There is so much truth about the fact that each dysfunctional, sad, and broken family is destroying each others lives in a unique way and Sedaris´ humor is nourished with the darkness and pain hidden behind the broken veneers of many seemingly happy families. I think I may have broken free of the endless Sedaris loop which I have had playing in my car, but I’m sure I’ll return to it eventually. If for no other reason than to hear about . . . . .

I will tell you, audio is the ONLY way to go when it comes to stories about the youngest Sedaris – be it David or Amy’s impersonation, you’ll be hard-pressed not to look like a hysterical maniac if driving while listening. Right, but is it wooden or, you know . . . I guess what I'm asking is what style trailer do you have?" I am often thinking that people have the completely wrong idea that easygoing humorous texts aren´t hard to write and, already second question in this review, I would be interested to know how many edits Sedaris needs until his small diamonds sprinkle like glass cutting and torturing anyone of his protagonists. My room was situated right off the foyer, and if the Tomkeys had looked in that direction, they could have seen my bed and the brown paper bag marked MY CANDY. KEEP OUT. I didn't want them to know how much I had, and so I went into my room and shut the door behind me. Then I closed the curtains and emptied my bag onto the bed, searching for whatever was the crummiest. All my life chocolate has made me ill. I don't know if I'm allergic or what, but even the smallest amount leaves me with a blinding headache. Eventually, I learned to stay away from it, but as a child I refused to be left out. The brownies were eaten, and when the pounding began I would blame the grape juice or my mother's cigarette smoke or the tightness of my glasses—anything but the chocolate. My candy bars were poison but they were brand-name, and so I put them in pile no. 1, which definitely would not go to the Tomkeys.I wasn’t going to buy Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim in print, but I saw the audio version, read by Sedaris himself, on sale at CompUSA when they were going out of business and selling their entire inventory for cheap. I couldn’t resist even though I much prefer to read books rather than to listen to them. I did nothing with it for more than a year until I decided I should listen to it while going for walks around my neighborhood.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is another hilarious winner from David Sedaris. This is my second audiobook (and book) by him and I loved it even more than the first one I listened to { Calypso}. The first seven essays of this collection (there are twenty-two in all) are set during Sedaris's childhood, mostly in North Carolina. They introduce the members of his family, a family in which eccentricity and a sort of pugnacious spirit join with cynicism to explain why the family always seems out of step with others in the neighborhood, even when the others are as singular as the Sedarises. “Us and Them,” the first essay in the collection, contrasts the Sedaris clan with their neighbors the Tomkeys, a family on whom the young David spies in an effort to understand their odd behaviors. The Tomkeys have no television, and how they spend their time has become a subject for conversation among the television-addicted Sedaris family. This is an essay about the life of David's younger brother, detailing David's experience of the brother's birth, childhood, and eventual marriage. I'm currently doing a rereading project to see what holds up and what doesn't and so far, David Sedaris is hitting it out of the park. If you enjoy humorous collections of autobiographical essays, I think you'll really enjoy Sedaris's writings. He's not very PC and sometimes he says things that are actually pretty offensive, but it helps that he doesn't spare himself when unleashing his cruel wit. He lets us see him at his best-- and also, at his worst.The first handful of essays in the collection deal with Sedaris’s early childhood on the East Coast. He characterizes his parents and siblings as people who manage to stand out in any community, no matter how liberal or eccentric. In the first essay, “Us and Them,” Sedaris spies on a neighboring family, the Tomkeys, to try to understand how they manage without television. He observes with amazement that they seem to have learned how to entertain themselves with conversation. Ironically, the young Sedaris concludes that the family is pathetic for failing to adopt a technology that would help them think beyond the contingencies of their own lives. In many ways 2020 probably hasn't turned out quite as David Sedaris imagined it in the early 2000s, his father still being alive--going on 96 and living an assisted living home last I heard--being the most positive aspect. While searching for a new apartment, David reflects on his knowledge and experience of Anne Frank's house. Sedaris discusses living situations and feeling at home.

Maybe it is that old people think too much because they have a lot in their brains from all the years of accumulating knowledge. Only I am not lying in bed going over and over the things that I have learned, instead, I think about how to go to sleep when I am not tired, or how to go to sleep when I am overtired.Out of everything he's produced (I've read all of his major work and only missed a few short pieces) this is my favorite David Sedaris book. Yet, I don't recommend it... When Sedaris visits his sister Tiffany's house, things get confrontational. He tells about their private sibling history.

Halloween fell on a Saturday that year, and by the time my mother took us to the store, all the good costumes were gone. My sisters dressed as witches and I went as a hobo. I'd looked forward to going in disguise to the Tomkeys' door, but they were off at the lake, and their house was dark. Before leaving, they had left a coffee can full of gumdrops on the front porch, alongside a sign reading DON'T BE GREEDY. In terms of Halloween candy, individual gumdrops were just about as low as you could get. This was evidenced by the large number of them floating in an adjacent dog bowl. It was disgusting to think that this was what a gumdrop might look like in your stomach, and it was insulting to be told not to take too much of something you didn't really want in the first place. "Who do these Tomkeys think they are?" my sister Lisa said. David reflects on his rich aunt and the ways that her wealth helped the family during various times in life. He talks about money. When his brother has a baby, Sedaris stops to reflect on the new addition to the family, especially commenting on the baby's potential and innocence. David visits his sister Lisa, and writes about what it's like to be a writer, especially when he feels compelled to write about his private life (which is part of his style). This drives a wedge between him and certain people in his family. Known for his self-deprecating wit and the harmlessly eccentric antics of his family, Sedaris ( Me Talk Pretty One Day, 2000, etc.) can also pinch until it hurts in this collection of autobiographical vignettes.

Sedaris is a master at autobiographical essays. These short form pieces about his life read like carnival folklore, so seemingly unreal at times it feels surreal.