As I walked up and down the isles of my local Barnes and Nobles a green covered book with improper English caught my eye. Me Talk Pretty One Day was just sitting there beside one of David Sedaris' other books, titled Naked. Knowing that Sedaris always delivers some comic relief and witty insight into the world, I picked up the book. Being a Sedaris fan, I wasn't going to wait till I got home to read it. So, I picked one of the nearby couches, opened to the first page and began reading.
The minute I began reading Me Talk Pretty One Day, I was enthralled by Sedaris' style of writing. He pulled me into his world of witticism and humor, once again. David Sedaris writes about his life, his family, his friends, and overall life experiences. The book starts off with a woman pulling Sedaris out of his fifth grade classroom. Sedaris assumes that she must be some kind of agent, he soon finds out that she is a speech therapist, there to fix his problem with the letter ‘s'. Sadly, the therapy does not work out for Sedaris. Instead of dealing with it, he decides to avoid the letter all together. He replaces every word in the dictionary that contains the letter “s” with a word that doesn't.
From there Sedaris launches his reader into the world of his brief time as a musician under his father's will, the art of tanning on beaches, his sister Gretchen and her many talents, right into his time as an artist. Sedaris continues, to switch it up and dabble in different careers. He goes from painting, drawing comic book characters, and clay modeling to being a performance artist, and all this, while under the influence of more than one illegal substance. He delves into the subject of his, six child family, and all their little quirks. With a whole chapter devoted to his brother Paul, or better know as the rooster, and the only one of the Sedaris children born in North Carolina, we see just how comical Sedaris really is. Sedaris had me laughing the entire way through, from his depiction of his parents affections towards their Great Dane, Melina to his career as a writing workshop teacher. Where, instead of teaching writing, he had his students discuss topics like celebrities, fashion, recipes, and their sex lives. When that failed, he brought taped episodes of Soap Operas for his students to watch and then discuss. David Sedaris is the type of teacher who, every slacker, wants to have.
Me Talk Pretty One Day concludes in Paris, where Sedaris is living with his boyfriend Hugh. While in Paris, Sedaris is mistaken for a thief, on a train, by two tourists, who think he is French. Sedaris' father comes to visit him in Paris and tells a story of how he mistakenly ate a part of his hat, thinking that it was a cookie he had saved. Sedaris explains how his father is one of those people who will keep milk past the expiration day, and cut the mold out of a rotting apple and say “good as new.”
All in all Me Talk Pretty One Day, is one of the most entertaining and comical books I have ever read. It is a book that anyone can relate to on some level or other. David Sedaris is like Dumbledore with words as opposed to spells. He's amazing with them! Sedaris is wickedly entertaining. His other books like, Naked and Holidays on Ice, are just as hilarious as Me Talk Pretty One Day. I cannot think of one reason why any comic junkie should not go out to the nearest bookstore and purchase this book right away. It will have you laughing from start to end. Once you read this book, you will be hooked on Sedaris forever. This book will be well worth your time.