Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Sedaris, David

ISBN 10: 1586215019 ISBN 13: 9781586215019

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2004

Synopsis

Unusual book

About this title

Review:

Most of us would be lucky to be able to express ourselves in writing half as well as David Sedaris does in Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. But on top of his skills with the written word, the author also has substantial gifts as a performer, and he proves this on the audio version of the book. In his essay The Change in Me, Sedaris remembers that his mother was good at imitating people, and it's clear that he takes after her. Whether he's doing impressions of high-voiced brother Paul, or recalling times when he and his sisters tried to win good karma by speaking and acting like well-behaved, fairytale children, Sedaris's nuanced performance hits the right note in both the opening, comedic stories, and the more poignant essays that tend to come later in the reading.

Sedaris's career is closely linked with two things: audio (he was discovered by NPR's Ira Glass), and the personal lives of himself and his family. In Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, he describes fights with his boyfriend, and of his sister-in-law's difficult pregnancy. When sister Lisa complains about the stories involving the family, he writes about that, too. Sedaris's latest provides more evidence that he is a great humorist, memoirist and raconteur, and readers are lucky to have the opportunity to know him so well. Perhaps they are luckier still not to know him personally. --Leah Weathersby, Amazon.com

Review:

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. (TLS)

This is a man who could capture your heart and lift your spirits while reading out the ingredients of a rice cake. OBSERVER ('Mr Sedaris's humour is dry, witty and consistently successful.')

ECONOMIST ('Sedaris is like an updated Thurber: domestic, laconic, slightly warped but never bitter, and extremely funny.')

CULTURE, SUNDAY TIMES ('His best, funniest, most satisfying book.')

About this edition

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1586215019
• ISBN 13: 9781586215019
• Binding: Audio Cassette