When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Editorial Review:

"David Sedaris's ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art," (The Christian Science Monitor) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book.
Trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, David considers using the water in a vase of flowers and his chain of associations takes him from the French countryside to a hilariously uncomfortable memory of buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina. In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life-having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds-to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from "a writer worth treasuring" (Seattle Times).
Praise for When You Are Engulfed in Flames:
"Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris...defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life." --Kirkus Reviews
This latest collection proves that not only does Sedaris still have it, but he's also getting better....Sedaris's best stuff will still--after all this time--move, surprise, and entertain." --Booklist
Table of Contents:

It's Catching
Keeping Up
The Understudy
This Old House
Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie?
Road Trips
What I Learned
That's Amore
The Monster Mash
In the Waiting Room
Solutions to Saturday's Puzzle
Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool
Memento Mori
All the Beauty You Will Ever Need
Town and Country
Aerial
The Man in the Hut
Of Mice and Men
April in Paris
Crybaby
Old Faithful
The Smoking Section

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

More, but not really better:

David Sedaris is a talented writer, but his work in this tome is inconsistent. It all goes down smoothly, but never rises to the level of "Dress Your Children in Denim and Corduroy." Each of these short essays was previously published elsewhere and they don't quite come together as an anthology.

Good combination of humor, depravity and sadness:

I continue to be impressed with the breadth of Sedaris' writing. There are touching stories from early childhood that anyone who grew up with siblings will find familiar and hilarious. Those are mixed in good measure with depressing tales of addiction, and uncomfortable narratives related to homosexuality and sex. The combination works, and I enjoyed nearly all of it, even the parts that made me a bit uncomfortable.

Didn't laugh:

Me Talk Pretty and his Courderoy books were far superior. Engulfed had me wondering if he is on a downward spiral.

Self-Absorption Driven to Laughter:

Laugh at yourself and the whole world laughs with you. It's hard to write humorous essays that stand the test of time. Will Rogers realized that and just read the newspaper to audiences while adding an occasionally wry quip to get huge laughs. Put those messages into a book, and they wouldn't have lasted.
I haven't heard David Sedaris perform in person (which he does as readings), but I'm told he's marvelous. If you have had that pleasure, you will undoubtedly hear his voice, know his timing, and see... more info

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