Me Talk Pretty One Day

Brian

Rating: really liked it
I just don't care for David Sedaris.

There, I've said it. I've made peace with the fact. I have stared deep into the cockles of my heart, and forced myself to come to the only obvious-but-unpopular conclusion.

I just don't care for David Sedaris.

It was somewhat of an existential struggle for me to reach this conclusion because I'm exactly the kind of person who should like David Sedaris.

I am a sarcastic Generation Xer with an overdeveloped sense of irony. I enjoy reading personal essays about poignant and humiliating events in people's personal lives. Understated comedy is favorite genre. I look at myself in the mirror and practice being droll. Hell, I even like listening to This American Life on NPR. I am exactly the target demographic for the witty, petty misanthropy with which Mr. Sedaris plies his trade.

But, I just don't care for David Sedaris.

I find him to be thoroughly unlikable. He comes across as the type of person who might be fun to have a beer with, but, afterwards, he'd probably make fun of you behind your back. When I was reading this book, I thought that his stories and characters were a little too colorful and a little too perfect to be true. And, as he tells the stories of his childhood, he comes across as a 40 year-old gay man trapped in an eight year-old's body (wow, that sentence doesn't sound right!). After I finished the book, I found that Mr. Sedaris does, indeed, subscribe to a rather fluid definition of "truth"--some of the instances were exaggerated. And, by "exaggerated', I mean "completely made up".

But these revelations have done little to stem the tide of bare-knuckled enthusiasm of his legion of fans. I am confronted by people who are adamant that, despite my protests to the contrary, I really do like David Sedaris. It seems that Mr. Sedaris' work has become a litmus test for a certain level of sophistication. If you tell people that you just don't care for David Sedaris, they look at you like you've got a mullet tucked into the collar of your shirt, a six pack of Old Milwaukee in the fridge, and a Tivo filled up with NASCAR races.

Well, I for one refuse to be pigeon-holed. And, today, I am calling on all like-minded people to join me! And, together, we can...uh not like Sedaris.

Say it with me! We're loud, we're proud...

...and we just don't care for David Sedaris!

Kasia

Rating: really liked it


That about sums it up.

Because, what's the point to these anecdotes? Are you trying to tell me something Mr. Sedaris? I think not. You think you're funny? Meh, not that funny. Special? You're not that special either. You're a writer, just another writer. What's the big deal?

As I said, I don't care much for your little stories. Seriously, my dear, I don't give a damn.

Ahmad Sharabiani

Rating: really liked it
Me talk Pretty one day, David Sedaris

Me Talk Pretty One Day, published in 2000, is a bestselling collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris.

The book is separated into two parts.

The first part consists of essays about Sedaris’s life before his move to Normandy, France, including his upbringing in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina, his time working odd jobs in New York City, and a visit to New York from a childhood friend and her bumpkinish girlfriend.

The second section, "Deux", tells of Sedaris’s move to Normandy with his partner Hugh, often drawing humor from his efforts to live in France without speaking the French language and his frustrated attempts to learn it. Prior to publication, several of the essays were read by the author on the Public Radio International program, This American Life.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و نهم ماه دسامبر سال 2013میلادی

عنوان: بالاخره یه روزی قشنگ حرف میزنم؛ اثر دیوید سداریس؛ مترجم: پیمان خاکسار؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، نشر چشمه، 1391؛ در 234ص؛ اندازه 5/21س.م در 5/14س.م، شابک 9786002291134؛ چاپ چهاردهم 1399؛ چاپ شانزدهم 1400؛ موضوع: داستانهای طنزآمیز نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 21م

فهرست: مقدمه مترجم: یک: بتاز کارولینا؛ رویای غول آسا عرضه های کوتوله؛ مهندسی ژنتیک؛ دوازده لحظه در زندگی هنرمند؛ تو نمیتوانی خروس را بکشی؛ جوانان در آسیا؛ منحنی یادگیری؛ پسر گنده؛ جهش بزرگ رو به جلو؛ غذای ویژه ی امروز؛ شهر فرشتگان؛ درخشان مثل الماس؛ ناتکراکر دات کام؛

دو: دوباره دیروز میبینمت؛ بالاخره یک روز قشنگ حرف میزنم؛ جیزز شیوز؛ کرم نوار؛ بکنش دوتا؛ به یاد آوردن کودکی ام در قاره ی افریقا؛ شهر نور در تاریکی؛ من به کیف اعلام وفاداری میکنم؛ جیب بر و جیب بریانی؛ دختره داشت جلو چشمم میمرد؛ آدم با هوش؛ نمایش آخر شب؛ هرچه پوشیده را میخورم؛

مجموعه‌ ای از مقاله‌ ها، و یادداشت‌های طنز، اثر «دیوید سداریس»، نویسنده‌ ی «آمریکایی» است؛ جناب «پیمان خاکسار»، در مقدمه‌ ی کتاب، درباره‌ ی رفتن سراغ نویسنده‌ هایی همچون «سداریس»، و معرفی آن‌ها به خوانشگران فارسی‌ زبان، می‌نویسند: (ممکن است با دیدن عناوین بعضی از کتاب‌هایی که ترجمه کرده‌ ام با خودتان بگویید، این نویسنده‌ ها دیگر کیستند؟ شاید پیش خودتان فکر کنید، که خاکسار دوست دارد نویسنده‌ های بی‌ اهمیت و ناشناخته را از تاریک‌ترین کنج‌های ادبیات جهان پیدا کند، و آثارشان را ترجمه کند؛ این‌طور نیست؛ این نویسنده‌ ها مهم‌ هستند؛ شاید مهم‌تر و مشهورتر از کسانی که آثارشان در «ایران»، ترجمه و خوانده می‌شود؛ در دورانی که مخاطب ادبیات بودم، و ترجمه نمی‌کردم، همیشه برایم سئوال بود که چرا هیچ مترجمی سراغ این آثار نمی‌رود؟ شاید همین باعث شد، به ترجمه روی بیاورم، تا نویسنده‌ هایی را که دوستشان داشتم، ولی آثارشان به فارسی ترجمه نشده بود را، به شما معرفی کنم، تا در لذت خواندن‌شان باهم شریک شویم؛ «دیوید سداریس» هم از همین دسته نویسندگان است.) پایان نقل

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 03/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 20/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Tim

Rating: really liked it
Witty, wry, bitter, delightful.

My mom gave me the book. I was living in France at the time, so she thought David Sedaris and I would have a ton in common. She went to a Sedaris booksigning to get a personalized message to her gay son in France. After he was done reading, she jumped up to get him to write a note to me, "David! My son is gay! He's living in France right now, please sign this copy for him!" He had already started an orderly signing process, going down the rows. He looked at her disgustedly and intoned, "I'll get to you." He then skipped her row and did all the others first, making everyone in her row hate her (imagine the wrath of a row of David Sedaris fans - ouch). When he finally got to her - last - he said, "name?" and she started her story about me: "Tim. He's 17 and he's gay and he's been living in France this year, so if you could put something about France -" He handed her book back, not having heard anything past my name, instead writing some witty thing with bad grammar that played off the book's title. When I returned from France, my mother gave me the book but had lost all respect for the author. "It's a good book but he was a complete asshole," she said.

My mother's experience aside, I'm sure Sedaris is not actually a soulless, cruel person. If you want a light read by a smart, gay cynic, this is a great book.

David

Rating: really liked it
I've been thinking a lot about this, and I have come to the conclusion that David Sedaris is one of the worst human beings in history, i.e., since human beings were first invented by an incompetent, Jerry Lewis-like god or by the inscrutable permutations of natural phenomena. This isn't a moral judgment. It's more like when someone tells you that you have spinach stuck in your teeth. It's both the mere reportage of a fact and a public service. Because, after all, you wouldn't want to walk around all day with spinach in your teeth, and you wouldn't want to spend your life mistakenly thinking that David Sedaris wasn't evil and unfunny.

Maybe I hate David Sedaris so much (abstractly; not with the visceral hatred I have for Mariah Carey) because I imagine all of these young straight couples in J. Crew worsted wool sweaters throwing back their heads like Mrs. Howell, laughing at his weak but fashionable humor. Maybe they're in their Toyota Highlanders driving out to Restoration Hardware to look at the brushed steel knobs and the faux-Victorian gewgaws. Have you been to Oak Brook? They probably live there and have heated floor tiles and towel warmers in their bathroom. The women all look like cut-rate Carolyn Bessette-Kennedys (before the plane crash), and the men look like the guy getting married in The Hangover.

David Sedaris is an entry-level gay for these people, right? They're all liberal, sure, but out in Oak Brook their gay contacts are limited to the service industry. The housewares clerk at Lord & Taylor, the hairdresser, or that one swishy waiter at Maggiano's who's stingy with the bread basket. You know, the usual A-Team of tanned men with shaved forearms and hyperreal hairdos.

What I am saying is that David Sedaris is a nice accessory. Sure, your grandparents might find some of his humor off-color or distasteful, but in the age of Sarah Silverman he's almost quaint. Anal sex (and its intimations) take on a Bombeckian glow in his hands. And that kerrunk, kerrunk sound you hear is Jean Genet rolling over in his grave (and masturbating on a pile of his own feces).

There are currently twenty-one people on my friends list who have rated this book. Only two have assigned it fewer than three stars. Defend yourselves, bourgeois scum. I mean that affectionately. You probably thought Bob Saget was funny on America's Funniest Home Videos too, didn't you?

Jen

Rating: really liked it
Sedaris is a quirky kind of writer. I needed a palate cleanser after the last few heavy reads and this one delivered. From a betrayal of the tongue (which required speech therapy), to a midget music teacher and some various comical moments in his life, his memoir had me chuckling out loud and talking about it to whomever was in the room.
But alas, a third of the way in, it read like a rant and I quickly became bored. What began as a breath of fresh air became stale but did give a final gasp at the end.
First two thirds razor sharp; last 3rd, kind of dull. For that I'm rating this 3.5***

Justin Tate

Rating: really liked it
Ah! My first David Sedaris read--not counting the weird Squirrel book--and I finally understand what all the fuss is about. The humor is so good it's mesmerizing. I'm in awe of his ability to make ordinary life sparkle through such rich narration.

There is no mundane task that Sedaris cannot do without dazzling the reader. Anything and everything is cause for social commentary and uproarious observation. From learning to play the guitar to going to the movies to an unusually large turd floating in the toilet, he finds opportunity to poke fun at the world, poke fun at himself, and combine various events into unforgettable knee-slapping comedy.

Truly a landmark, I totally get why this book continues to endure nearly 20 years later. It is an instant-classic that belongs just behind Mark Twain, if not--dare I say--in front.

Carrie

Rating: really liked it
If I were in someone else's bathroom and there were no other reading materials except for something by David Sedaris, I would pick it up and flip through it. I probably would even find myself slightly amused. But my basic opinion about David Sedaris - which is that he is boring, not very funny, mean and bitchy, and too lazy to write a novel - would remain unchanged.

Remember when people who had fucked up or interesting lives drew on their personal experiences to create artful, often symbolic stories that speak to some kind of greater human existence? Remember when people basically only wrote their autobiography after they had accomplished many other notable things in their life? At the very least, one would use the events of their life to address some important social issue.

Among others, we have David Sedaris to thank for ushering in the age of this crappy, voyeristic autobiography sub-genre that is basically the print version of reality tv. So somebody has a weird, dysfunctional family. So do most of us. It's really not that interesting.

The title of the book is pretty lame. Did you really talk like that, David? No, I don't think you did. I think you were just a middle-class gay kid who lisped, got sent to speech therapy for it, and then wanted to pretend that you were more marginalized than you actually were.

Also, his sister is way funnier than he is.

Matthew

Rating: really liked it
Another collection of Sedaris tales as we have come to know and love. His cynical banter and humorous anecdotes shine again. While some might say the same old formula gets old, with Sedaris it is expected and greatly appreciated. (I even heard he changed the formula in a recent book and it was not well received)

I listened to the audio and love hearing the words from the mouth of the author. His delivery and timing are perfect - which I suppose is to be expected as they are his words, but not every author can read their words as well as they write. It is great how he can make every mundane activity an entertaining anecdote.

If you like a little humorous getaway, check out this and other Sedaris books.

Gemma

Rating: really liked it
This book has been my tube companion for the past fortnight. It is the perfect accompaniment to the London commute for two reasons:

1) The essays are perfectly formed, so you can be assured that you'll be able to finish 3 little chunks over 40 minutes or so. Once the train trundled into Westminster station I would know to quicken my pace so as to finish another section before alighting at Blackfriars and elbowing some bankers.

2) My tube line is the epitome of the British stiff upper lip. People's faces remain practically emotionless from Putney to Barking to Richmond and up to High Street Kensington. Of course, scrum tackles take place at each station as people push on during rush hour. But NO emotions pass across the face of a commuter. Apart from perhaps a slight grimace when the new arrival feels it necessary to share all the details of their skiing holiday with the entire carriage.

Anyway - to the point! With Sedaris in my hand I have been snorting, honking and smiling as never before seen on the District Line. The 50 something lady who settled into her seat at Wimbledon with the Daily Telegraph looks up nervously. The banker ignoring the opinion section of the FT for the far more fascinating Stocks and shares pages shifts nervously. And then I snort once more. Being in such a cheery mood, once a seat becomes available I offer it to the young lady in slightly uncomfortable looking high heels reading the bible (aka the Metro) thus leaving the assembled masses concerned that I may be clinically insane and yet on their train.

Nilufer Ozmekik

Rating: really liked it
Great way to spend your weekend! Please turn on the audiobook and listen this spectacular, smart, extremely humorous essays!

First part consists of author’s life before his move to France. Some snippets from suburban Raleigh/ NC life and moving to big apple, working at bizarre jobs for making ends meet. ( so entertaining)

But the second part (in French “ deux”) about moving to Normandy / France with his partner Hugh, adjusting process, his efforts to talk in French and suffering from failures was so much better! I fell down from my couch several times as I laughed too hard. My stomach still hurts! Why didn’t I read the author’s other works before?

I highly recommend this amazing read! Especially the audiobook is quite fascinating! A great way to brighten your mood and have an enjoyable Saturday!

Adina

Rating: really liked it
Since the Coronavirus pandemic was declared, I started to watch more stand-up comedy and follow The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (from his home). I felt like I needed a laugh between my constant watching of the Coronavirus cases count and the news reports about the same enemy. I wanted to read David Sedaris for the same reason, to lighten my days a bit. I enjoyed listening to his narration of this essay collection but I can't say I was entertained. I laughed maybe once or twice and for the rest I was either sorry for him, or partially indifferent to the story. The first essay about his Speech Therapy was the best and after that I began to lose interest. I have to admit that I did not sympathise with his need to get high in order to achieve his artistic goals, I was thinking "you're shit at art, just get over it and find a job that suits you." Some essays resuscitated my interest but then I was bored again while listening to others.

Fabian

Rating: really liked it
A reviewer was correct when he said: "Sedaris can turn a rant into a thing of beauty." (Michael Upchurch-Seattle Times) But only correct about the noun/verb "rant." That he does in profusion; all these "essays" are rants about his life & times. But "Thing of beauty?" Absolutely not.

For a popular writer, Mr. Sedaris maintains that he is more important than anything else, anybody else, any other subject. He only looks at himself in situations and tells us his witty reactions/musings. Funny, a little, but it's actually like talking to someone adamant about taking nothing too seriously while displaying extreme sarcasm. I could not relate to a single thing this dude wrote about!

About his trips to France (just check this out): "There are plenty of places on Earth where Americans are greeted with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, these places tend to lack anything you'd really want to buy. & that, to me, is the only reason to leave home in the first place--to buy things."

Aggh! This All-American mentality: GROSS.

Michael

Rating: really liked it
A collection of humor essays on speech and language, Me Talk Pretty One Day is David Sedaris’s most focused work as well as his most famous. The collection brings together stories describing the author’s family and childhood, travel writings addressing his move to France, and personal pieces reflecting on his aimlessness as a young adult. From recounting his experience of speech therapy as an elementary student to recalling his first gig teaching language and writing, Sedaris covers many subjects without straying from the collection’s theme. His writing is sarcastic and self-indulgent, and it’s better listened to than read. The collection isn’t life changing, but it passes the time nicely on a long commute or at work.

Calista

Rating: really liked it
I think this period, right around 2000, a little before and after, is David's best writing era. He seems to be at this best and most funny I think.

I love this collection. He has a multitude of stories about living in France with Hue. I love the peak into his experience of France or even NYC for that matter. His family plays a huge role in his stories as usual. I do wonder if he and Hue are still together. I would guess not, simply because he is famous and famous people rarely stick together.

He also has a funny story about being a writing teacher. I often wonder what real life would be like for him and how much is exaggerated for his writing or altered to create something funny. I know life is really weird and people strange, so there is probably a lot that happens to him, that is just like he says.

This collection had me laughing robustly. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and I think it is my favorite outside of SantaLand diaries which can't be beat; so far. This tickled my funny bone, so I'm very happy. David is a nice relief from the stress of school right now. I will continue to read more of his stuff.