'When You are Engulfed in Flames' by David Sedaris - Book Review

I started reading the book ‘When You Are Engulfed in Flames’ by David Sedaris because certain essays from it were assigned in my writing class. As a newbie to Sedaris’ writing, this book has totally blown me away with his use of colorful, passionate and hilariously satirical language. The intriguing ways in which Sedaris views the simple events in everyday life and captivates them so beautifully for us, in his creative short essays, kept me turning the pages far beyond the assigned homework task. For me these individual essays each read out as a little stories, detailing a little snippet of Sedaris interesting life, slowly revealing a little bit more about him and his character with each new story. Structured as mini mazes, each story seems confusing- running off in different directions along unusual tangents, constantly leaving you to wonder, “Where on earth is this thing going?” yet somehow always managing to do a full loop around, bringing you back to the real essence of the essay, just in the nick-of-time for the ending. “When you are engulfed in flames” has left no question in my mind that Sedaris walks a tedious line between genuine genius and just down-right offensive. Somehow armed with his humorous view on the world, his entertaining writing style and sly wit all craftily woven into his tapestry of writing, he is able to make you exclaim in shock, over an dover again, “WHAT? did I read that right?” but leaving you no choice other than to laugh along with the outrageousness of his statements. When I first began to read this book I was initially taken back my his upfront, in your face, way of describing controversial topics such as; race, gender, sex and relationships (in particular homosexual relationships). This combined with his intricate character studies that left ‘no rock unturned’ and did not even attempt to try and shield you from the explicit and mostly inappropriate way these characters act. Sedaris’ style of writing is unlike anything I have encountered before and to begin with I was unable to connect with him, believing him to be a ignorant, pompous snob. However unlike the young Sedaris was able to place his horrible childhood nanny, Mrs Peacock, into a box labeled ‘Evil’ and leave her there, I was unable to stick to my first impression of him as I continued to plough through and finish his book. His revealing, slightly mocking anecdotes that had originally led to my dislike, ended up being the very key to my undoing. His ability to present a foreign situation to the reader and then just move on, without providing any form of apology or explanation, gave me no choice but to form a respect for not only his outstanding skill as a writer but also as a person. He seems unafraid to portray himself as self-centered, petty, rude and whiny and does not try and push; why he acted the way he did, his personal believes or even any one particular message that should be taken away from the essay. To me I think this is a really key component of the book, it keeps it fresh, interesting and light, an impressive feat especially when considering the heavy and uncomfortable topics Sedaris breaches. I believe Sedaris is so successful as a writer because through this original style he has you shaking with laughter until your sides hurt over, old, fowl mouthed neighbor Helen one minute, and the next he has you so frustrated with him for not helping her with the white shoe polish, that you want to slam the book down.... but not quite because he has you so caught up, you need to know what is going to happen next. This is a great book that manages to cover an entire lifetime of people watching providing comical encounters dripping with satire that leave you pondering the deeper message Sedaris is trying to tell you. This is a great book that will suck you in and hold you spell bound laughing over the ridiculously absurd occurrences in Sedaris’ life while giving you an opportunity to view a world you may not have considered yourself apart of before.

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