Writer, raconteur and rakish vivant, David Sedaris, possesses a never ending gift for gab. His recent collection of fiction and memoir in "The Best of Me" culled from his proliferate body of work maybe his most blistering, bodacious and introspective yet. These compiled sporadic stories seem at first to be at odds with one another till you find they all share profundities and a sense for the bizarre. Sedaris' self-irony is rampant throughout his reflections and self-perception. In the somewhat grotesque story "Leviathan" Sedaris went in search of an ideal gift and heads to a taxidermist. The taxidermist identifies in seders a kinship for a macabre fascination and shares some body parts stored. At home, Sedaris goes on line to devour more torrid findings. "It's a kind of pornography, and after sitting for 20 minutes, watching one poor animal after another being eviscerated, I erase my internet user history, not wanting to be identified as the person who would find this sort of thing entertaining-yet clearly being that person." There's an ongoing obsession with other people's perception of him and his family. The family may consider themselves declasse' but that's not for anyone outside the family to say. Sedaris' piquant curiosity and perpetual need to be perceived as worthy are delightfully funny and incredibly relatable. In "Standing By" Sedaris' observations on the trials and tribulations of traveling amongst the masses speaks to acting like asses in transit. "We're forever blaming the airline industry for turning us into monsters: it's the fault of the ticket agents, the baggage handlers, the slowpokes at the newsstands...But what if this is who we truly are, and the airport's just a forum that allows us to be our real selves, not just hateful but gloriously so? Sedaris has hubris but also a lot of humor, candor and self-deprecation that make his work a cause for celebration. This collection was picked by the author himself. I can't but feel the stories are among his most heart-wrenching and disturbing. He writes about his mother's alcoholism which the family contended and defended. He writes of the fallout from their youngest sister's suicide. Despite the family's problems and squabbles, there's an enduring love that is enviable. In the story "Now We Are Five" he reflects on the painful loss of his sister and the family's dynamic as a whole. "Though I've often lost faith in myself, I've never lost faith in my family, in my certainty that we are fundamentally better than everyone else. It's an archaic belief, one I haven't seriously reconsidered since my late teens, but still I hold it. Ours is the only club I'd ever wanted to be a member." The tender humor, keen writing style and perpetually surprising material, "The Best of Me" will be a favorite read for fans and new ones alike.
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