Hip radio comedy fans and theater folks who belong to the cult of Obie-winning playwright/performer David Sedaris must kill to get this book. These would be fans of the scaldingly snide Sedaris's hilariously described personal misadventures like The Santaland Diaries (a monologue about his work as an elf to a department store Santa) seen off-Broadway in 1997. In a series of similarly textured essays, Sedaris takes us along on his catastrophic detours through a nudist colony, a fruit-packing plant, his own childhood, and a dozen more of the world's little purgatories.
Hip radio comedy fans and theater folks who belong to the cult of Obie-winning playwright/performer David Sedaris must kill to get this book. These would be fans of the scaldingly snide Sedaris's hilariously described personal misadventures like The Santaland Diaries (a monologue about his work as an elf to a department store Santa) seen off-Broadway in 1997. In a series of similarly textured essays, Sedaris takes us along on his catastrophic detours through a nudist colony, a fruit-packing plant, his own childhood, and a dozen more of the world's little purgatories.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Add This to the List of "Things to Read Before I Die":
Anyone who has read David Sedaris' work or listened to him on NPR knows he has a style all his own. The book Naked brings the reader along on a journey through short essays that describe, in detail, aspects of his life that the common man may never experience. The final essay, which shares the title of the book, describes his experience at a nudist colony. He embraces the awkwardness of the situation and bravely details his insecurities. A tool he skillfully uses through his entire collection of essays is... more info
I guess the Yanks are quite different:
The short stories were nicely written, drawing on the presumed real life experiences of the author. As an author of humour, I found the style too self-consciously witty and trying to hard to be hilarious. In short, I found it tedious and barely raised a smile, let alone a chuckle and certainly not a belly laugh through the whole production. I put this down to the cultural differences between USA and Australia. It appears that readers in the USA have to be belted over the head and told when to laugh before... more info
Painful to read, mostly plotless, but entertaining:
The seventeen short stories in this book are entertaining and make for a fun read, but they mostly revolve around the humiliation and embarassment of the author. On more than one occasion the author ends up hiding in a ditch while others are searching to beat him up. It pains me to think that these tales actually occurred. Most of these stories do not have plots nor any closure, since they're simply the retelling of past events, and as a result I was bored with many of them. My favourite, by far, was... more info
Not so naked after all.:
Naked is a light-hearted collection of wit and satire, a collection of short lyrical stories from his life. Nearly every reader will enjoy the wit and humor. But thoughtful readers can also appreciate how Sedaris succeeds in easing us closer to difficult material, such as the death of his mother and living with OCD. Naked, however, is not completely naked. The title misleads. Sedaris, in fact, keeps readers at a distance that I ultimately found disappointing.
