Book Review: Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day is a collection of essays (for lack of a better word) by David Sedaris. The book follows Sedaris from his childhood in North Carolina, through various stages in life in various locations until he eventually ends up in France, where the second half of the book takes place.

The book takes its title from a story about learning to speak French from a sadistic teacher in a classroom full of other non-native Parisians, including two Polish Annas, an Argentinean musician and a Korean student whom the teacher eventually pokes in the eye with a pencil. His difficulties with the language led to many problems. Initially he spoke only a few words, all of them nouns, and wandered around saying things like "Bottleneck!" and "Ashtray!" Eventually, he managed to grasp the language better, but still had issues determining the gender of words. This unfortunately resulted in speaking mostly in plurals to avoid figuring out which article to use.

The stories he tells in the book range from discussions of speech issues (not only with French, but also with his speech therapy as a child) to his family's quirks to his absolute failure as a talentless performance artist to dealing with the loss of pets. While the subjects may be varied, each essay kept me involved all the way to the end of the book. All of them were funny (some even had me shaking with laughter), and some allowed a warmth to show through the humor.

The Verdict: 2.5 Stars. Recommended.

Until later...