Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day
(2000)
Written by David Sedaris

Joe and I were discussing, it's very unusual for a book to break into the national conscious. You could rattle off a number of examples, from Harry Potter to The Ultimate Weight Solution, but consider how many books are published in a given week (Don't look up the number, just imagine a super-big number), and the odds are low. Sedaris has been in the mass-conscious for the better part of a decade now, and it really started with Naked, but, well, I haven't read that yet, so we'll instead take a look at the follow up, Me Talk Pretty One Day.

It opens simply enough, with an amusing if never dehabilitating essay about Sedaris' struggle to beat a lisp in his younger years. Sedaris has an occasionally biting, very quick sense of humour. He's not afraid to play the obvious jokes, but he'll usually sprinkle in a nearly-undetectable morsel to balance it out. There's great fun to be had even with the concepts, such as the essay advising you to stay away from IQ tests, as they only make you feel stupid retroactively. The first two essays of this were good, and then it dragged a little. It picked up again about a quarter in, possibly a third, and from there on out it is hilarity. A wonderful, if slightly un-even read, you won't regret jumping on the bandwagon, if you haven't already.

Grade: B+