I enjoy David Sedaris's work, so I had high expectations for this new book. But, sadly, I was disappointed. The stories were mildly interesting, but nothing caught my imagination.
Perhaps I was misled by my wild enthusiasm for Anne Sexton's Transformations, a book of fairy tales retold with a twist for a modern audience. I expected Sedaris to pull off a similar trick. But I don't feel he succeeded. He created new stories so there was no resonance in the reader coming from playing off something new against a known tale. With these stories he did create a mildly entertaining atmosphere by using familiar animals but giving them gritty modern speech. For me, this effect wasn't enough. I needed stories with more "bite".
The stories are quirky. They usually end with a "poetic justice" that sweeps the uppity animal off the stage of life: the motherless bear who bores people with stories of her suffering in order to extort free food but who ends up forced to be a toothless dancing bear, the mouse who lovingly raises a snake only to have the snake eat her, etc.
This book ended up being a light entertainment to while away an afternoon, but nothing will stick with me. The stories are readable, but don't expect anything grand from them. This is too bad because when Sedaris writes about his own life, he creates very memorable and searing stories. His personal tales create wistful funny stories that provide glimpses into the human condition.
No comments:
Post a Comment