When You Are Engulfed in Flames

I gave up on this. I love Sedaris, but this is by far my least favorite book of his. I couldn't get past page 125ish.

Very smart and funny writing. I couldn't wait to read the next seemingly wacky story about Sedaris' life.

I think my thoughts on this book can be simply summed up in one amazing Sedaris quote...
“You think you know everything about your faithful follower, but it turns out that he's actually an orphaned fox who can change his shape at will. It was he who spoke my favorite line of the evening, five words that perfectly conveyed just how enchanting and full of surprises this Kabuki business really is: ‘That drum is my parents.'”

I read these stories/essays as I ate breakfast before work, and they definitely got my day off to a fun start.

first read in 2008

Nothing new, nothing really innovative, but I was quite happy reading this collection. I thought several essays were very good, his “coming out” piece was particularly good. Plus as I'm growing older I don't entirely hate doing it along with Sedaris.

Honestly, not my Sedaris fave. I think I had read one too many of the stories when they first appeared in the New Yorker. But Sedaris' mediocre is most people's side-splitting, so I certainly enjoyed the read.

Pretty standard Sedaris, and whether I enjoy that or not is a matter of mood. Like all of his books, it's in turn funny and upsetting.

Very funny, of course. For me, it was less laugh-out-loud funny than Me Talk Pretty (my personal favorite Sedaris book), but perhaps a little more thoughtful? It seems like he's exhausted bizarre childhood/young adult stories, and this book focused more on his actual life. I never really knew that much about Hugh before. I love it most when Sedaris writes about different cultures, and so my favorite essay of the bunch was the final piece, about trying to quit smoking in Japan. Anyway–I don't think any Sedaris fans will be disappointed by this.

Better than previous books. A lot of other readers find Sedaris “hilarious”, but at most I had a few chuckles, but I found this book a little less cynical than his other books and this made it more enjoyable.