By now, David Sedaris is
practically a household name, at least in the blue
states.  He regular appears on
public radio, especially on the wonderful show This American Life.  He has wisely given up writing pieces that
are blatantly fictional, and now writes about himself, his boyfriend or his family
in pieces that probably have a grain of truth. 
His writing is often very funny, because he highlights the absurdity of
life, especially his life and that of his apparently bizarre family.  This collection of his latest stories is
good as his previous work, although his preoccupations have moved on to include
the squabbles with his boyfriend and the reactions of his family to his writing
about them, and one of the best pieces is a powerful meditation on being a gay
man being friendly to a boy in a culture which still tends to equate
homosexuality with pedophilia.  The
funniest moments in Dress Your Family concern his brother Paul.  In his reading of his stories, which is by
far the best way to become acquainted with Sedaris, he gives his brother a
redneck accent and makes him sound ridiculous. 
But then, from the start of his career, one of Sedaris’ strengths has
been his ability to combine startling cruelty about other people with a deep
sympathy for them.  Presumably his
acerbic wit derives from his own self-hate, so we can only hope that he never
develops healthy self-esteem or we will be robbed of one of most distinctive
comic voices of the modern world.

One of the problems for comic
writers is that their perspectives become familiar, and by now most of Sedaris’
readers know what to expect from him. 
This is not necessarily a barrier to commercial success: some comics
seem to be able to go on from year to year with very little change in their
routine.  On the other hand, it does
become harder to remain original and some readers and listeners stop laughing
so hard.  I have to admit that for most
of this audiobook, I didn’t get to a guffaw, and stayed at the level of amused
smile.  Sedaris’ performance is more
powerful in front of a live audience, and the two pieces in this audiobook that
are from live shows here are especially strong.  It’s easier to be carried along by the audience’s laughs than
listening to Sedaris’ more pristine recording studio readings.  It also seems that Sedaris may have written
enough about his family, and it could be time to give them a rest and move onto
other subjects. 

Nevertheless, Dress Your Family
is both moving and very funny.  Sedaris’
performance of his own work emphasizes his slightly warped view of the world,
and this unabridged reading of his book is definitely entertaining.  Recommended.

© 2004 Christian Perring. All rights reserved.

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