I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with this book, which is what seems to me to be a random collection of essays by Sedaris. I've previously read two of his books (Me Talk Pretty Some Day and Holidays on Ice), both of which I found to be filled with a unique and somewhat charming brarnd of self-deprecating sarcastic humor and pathos. But many of the essays in Engulfed left me scratching my head wondering if I was missing something.
There were moments though. Moments of loss of bladder control laughter such as when Sedaris wrote about searching in the grass and gravel for his cranky neighbor's lower dentures, which had fallen to the ground when she leaned out the window to yell at the garbage man. Moments of pathos when he connected emotionally with that same cranky neighbor - and with another neighbor in France that the rest of the neighborhood shunned. Moments of "I can't believe he wrote about that" when he wrote in some detail about the Stadium Pal, which is one of those handy tools that allows men the freedom from finding a restroom when neceesary. And moments of "I can't believe he DID that" when he bought an actual human skeleton as a present for his partner - which promptly got hung from the ceiling in their bedroom (ewwwwwww!).
I very much appreciated the last essay, too, which is the only one in the book about Japan. Sedaris goes to Japan because he is determined to quit smoking and was advised to change his environment and shake up his routine. So he and his partner moved to Japan for three months (must be nice!). I chuckled at the reason that he finally decided to quit smoking after several decades (he could no longer find a decent hotel room in which he was allowed to smoke). I giggled at his confusion over the Japanese language, when he pretty much flunked an introductory course in the language. This one long essay provided many many more smiles for me.
I recommend reading this book - if only for those moments and for the last essay in the book.
There were moments though. Moments of loss of bladder control laughter such as when Sedaris wrote about searching in the grass and gravel for his cranky neighbor's lower dentures, which had fallen to the ground when she leaned out the window to yell at the garbage man. Moments of pathos when he connected emotionally with that same cranky neighbor - and with another neighbor in France that the rest of the neighborhood shunned. Moments of "I can't believe he wrote about that" when he wrote in some detail about the Stadium Pal, which is one of those handy tools that allows men the freedom from finding a restroom when neceesary. And moments of "I can't believe he DID that" when he bought an actual human skeleton as a present for his partner - which promptly got hung from the ceiling in their bedroom (ewwwwwww!).
I very much appreciated the last essay, too, which is the only one in the book about Japan. Sedaris goes to Japan because he is determined to quit smoking and was advised to change his environment and shake up his routine. So he and his partner moved to Japan for three months (must be nice!). I chuckled at the reason that he finally decided to quit smoking after several decades (he could no longer find a decent hotel room in which he was allowed to smoke). I giggled at his confusion over the Japanese language, when he pretty much flunked an introductory course in the language. This one long essay provided many many more smiles for me.
I recommend reading this book - if only for those moments and for the last essay in the book.
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