squirrel seeks chipmunk

David Sedaris
Little, Brown & Company (2010)
ISBN 9780316038393
Reviewed by Joseph Yurt for Reader Views (11/10)

 

Humorist and essayist David Sedaris was in Louisville recently reading from his collection and signing books at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. Below was his response to a question posed by Courier-Journal reporter Matt Frassica about his new book, “squirrel seeks chipmunk” -

“This book is very different from your personal essays. How did you decide to do a book of animal fables?”

“Well, I was wondering how I might alienate as many people as possible.”

This is typical Sedaris wit with regard to a very atypical Sedaris book. Yet, like his personal essays, these modern animal fables are just as funny and poignant. But, like all fables, they have many layers - some disturbing and weird - that mask the frailty and futility of life. The personification of animals has been a popular literary device for centuries because it presents our condition, with all of our flaws, foibles and dysfunction in a way that is more palatable than addressing these inconvenient truths head on.

As the author might have said himself while working on this book, I’m no blanking LaFontaine, but the emotions elicited by Sedaris’ fables certainly run the gamut one expects from this genre, albeit a bit out of kilter. “The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck” was a belly laugher that was followed immediately by “The Motherless Bear,” an ironic, sad, and dark tale. The last story, “The Grieving Owl,” was a delightful choice for the closer. If you have children who can read, make note that although the fables are illustrated by Ian Falconer, author and illustrator of the bestselling “Olivia” series of children’s books, the book is definitely not for children.

With this latest volume, “squirrel seeks chipmunk,” Sedaris takes us to the far side of the fable genre without missing one witty, twisted beat. How Sedaris is that?!

Make comment on weblog

FTC Disclosure