David Sedaris is a
frequent guest on the late-night TV show circuits. He has a sister, Amy, who is also a writer
and a comedian. Comedy-wise, I have
preferred Amy over her brother, but David’s latest book, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, has made me take a second look at his
work. David was born in 1956 in Johnson
City, NY. He attended Western Carolina
University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Besides Squirrel, he has written a half dozen or
so books of humor. I found his latest
work to be rather evenly funny, with only a very few duds. The book opens with “The Cat and the Baboon.”
David writes, “The cat had a party to attend, and went to the baboon to get
herself groomed. // ‘What kind of party?’ the baboon asked, and she massaged
the cat’s neck in order to relax her, the way she did with all her
customers. ‘Hope it’s not that harvest
dance down on the riverbank. My sister
went last year and she said she’d never seen such rowdiness. Said a fight brock out between two possums,
and one gal, the wife of one or the other, got pushed into a stump and knocked
out four teeth. And they pretty ones
too, none of this yellowness you find on most things that eat trash.’ // The
cat shuddered. ‘No,’ she said. ‘This is just a little get-together, a few
friends. That type of thing.’ // ‘Will
there be food?’ the baboon asked. // ‘Something,’ the cat sighed. ‘I just don’t know what’ (3-4). Not every one’s cup of tea, but funny
nonetheless.
The title story of
the collection is one of my favorites, “The Squirrel and the Chipmunk.” He writes, ‘The squirrel and the chipmunk had
been dating for two weeks when they ran out of things to talk about. Acorns parasites, the inevitable approach of
autumn: these subjects had been covered within their first hour, and so
breathlessly their faces had flushed.
Twice they held long conversations about dogs, each declaring an
across-the-board hatred of them and speculating on what life might be like were
someone to put a bowl of food in front of them
two times a day. ‘They’re spoiled rotten
is what it comes down to,’ the chipmunk had said, and the squirrel had placed
his paw over hers, saying, ‘That’s it exactly.
Finally, someone who really gets
it’” (16).
And finally, the
crown piece of this selection, “The Mouse and the Snake.” Sedaris writes, “Plenty of animals had pets,
but few were more devoted than the mouse, who owned a baby corn snake—‘A rescue
snake,’ she’d be quick to inform you.”
[ ] ‘I’m sorry to barge in on you this way,’ the
toad said, ‘but a few of my babies has taken off and I’m just about at my wit’s
end.’ She blew her nose into her open
palm, the wiped the snotty hand against her thigh. ‘They’s girls as wells as boys. Nine in all, and wasn’t a one of them old
enough to fend for themselves.’ // […] ‘Well,’ the mouse said, ‘if you were
that concerned for the safety of your children, you probably should have kept
an eye on them’” (43,45).
I will leave the
last one without a spoiler alert, so you can solve the mystery for Mrs.
Toad. This slim volume has plenty of
humor, however a few might be rated “For Mature Audiences,” I think after reading “Squirrel Seeks
Chipmunk” I should reevaluate David Sedaris comedy writings. 4 Stars
Chiron, 7/12/18
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