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| When You Are Engulfed in Flames | 
 enlarge | Author: David Sedaris
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy Used: $12.00
You Save: $13.99 (54%)
New (83) Used (43) Collectible (16) from $12.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  252 reviews
Sales Rank: 119
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0316143472
Dewey Decimal Number: 814.54
EAN: 9780316143479
ASIN: 0316143472
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A little bland June 7, 2008
7 out of 15 found this review helpful
I have read all of David's books and was eagerly awaiting the "new" one.
I'm not sorry I purchased it but I was disappointed that it was bland and
repetitive of past material. I think he is in a comfort zone of middle
age and it is starting to show. He has money, his homes, his partner and
there are only so many ways you can present a childhood memory. The latter half of the book that deals with a move to Japan------the Japanese
language class is exactly like his previous French language class. OK-
we get it..you aren't good at learning languages (like most people). The
Normandy town living is repetitive and who can "drag" out trying to quit
smoking into several chapters? A tad boring. I will be curious and cautious about purchasing the next "new" book by this author.
Essays sure to please - or make you think June 8, 2008
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
If you enjoy listening to David Sedaris on NPR in "This American Life" you will enjoy this book. David has a distinctive voice in his writing that always seems to shine through. My only disapointment here was the absence of the story on the animals in the beauty salon.... I'll have to look in his other books.
Edit: I found this link, it's in the book and is a hoot![...] (More Edits...) They didn't let the link in, so go to YouTube and search for "David sedaris on letterman"
 Really wanted to like this, but.... June 19, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I LOVE everything else Sedaris has written but this book was just bad.
It reads like a very boring diary - not funny and at times fall asleep boring.
I really hope this is just a blip on the radar as his other books have all been fantastic, fun to read and insightful.
 Very lame June 19, 2008
7 out of 25 found this review helpful
Very disappointed in this book, I was swayed by the good reviews I read. I now question their authenticity. I have to admit I only read the first 3 stories, but as other reviewers mentioned I didn't even chuckle. As I was reading I kept wondering when I would get to the good stuff and then started to feel as I had been duped. I'm not bothering reading the rest.
Rambling musings.... June 27, 2008
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
I puchased the audio book narrated by the author, himself.
I had never read or even heard of Mr. Sedaris before.
If I had to capsulize this book in a sentence, I would call it "Rambling musings of an aging, self-loathing 'queen'." (And I don't mean the last word to be pejorative or homophobic in the least.) Some of the shorter vignettes are quite droll and mildly diverting. In the main, though, I found the autobiographical tales to be dull and a bit depressing. The longest of the essays, called "Smoking Section" is practically a daily log. It goes on far too long and failed utterly to hold this listener's interest. Even the two or three essays recorded before live audiences, where they evoked audible laughter, did not make me laugh out loud.
I think I'll go to the library and try to find one of Mr. Sedaris's older books -- the ones the some other reviewers promise to be actully funny. Maybe his writing was more interesting when he was drunk and/or stoned.
I may be being a bit over-critical. Any work that piques my interest enough to look for something by the same author can't be entirely unsuccessful.
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