Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
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Avg: 5.0 (6 ratings)
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- Edition:
- Unabridged (Time Warner)
- Length:
- 6 hours, 18 minutes
- File Size:
- 173 MB (5 files)
- Published:
- June 2004
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Review by Elisa Ludwig, eMusic
The King of Cringe gets darker and deeper.
Nobody does cringing quite like David Sedaris. In his 2004 collection Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, the author relates a fresh dose of humiliating, comically embellished episodes: the time he schemed to get at his great aunt Monie's inheritance, the night he commandeered a game of strip poker at a childhood slumber party and a particularly unsavory episode binging on chocolate when a neighbor threatens to take it (he's allergic).
In some ways the stories here are darker and deeper than Sedaris' previous works, as in "Consider the Stars," when Sedaris gets hit with a rock thrown by a popular kid — the "star" of the essay's title. When Sedaris' father shows up at the kid's house, looking for compensation for the resulting dental bill, the self-hating Sedaris sides with his tormentor. And Sedaris traverses even thornier territory in "Hejira," when he recounts the story of his father throwing him out of the house for being gay. But these sadder and more soul-searching moments only sweeten the humor, which Sedaris, blessed with an enormous talent for the unexpected narrative, impeccable timing and a trademark semi-whine, always delivers.
Nobody does cringing quite like David Sedaris. In his 2004 collection Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, the author relates a fresh dose of humiliating, comically embellished episodes: the time he schemed to get at his great aunt Monie's inheritance, the night he commandeered a game of strip poker at a childhood slumber party and a particularly unsavory episode binging on chocolate when a neighbor threatens to take it (he's allergic).
In some ways the stories here are darker and deeper than Sedaris' previous works, as in "Consider the Stars," when Sedaris gets hit with a rock thrown by a popular kid — the "star" of the essay's title. When Sedaris' father shows up at the kid's house, looking for compensation for the resulting dental bill, the self-hating Sedaris sides with his tormentor. And Sedaris traverses even thornier territory in "Hejira," when he recounts the story of his father throwing him out of the house for being gay. But these sadder and more soul-searching moments only sweeten the humor, which Sedaris, blessed with an enormous talent for the unexpected narrative, impeccable timing and a trademark semi-whine, always delivers.
Quotes from the Critics
"[S]ardonic, funny and wry....Mr. Sedaris [is] in fine funny form." - New York Times
"Sedaris's sense of life's absurdity is on full, fine display." - Kirkus
"...[A] charming, humorous book....These are scenes of family life at its best, written with clarity but also with great affection, through which the character of the author emerges, watchful, self-mocking and full of understanding." - Times Literary Supplement
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