Book Review: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Vick Mickunas - Dayton Daily News

Jun 18, 2008

'Engulfed in Flames' Shows Mellow, Mature Sedaris

When You Are Engulfed in Flames
by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, 323 pages, $26)

Our leading humorists tend to be keen observers of the human condition. David Sedaris has parlayed a lifetime of observation into a brilliant career as an essayist. Early success on public radio vaulted Sedaris into the limelight. Now his books top the best- seller lists. His appearances on the lecture circuit routinely sell out.

Sedaris spends most of his time these days in Europe. His essays appear in "The New Yorker" magazine and on "This American Life." His last book, "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" topped The New York Times best-seller list. His latest, "When You are Engulfed in Flames," went instantly to No. 1 at Amazon.com.

This new collection reveals a guy who has mellowed and matured. Still hilarious when he wants to be, he has broadened his palette here. These essays veer from quirky to downright serious as Sedaris faces his own mortality.

He is lucky and neurotic. "I've been around for nearly half a century, yet I'm afraid of everything and everyone. A child sits beside me on a plane and I make conversation, thinking how stupid I must sound. The downstairs neighbors invite me to a party and, after claiming that I have a previous engagement, I spend the entire evening confined to my bed, afraid to walk around because they might hear my footsteps."

"I do not know how to turn up the heat, send an e-mail, call the answering machine for my messages, or do anything remotely creative with a chicken." Fortunately, he doesn't need to worry about any of that because his writing has given him the freedom to be the charming eccentric.

Readers gain insights into his process. "It sometimes helps to remind myself that not everyone is like me. Not everyone writes things down in a notebook and then transcribes them into a diary. Fewer still will take that diary, clean it up a bit and read it in front of an audience."

In the essay "What I Learned," he is by turns reflective and biting as he looks back and realizes "what we, in our certainty, could not have fathomed -- is that stuff comes up. Weird doors open. People fall into things. Maybe the engineering whiz will wind up brewing cider, not because he has to, but because he finds it challenging. Who knows? Maybe the athlete will bring peace to all nations, or the class moron will go on to become president of the United States -- though that's more likely to happen at Harvard or Yale, schools that will pretty much let in anybody."

This reviewer's personal favorite is "April in Paris." In this piece Sedaris describes how he began catching flies to feed to April, his favorite spider. It epitomizes his wacky, wonderful vision. "Most people would have found it grotesque, but when you're in love nothing is so horrible that it can't be thought of as cute. It slayed me that she had eight eyes."

Hardcore fans will want to check out his unabridged audiobook.

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