David Sedaris - When You Are Engulfed in Flames

After the unexpected controversy raised by my last book review, I thought I'd tackle something a little more lighthearted. I've recently become a fan of David Sedaris, a writer, comedian, radio personality, and author of half a dozen hilarious books. I picked up 2008's When You Are Engulfed in Flames on the same day I purchased Escape From Saddam. Maybe I already knew I would need a good laugh.

David Sedaris is well known for writing witty books about his life. This latest effort consists of twenty-two essays loosely centering around a life and death theme. Death is something that happens to everybody. Many people are afraid of it, yet Sedaris manages to make it alternately funny and poignant. Take, for instance, an essay called "That's Amore". Sedaris writes about moving to New York with his partner, Hugh, and encountering their new neighbor, an extremely obnoxious woman named Helen. Helen had helped them get that apartment. In return, she crassly inserted herself into their lives, making rude remarks about other people in the building and forcing her bizarre culinary creations on them. Helen was a pest, and yet somehow she managed to capture a part of Sedaris's heart. Last Saturday, I read this essay aloud to my husband, Bill, while we were waking up among our snoring beagles. We both howled with laughter.

Sedaris has a unique way of capturing the characters in his life. In an essay called "Solution to Saturday's Puzzle", he reflects on an uncomfortable airplane trip he took. His seatmate was a nice enough looking woman who somehow ended up in a seat not paired with her husband's. The woman's husband was in a bulkhead seat, which Sedaris admits is often highly prized. However, Sedaris prefers seats with less legroom so he can rest his knees on the seat in front of him. So when the woman asked him to switch seats, he politely balked. She got very angry at him and fell asleep. Then, somehow, Sedaris's throat lozenge ended up stuck to the crotch of the woman's shorts. In a weird way, it seemed very appropriate, given the way she'd treated him... and yet Sedaris was fretting about it. When she was rude to him again, he found himself completing a crossword puzzle in a most unconventional and very creative way.

In "Town and Country", Sedaris makes a witty observation about how people often invent details about others just based on their appearance. While on a flight to New York, he was joined by his seatmates, an older couple who appeared to be well-heeled and refined. When they opened their mouths to speak, however, Sedaris learned that looks are often deceiving. Not having learned from that experience, he did the same thing in a cab ride from La Guardia Airport to the city. Picturing the immigrant taxi driver as some kind of gentle, hard working, family man, Sedaris conjured up a mental image that the driver very quickly shattered as he began to speak.

My thoughts

When You Are Engulfed in Flames is full of hilarious observations David Sedaris has made about his own life as a chain smoking gay man living in Paris with his partner. And yet, I could often relate to some of the observations he made as a non smoking married woman in Germany. Sedaris is often very funny, yet his humor has sort of a goofy, self-deprecating side to it as well.

I will admit that some of these essays are not as funny or relevant as others are. On the other hand, in "Aerial", David Sedaris offers a nod to one of my favorite singers of all time, Kate Bush. I figure anyone who can appreciate Kate Bush has got to somehow be on a different mental plane than most others are. Besides his musical taste, I could also relate to Sedaris's thoughts on suddenly developing an appreciation for art when he was a teenager. The same thing recently happened to me, which led to my purchase of several pieces of art. And I loved his candid observations of the absurd... like the time he was getting his hair cut by a barber who had sh*t on his hand.

Not everyone will appreciate Sedaris's humor, of course. For one thing, this book does contain some language and discussion of sexual situations that may offend some readers. And make no mistake about it, David Sedaris is very gay and his life as a homosexual figures very prominently in his essays. Frankly, I found that aspect interesting. Sedaris is candid about his relationship with his partner and they come off sounding as comfortable with each other as any old married couple might. But obviously people who are offended by homosexuality may disagree.

Personally, I loved When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I think David Sedaris has a marvelous way of writing as if he's an old friend telling anecdotes at a small dinner party. It's comfortable and familiar and often very entertaining. I shared a couple of essays with Bill, which left him laughing and promising to read the book himself one of these days. I only wish I had the audiobook version of these essays so I could actually hear his inflections. I understand that's the best way to really appreciate David Sedaris's humor.

Anyway, I recommend this book with five stars...

For more information: http://www.davidsedaris.net/