Me Talk Pretty One Day

Every glimpse we get of Sedaris's family and acquaintances delivers laughs and insights. He thwarts his North Carolina speech therapist ("for whom the word pen had two syllables") by cleverly avoiding all words with s sounds, which reveal the lisp she sought to correct. His midget guitar teacher, Mister Mancini, is unaware that Sedaris doesn't share his obsession with breasts, and sings "Light My Fire" all wrong--"as if he were a Webelo scout demanding a match." As a remarkably unqualified teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago, Sedaris had his class watch soap operas and assign "guessays" on what would happen in the next day's episode.

It all adds up to the most distinctively skewed autobiography since Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia. The only possible reason not to read this book is if you'd rather hear the author's intrinsically funny speaking voice narrating his story. In that case, get Me Talk Pretty One Day on audio. --Tim Appelo

Product Description
A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers and cashiers with 6-inch fingernails. Compared by The New Yorker to Twain and Hawthorne, Sedaris has become one of our best-loved authors.

One warning: avoid reading this collection in public if laughing so hard you soak yourself is something you might find at all embarrassing. David Sedaris is simply the funniest person writing today.


Want to laugh--buy it. Don't want to laugh--don't   July 9, 2000
The Gooch (Temecula, CA United States)
72 out of 75 found this review helpful

I have to admit I was a bit hesitant to read this book. My feeling was that this was just a cheap attempt to capitalize on the success of "Naked", and to write a book that was essentially exactly the same. I'm happy to report that my fears were unfounded.

Sedaris again proves he is perhaps the funniest writer in America. The best pieces in here are funny to the point that I almost needed an oxygen tank to restore normal breathing after laughing so hard for so long. In fact, the funniest pieces are so good that when you get to a story that merely makes you chuckle softly to yourself, it seems like a let-down.

The most consistently hilarious stories in "Me Talk Pretty One Day" are the ones dealing with the odd idiosyncrosies of Sedaris' father. However, by far the funniest story of the bunch had to be "You Can't Kill the Rooster", about Sedaris' foul-mouthed, white trash younger brother.

Admittedly, I started to get somewhat disappointed about halfway through the book, as that is where a few stories that can be best described as "filler" seemed to seep in. But I am happy to report that at that point the book quickly moves to the stories detailing Sedaris' experience of living in France, and the hilarity starts all over again. Recommending this is simple...if you like to laugh, read it, if you hate laughing, don't read it.


Satan Speaks   June 20, 2000
45 out of 47 found this review helpful

Ok. If an author can make you laugh about a drug addicted infant being murdered in a washing machine (check out **Barrel Fever**), he's either the funniest thing going...or you're just a sick so and so...

Hmmmm. kinda makes you wonder....

Anyway, This is another hell-larious collection of stories by one of the funniest authors to grip a pen. The first half of this great book kinda extends on the Sedaris family lore that was touched upon in Barrel Fever and Naked. We learn about David's mom who perks up the Easter baskets with tobacco products, his dad who has an unusual warmth for rotting fruit, his brother The Rooster (not to be confused with the family pet) and his wickedly funny sister (amy sedaris from the comedy central show 'strangers with candy').

The second half of this riotously funny book is a string of tales of Davids (mis)adventures as a misanthropic American in Paris. Gene Kelly he is not...but that's what makes it so smashingly silly...

I really dig this book because it has that rare abiltiy to make you laugh out loud. And that's priceless in itself. I also really dig this book because while reading this, part of you will be thinking 'this boy really has problems...what a screwy family...' and the other part of you will be thinking 'Oh, my gosh...that reminds me of my sister...that reminds me of my crazy father...'. Which ever camp you're sitting in, this book will charm you right out of your seat... David Sedaris may talk pretty someday, but he writes amazingly right now.... xo


Me glad this book is finished...   June 24, 2002
Dianna Johnston (Joplin, MO)
45 out of 93 found this review helpful

I read this book for my local bookclub, and I must say that if I had never read it in my lifetime, I don't think I ever would have missed it. However, the essays were written well and most were funny. I would be interested in reading a full-fledged novel if David Sedaris ever chose to write one.

Me Talk Pretty One Day is a book of autobiographical essays that tell the story of the author's childhood and the strange behavior of his parents in relation to jazz, food, dogs and so on. Other essays talk about the many jobs taken on by Sedaris, the move to Paris with his boyfriend, Hugh, and his life living in a foreign country. I laughed most of the time; however, the mediocre essays far outweighed the fabulous ones. My favorites are Go Carolina, You Can't Kill the Rooster, The Youth in Asia, Big Boy, The Last Show, and I'll Eat What He's Wearing. All the others had humor in them, but fell short of my own knee-slapping expectations.

Of course, this is just one opinion and mine may not be of the popular variety. I am just the type of reader that enjoys novels more than short stories (or essays) and therefore did not find Me Talk Pretty One Day to be particularly fascinating. I don't regret reading it, but the hype was too much for me. Mr. Sedaris, call me when you have a novel out -- I'll be the first in line.


Weep with laughter - it's good for your health!   August 5, 2000
R. Peterson (This month? In Tbilisi, Georgia (Former Soviet Republic))
44 out of 47 found this review helpful

My cousin, Lisa, and I share many satisfying and hilarous experiences (college roommates being just one), and for whatever reason, we are David Sedaris soulmates. After she read my review of "Naked" [...] she has been a fan. This year for my birthday, she paid me back ten-fold with "Me Talk Pretty One Day," the best Sedaris yet. Most of Sedaris' work is what you might call "sort of" autobiographical. I say, "sort of" because it is a little hard for me to believe all of what he writes is true - embellished truths? Absolutely. From his childhood in North Carolina (filled with wise-cracking, drinking, smoking mother, psycho younger brother (The "Rooster") and odd-ball father (to whom he dedicates the book), we read these funny short pieces about his speech therapist (a speech 'nazi'), his midget guitar teacher (his father had dreams of the kids being a famous musical group), his drug abuse experiences, and finally, a number of pieces about learning French and living in France, where he finds himself having followed his partner. I ended up reading pieces of this book (while on vacation) to whichever member of my family I could capture, and the two of us were generally reduced to tears. Believe it or not, the drug use pieces were a scream - incredibly pathetic but hysterical. The best was toward the end when Sedaris describes being in a French subway (obviously looking very French) and listening to a loud American man warn his wife that she should watch her pocketbook because this shifty-looking French guy (Sedaris!) behind her was likely to snatch her purse. All in all, like much of what I've read of Sedaris, any author who can reduce me to tears is a god-send. The best physical therapy in the world is to weep with laughter.