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David Sedaris

When You Are Engulfed in Flames Paperback – June 2, 2009

by David Sedaris (Author)

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"David Sedaris's ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art," (The Christian Science Monitor) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book.
Trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, David considers using the water in a vase of flowers and his chain of associations takes him from the French countryside to a hilariously uncomfortable memory of buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina. In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life-having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds-to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from "a writer worth treasuring" (Seattle Times).

Praise for When You Are Engulfed in Flames:

"Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris...defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life." --Kirkus Reviews

This latest collection proves that not only does Sedaris still have it, but he's also getting better....Sedaris's best stuff will still--after all this time--move, surprise, and entertain." --Booklist

Table of Contents:

It's Catching
Keeping Up
The Understudy
This Old House
Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie?
Road Trips
What I Learned
That's Amore
The Monster Mash
In the Waiting Room
Solutions to Saturday's Puzzle
Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool
Memento Mori
All the Beauty You Will Ever Need
Town and Country
Aerial
The Man in the Hut
Of Mice and Men
April in Paris
Crybaby
Old Faithful
The Smoking Section

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Back Bay Books
Publication date

June 2, 2009
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0316154687
ISBN-13

978-0316154680
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's not just that Sedaris's crisp prose is humorous. What makes his work a consistent joy to read is his deliciously skewed vision of the world, and his deadpan delivery."―Christopher Muther, Boston Globe

"The Sedaris genius is to be incredibly particular, not to mention peculiar, and yet take fantastic and rapid leaps to the universal. . . . He'll be telling some weird story, and all of a sudden, just at the end, it turns out not only to be about him, but also about you. He's a master at evoking fellow feeling."―Nancy Dalva, New York Observer

"David Sedaris is horribly observant. He sees things as they are.... He'll be telling some weird story, and all of a sudden, just at the end, it turns out not only to be about him, but also about you."―Nancy Dalva, New York Observer

"What makes Sedaris's work transcendent is its humanity: He adores some truly awful people, yet he invests them with dignity and even grace.... He's the best there is."―Judith Newman, People

"The preeminent humorist of his generation...His reluctant charm and talent for observing every inch of the human condition remain intact." ―Whitney Pastorek, Entertainment Weekly

"Sedaris is certainly worthy of hero worship-he so breezily translates the landscape through his bent, prismatic view that he makes you forget what a skillful narrator he is."―Mark Washburn, Charlotte Observer

About the Author

David Sedaris is the author of the books Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Holidays on Ice, Naked, and Barrel Fever. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and Public Radio International's "This American Life."

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (June 2, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316154687
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316154680
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches

Customer Reviews:
1,534 ratings

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David Sedaris

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David Sedaris lives in Paris. Raised in North Carolina, he has worked as a housecleaner and most famously, as a part-time elf for Macy's. Several of his plays have been produced, and he is a regular contributor to ESQUIRE and Public Radio International's 'This American Life'.

Customer reviews

5 star		71%
4 star		18%
3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Michelvis

Sedaris Strikes Again

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 13, 2011

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I don't share much of a background with David Sedaris, I'm not from a "middle class" family, I have no college education (IVY LEAGUE even, c'mon), no one in my family has had anything to do with the arts, I'm an only freakin' child, I'm born bred and have always lived in the North West, I don't even have a passport let alone the means to live in any country I please... The list could continue and for some readers things like this make Sedaris' writing out of reach, even insulting.

The thing is though we seem to have absolutely nothing in common we do have one thing, tiny as it may be, we the commanality of being human and living during this particular era. That is what connects me to him and his writing, his humble humanity. He knows he isn't a beauty queen, he consistently blunders through life making mistakes, playing the fool even and yet he has this amazing ability to WRITE about it, to share it with thw world and make fun of himself OUT LOUD to millions of readers. I love him for that, I love him for the fact academia hasn't sapped the humanity out of him and made him feel blunder proof or at least made him a blunder snob, hiding behind eight letter words that no one knows the true meaning of, ducking behind an Ivy league education.

I picked this particular book up because my best friend is in the hospital, has been, will be, for a while. I have learned that he CANNOT handle being alone so I sit there, hour upon hour and try to read him to sleep. Sedaris' short stories and essays are perfect hospital food right? The problem is reading them aloud for the first time is hard because he makes laugh out loud (and not many do)so in the quiet hospital corridors one room is bellowing with laughter, from me, from my sick friend who really shouldn't be laughing right now, it hurts him, but he won't let me stop. A nurse cruises in inevitably when I am reading something that out of context seems dirty, it becomes even funnier.

My context of reading this particular Sedaris book aside it is really a very funny, charming piece of literature that connects with the reader on many levels. The parts that others seem to be offended or put off by, I say read them with zeal, be happy that someone out there is making enough money off being a boob, off proudly being a boob to travel to Japan and France and across the U.S. and is taking the time (for money maybe but whatever) to share his experiences as a pretty much average Joe with us. Be happy to read from someone who relishes in the oddities, who isn't always tring to make you sympathetic and tearful. It really is a rare quality. You will find that most contemporary memoir(ish) literature relies on human empathy and sad, sad, sad, SAD parts of life. It's nice to take a break and read from someone who can tell you abot his mother dying of lung cancer in one paragraph and have you giggling in the next.Comedy or Tragedy, life is what you make of it. Trust me I have my own fair share of the comedically tragic, but when my friends can laugh at the crazy things I say and do when I am hallucinating because Lupus is attacking my brain I am way better than when they are crying over it.

David Sedaris has the ability to make you laugh over things that put another way might make you cry. AND he has inspired me to REALLY quit smoking, I am done with cigarettes.

84 people found this helpful

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R. Friesel Jr.

"Naked" meets "Me Talk Pretty One Day"?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 9, 2008

Verified Purchase

When You Are Engulfed In Flames is a solid four-stars and damn near close to five; we'll settle for 4.5. But then again, I'm a serious Sedaris fiend.

By now, you (dear reader) have already made up your mind about David Sedaris and have either worked your way through this collection or else long ago discarded him, irrelevant as an expended filter tip.

So if you find yourself in the former category then by all means, read on.

When You Are Engulfed In Flames makes Sedaris' previous collection, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, seem like a disaster, a complete train wreck. Which is unfair because I think that Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is a strong collection with some exemplary essays. And also because I get the feeling that it was a more personal werk for him, that he's a bit more exposed and vulnerable in those essays.

Thematically, When You Are Engulfed In Flames is a reprise of Me Talk Pretty One Day -- highly focused on language and style, on the humanity of humiliation and (to echo some other reviewers) those dark places where our sentimentality tends to get the best of us. But it's a counterpoint melody to Me Talk Pretty One Day -- arrogant where the other was modest, chagrined where the other took delight.

Structurally, this collection is an echo of Naked, though perhaps a bit more mature. As I wrote of DFW's Consider the Lobster, the essays are arranged well, jokes from earlier essays recurring, serving to inform your later tittering. That said, the individual essays seem to follow a rhythm that is new for Sedaris. If this were an elementary school music class, I would say that his earlier essays have a rhyme scheme that goes ABAB, these are turned more toward ABCA.

It seems a cop-out to recommend this collection. Those that are already turned on to Sedaris are unlikely to be disappointed; those that didn't much care for him in the first place won't find anything to change their opinions. Anyone with previous exposure is likely to see symptoms of his previous werks; I suppose the difference is whether you carry the antibodies?

10 people found this helpful

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Westley

Naked barrels engulfed in pretty denim

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 11, 2008

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"When You Are Engulfed in Flames" is David Sedaris' fifth full-length collection of humorous essays. I've long been a fan of his writing, which for the uninitiated tends to focus on the more skewed aspects of his family and life. His collections usually include a variety of stories from various epochs of his life - as a child and teenager with his hilarious family, in his twenties (when he did drugs and had a variety of bizarre jobs), and with his boyfriend, Hugh, in Europe.

Most of my favorite stories involve his family, especially stories from his youth. He adds one such gem here - "The Understudy," which features one of the worst babysitters in history, the corpulent and itchy, Mrs. Peacock. This story has more laugh-out-loud moments than anything I've read since....well since Sedaris' last book. I tend to enjoy less his essays about his years when he was an active drug user, although "All the Beauty You Will Ever Need" is one of the better of this genre.

Alas, this collection is a bit thin on stories about his family; perhaps as he gets older he will focus more on recent events filtered through his observational humor style; "Crybaby" is a good example from this collection. The longest section of the book details his attempt to stop smoking in Tokyo, which is not the strongest ending to this otherwise solid collection. Overall, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" is average work for Sedaris; not as good "Naked" but still likely to keep his fans entertained and better than most humor essayists.

6 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

SpiderPig

I'm glad to know what to do when engulfed in flames

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 26, 2013

Verified Purchase

I love the language plays, the innocently amusing things that happen when literal translations are made are particularly funny, and this book has a lot of this kind of humour.

David Sedaris fans don't need to be told what a pleasure he is to read. If you haven't read him, and are looking for a little light reading for the summer, any of his books will do the trick. I especially recommend this one though.

My only complaint about Mr Sedaris is that he doesn't write more books, faster. Also, if you're listening David, I'd rather like them to be longer. See what you can do about that will you?

5 people found this helpful

Pam Vick

Back on top form, whew!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 10, 2014

Verified Purchase

Those of you who have read my previous reviews will know that I was really disappointed with the last book of his that I read, finding it self-satisfied and somewhat pretentious. This one though was back to his delicious best. I should note that although I am working my way through all his books, I am doing so randomly, in no particular order. One of the things I really like about his writing is that it's not chronological so you can do that.

One person found this helpful

Zebrasoma

Read this and you'll never take up smoking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 6, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a terrific collection of David Sedaris essays and articles on a variety of topics, from spiders to neighbours, but with the latter part of the book devoted to his attempts to give up smoking, and his motivations for doing so, and his extreme approach of moving to Tokyo in order to do so. Most of these pieces are classic Sedaris, eccentric, funny and sometimes moving. For me, this is one of the best collections of his work.

One person found this helpful

Mr Ed

Genial author

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

Loving Mr Sedaris books. Funny and wry and very involving. A great writer

Annie123

I am nearly sixty and have just discovered David Sedaris. Talk about missing out!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

Love this guys humour. I look forward to reading his book, so glad their are lots more of them. Keep alive David and keep writing. Love you

One person found this helpful

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