, for a while. I have learned that he CANNOT handle being alone so I sit there, hour upon hour and try to read him to sleep. Sedaris' short stories and essays are perfect hospital food right? The problem is reading them aloud for the first time is hard because he makes laugh out loud (and not many do)so in the quiet hospital corridors one room is bellowing with laughter, from me, from my sick friend who really shouldn't be laughing right now, it hurts him, but he won't let me stop. A nurse cruises in inevitably when I am reading something that out of context seems dirty, it becomes even funnier. My context of reading this particular Sedaris book aside it is really a very funny, charming piece of literature that connects with the reader on many levels. The parts that others seem to be offended or put off by, I say read them with zeal, be happy that someone out there is making enough money off being a boob, off proudly being a boob to travel to Japan and France and across the U.S. and is taking the time (for money maybe but whatever) to share his experiences as a pretty much average Joe with us. Be happy to read from someone who relishes in the oddities, who isn't always tring to make you sympathetic and tearful. It really is a rare quality. You will find that most contemporary memoir(ish) literature relies on human empathy and sad, sad, sad, SAD parts of life. It's nice to take a break and read from someone who can tell you abot his mother dying of lung cancer in one paragraph and have you giggling in the next.Comedy or Tragedy, life is what you make of it. Trust me I have my own fair share of the comedically tragic, but when my friends can laugh at the crazy things I say and do when I am hallucinating because Lupus is attacking my brain I am way better than when they are crying over it. David Sedaris has the ability to make you laugh over things that put another way might make you cry. AND he has inspired me to REALLY quit smoking, I am done with cigarettes.

When You Are Engulfed In Flames is a solid four-stars and damn near close to five; we'll settle for 4.5. But then again, I'm a serious Sedaris fiend. By now, you (dear reader) have already made up your mind about David Sedaris and have either worked your way through this collection or else long ago discarded him, irrelevant as an expended filter tip. So if you find yourself in the former category then by all means, read on. When You Are Engulfed In Flames makes Sedaris' previous collection, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, seem like a disaster, a complete train wreck. Which is unfair because I think that Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is a strong collection with some exemplary essays. And also because I get the feeling that it was a more personal werk for him, that he's a bit more exposed and vulnerable in those essays. Thematically, When You Are Engulfed In Flames is a reprise of Me Talk Pretty One Day -- highly focused on language and style, on the humanity of humiliation and (to echo some other reviewers) those dark places where our sentimentality tends to get the best of us. But it's a counterpoint melody to Me Talk Pretty One Day -- arrogant where the other was modest, chagrined where the other took delight. Structurally, this collection is an echo of Naked, though perhaps a bit more mature. As I wrote of DFW's Consider the Lobster, the essays are arranged well, jokes from earlier essays recurring, serving to inform your later tittering. That said, the individual essays seem to follow a rhythm that is new for Sedaris. If this were an elementary school music class, I would say that his earlier essays have a rhyme scheme that goes ABAB, these are turned more toward ABCA. It seems a cop-out to recommend this collection. Those that are already turned on to Sedaris are unlikely to be disappointed; those that didn't much care for him in the first place won't find anything to change their opinions. Anyone with previous exposure is likely to see symptoms of his previous werks; I suppose the difference is whether you carry the antibodies?

I've gathered from reading many reviews of this book that the general consensus is that while When You Are Engulfed in Flames is a good book, Sedaris has done better. To that, I can only think of one thing to say: if this is "mediocre" compared to his other works, then I can't wait to read them! Personally, I think this is an excellent collection of essays, they are funny, witty, smart and endearing and I'm glad I finally got around to reading something written by Sedaris. "Keeping Up", "In the Waiting Room", "April in Paris", and as gross as it was, "Old Faithful" are among my favorites in this collection, but the one that really struck a chord with me was "The Smoking Section", being a sort of former cigarette smoker (I've switched to an electronic cigarette, but the switch has been difficult). I can't wait to read more essays from Sedaris, he's a smooth writer who knows how to draw you into his world. The essays herein cover a wider range than I understand a lot of his other works cover, and I think that makes for an excellent collection. Variety is the spice of life after all, and this collection certainly added a bit of kick to mine while I was reading it.

Once again, David finds the ability to spin daily life into an analytical adventure. From commentary on the struggle to quit smoking to observations of his early life in restaurant services, David connects us from his stories to our own life. I found myself thinking of similar situations and times in my own life that mirrored his experiences. Thoughts of my mother and father and odd family interaction connected me to David's stories on a personal level. I thoroughly enjoy his writing style and look forward to each new book he publishes. I often hear his voice as I read which only enhances the journey

"When You Are Engulfed in Flames" is David Sedaris' fifth full-length collection of humorous essays. I've long been a fan of his writing, which for the uninitiated tends to focus on the more skewed aspects of his family and life. His collections usually include a variety of stories from various epochs of his life - as a child and teenager with his hilarious family, in his twenties (when he did drugs and had a variety of bizarre jobs), and with his boyfriend, Hugh, in Europe. Most of my favorite stories involve his family, especially stories from his youth. He adds one such gem here - "The Understudy," which features one of the worst babysitters in history, the corpulent and itchy, Mrs. Peacock. This story has more laugh-out-loud moments than anything I've read since....well since Sedaris' last book. I tend to enjoy less his essays about his years when he was an active drug user, although "All the Beauty You Will Ever Need" is one of the better of this genre. Alas, this collection is a bit thin on stories about his family; perhaps as he gets older he will focus more on recent events filtered through his observational humor style; "Crybaby" is a good example from this collection. The longest section of the book details his attempt to stop smoking in Tokyo, which is not the strongest ending to this otherwise solid collection. Overall, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" is average work for Sedaris; not as good "Naked" but still likely to keep his fans entertained and better than most humor essayists.

In When You Are Engulfed in Flames , David Sedaris explores a new world, Japan, but this time he's on a mission... one of giving up smoking! It's as raucous as his escape to Paris and Normandy in Me Talk Pretty One Day but with an eastern twist that transcends all languages. It doesn't seem to matter in which country Sedaris happens to find himself or in what language he's describing what he's seeing or doing, it is always a treat to hear what he has to say. And if you've ever heard him tell one of his stories on radio... or in person, it's like he's there with you and he brings to mind that especially memorable character from your childhood or that one-of-a-kind friend that you just don't seem to hear from often enough. Sedaris is always relevant and always on point. He makes you want to say 'I wish I said that' or 'how does he come up with this stuff?' He insisted in a recent Time interview that he's a great exaggerator but that less than three percent of his words are fiction 'and that 97% is true enough.' He reminds me very much of a young Art Buchwald with his `I couldn't make that up' form of storytelling but with a little more irreverence in his tone. I'm sure that you'll either love him or you'll hate him but I haven't met anyone in the latter category yet. The 48-year-old Sedaris is actually the swinging bamboo bridge that spans the 40-year gap between my 27-year-old daughter Julia and myself. He's a joy to read at any age but for a treat you can search the NPR archives for 'David Sedaris' and listen to him deliver one of his many classics monologues to be found there. You'll laugh too...

You're likely going to get a used copy. Although mine was relatively clean, there was some sticker residue and slight denting in the book's spine. The pages themselves were pristine, though. Obviously a display copy.

I love David Sedaris. This is the third of his books that I've read. It's not quite as funny as the others, but I don't think it's really supposed to be. His story about his neighbor Helen did make me laugh out loud for a very long time, though. My husband thought something was wrong with me. I had tears. What I loved about his book more than the others is that I felt as if I knew David inside and out by the end. I felt as if I could go out to dinner with him and we'd be like old friends, catching up after all of these years. His writing is so endearing, which has to be hard to pull off, considering some of the topics. I love a man who loves spiders? How does that happen? But I do. David also finds a way to write about being gay that easily crosses over. Straight boring moms such as myself will find all of his relationship stories interesting. In fact, when he writes about his relationship with Hugh, I found myself nodding, "Uh huh, been there David. Right on!" And he's so right about the exorbitant amount of time us straight people spend trying to figure out how gay sex takes place. (But why didn't you tell us David? You make fun of us for wanting to know, but then you don't satisfy our curiosity). His trials about quitting smoking are also enlightening and help me to better understand my friends who smoke. The only criticism I have about the entire book is that I could have done without the line about a type of cracker tasting like penis. Hey I know what that tastes like, and I don't want that taste going anywhere near my crackers. Other than that, I love the book and highly recommend it.

I feel part of his family

Wouldn’t it be nice to have coffee or a drink with David Sedaris and just listen to him comment about what’s going on around us?

Best book I've read of David Sedaris. Also the first one.

I guess the only reason you're reading this is to find out if this is as good as all his other books. In my opinion, this is the best of the lot. And while I don't think his changes of pace, and attempts at pathos/bathos have ever been very successful, his all-out humour is brilliant. It's that rare and wonderful thing; a book that causes you to laugh out loud and embarrass yourself and irritate others while doing so, In fact, there's a bit about that in here too...

Fans von David Sedaris werden nicht enttäuscht! Musste mehrmals laut Lachen. David Sedaris ist einfach der lustigte Autor der heute schreibt.