Naked

Published by Little, Brown (Hachette UK) Audio

Narrated by Amy Sedaris

Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked, Sedaris turns the current mania for the memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique worldview, a sensibility at once take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply charitable. A tart-tongued mother does dead-on imitations of her young son's nervous tics, to the great amusement of his teachers; a stint of Kerouackian wandering is undertaken (of course!) with a quadriplegic companion. Through it all is Sedaris's unmistakable voice, without a doubt one of the freshest in American writing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little, Brown (Hachette UK) Audio
• Release date: Aug 5, 2004
• ISBN: 9781405501675

Reviews for Naked

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Re-read October 2013. Just as funny as the first time. I felt like his essays were more developed than some others, perhaps the later volumes. Many are long with more narrative than humor, which works really well.

First read November 2011. My first introduction to David Sedaris' full-length work was humorous without compromising the literary merit of his writing style. The collection of essays makes me eager to pick up more by Sedaris.

[sandydog1_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Meh. More family abuse, homosexual abuse, etc. Maybe it's a sequence thing, regardless of the publish date the other titles were more humorous. Maybe I'm just done with Sedaris.

[mairangiwoman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very funny

[ohernaes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very funny.

[julierh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

wonderful!

[lesliehurd · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I've read and loved other books by Sedaris. This one just didn't do it for me. There were moments of humor, but I confess that most of it was just strange, and somewhat pitiful. While the Sedaris presented in other books seems very much to be someone I'd like to know, or at least have dinner with, this man is someone I would just look at with incomprehension. It took me over a month to get through this one; I even lost it for awhile.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to love this book, but I just thought that it was okay. I enjoyed it, but it's not something that I am going to rave about. I realize that I am in the minority here, and I will read another of his books, but I wasn't compelled to read it. Snippets of his Sedaris' life in essay form.

[dele2451 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just the right mix of brazen, touching, ascerbic, scary, and observant to be hilarious. Sedarius is living proof that you can write an amazing book about ANYTHING if you are just brave and talented enough--that is, IF you survive the roadtrip. I'd stay away from this book if you have a child hitchhiking across country or you're a homophobe, but other than those niches, I'd recommend it to any adult looking for a good belly laugh.

[periodista_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

These essays look back at his earlier life: his family, hitchhiking, early jobs, his disabled female friend, Chicago. Probably not very amusing when the events took place. But then there's his stay at a nudist camp.

[jodes101 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love David Sedaris. Whenever I feel like really indulging myself I will escape to a locked room and spend a couple of hours reading David Sedaris. This man is a genius, he can tell you things about his life and his family that should shock and repulse you but the way he delivers the story just makes you want to be a part of it all. This particular book speaks about his Mother as do all of his books - what a woman! She is deep and shallow, realistic and a bullshit artist, sophisticated and crude. He also tells tales of his hitchhiking adventures that just make you happy that you own a car and can drive while wishing you had the balls to do some of the things he has done, but it is told with such self deprecating humour - none of the "look at me, look at me" crap that a lot of biographical works seem to be.

[nmhale_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've been interested in sampling Sedaris's work for some time now, but since nonfiction is not my typical genre of reading, he has remained lurking in the background. Fortunately, my friends decided to pick this collection of essays for our book club, and I finally read an author that has received much positive buzz in the reading world. The book is a collection of autobiographical essays, and they are arranged in relative chronological order, starting when he is a young boy and moving forward through high school, college, and adulthood. Each essay has a focus, such as David's OCD ticks and how he handled them, or the Christmas when his sister took him to help her coworker, Dinah, who was a whore not altogether trying to put her life to rights. One essay examined his struggle to accept his own homosexuality, built around a summer trip he and his sister took to Greece. Another featured his grandmother, an austere Greek immigrant who hated and was hated by his mother, was misunderstood by her grandchildren, and lived out a lonely old age shuffled between his house and various nursing homes. The penultimate essay is about his mother's death, and feels raw. I found it to be the most powerful essay in the collection. The final piece is the namesake for the book, "Naked", and it explores the time Sedaris spent a week in a nudist colony, making the title of the book both literal and figurative.As the descriptions indicate, the essays frequently deal with heavy or tragic issues, but the author relies on a wry voice to deliver humor in each case. Also, many of the characters Sedaris encounters are so quirky and odd, and the situations equally bizarre, that the comedy is inherent in the story. Sometimes, we just have to laugh at the odd and possibly cruel vagaries of our world, and Sedaris can really make his readers laugh. Lest you think that he is too flippant about everything, the author includes commentary that shows these events affected him deeply, occasional self-criticism, and an understanding of himself and an obvious desire to be honest with his own flaws. The majority of his essays deal directly with himself or his family; the humor and intended laughter is therapeutic.I enjoyed reading this book. Sedaris has a smooth prose style that is easy to read and very personal. I felt as if we were having a conversation at times. The descriptions are evocative and powerful, albeit frequently comic. Yet, this is not just a collection of essays intended to make a person laugh. It's not a joke book. As I mentioned above, the subject matter is serious, and the writing feels cathartic. Sedaris opens up the deeper meaning in his odd encounters, and there are multiple levels of interpretation for each essay. For instance, being naked is an actual occurrence in the final piece of the book, but ideas of vulnerability and how we try to cover ourselves recur throughout every essay. Another common theme is the marginalized person, who we encounter in a large array of different misfortunes, from the mentally insane to the handicapped to the hitch hiker. Sedaris frequently relates to these folk who are cut off from mainstream society, and reacts with alternate empathy and revulsion to their plight. His interactions with them force the reader to reevaluate how she responds to others that don't conform to societal expectations. These are but a couple illustrations of the deeper meaning Sedaris delivers, in a book that doesn't let a relish towards entertainment detract from weightier meditations. Sedaris's humor is his avenue to pursuing truth about life and humanity and death.

[abbylibrarian_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was my first venture with Sedaris and I thought it was fine. He's certainly led an interesting life and he writes about it in an engaging way. I didn't find it laugh-out-loud funny, but it was entertaining enough.

[shelovesmaisie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not my very favorite collection but still entertaining with Sedaris's remarkably dark, wry, endearing humor.

[joeypod · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was my first time reading something by David Sedaris. It was an easy and quick read. I definitely found the stories humorous with even a few chuckle out loud moments. I like his dry sarcastic humor. Despite the laughs I found myself feeling sorry for the guy at times. I thought I know this is supposed to be funny but its really depressing. However, I would definitely read more by this author.

[magadri-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. It was very funny. It wasn't as good to me as Me Talk Pretty One Day, but I still did not have a hard time getting into it.

[marse_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A review printed on the back cover of David Sedaris' collection "Naked" calls it 'Side-splitting'. I 'd sooner call it 'Heart-breaking'. The stories do have their humor, sometimes quite a bit of it, and overall the book probably is much funnier when read aloud by the author, but underneath it all one finds a strong current of heartache, loneliness and pain. "Naked" is Sedaris' biography from childhood to adulthood. His gift is that he can see the humor in some truly awful situations: his childhood tics, nervousness,fears, road trips, horrible jobs he takes on and the twisted people he encounters, coming to grips with his sexuality, the death of mother--one wonders, even as Sedaris' admits in one essay his utter lack of courage, how he survives with such a sense of humor.

[praj05_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Sedaris annoyed me yet again. I am skeptical at how this book was one of the bestsellers. Pompous declaration of it being uproarious and comical baffled me as I was looking for an anecdote to bring a chuckle or at least a half-witted smile on my face. Alas! All it gifted me was utter annoyance and an unbearable urge for Valium.

[theballisflat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'd like to say I was amused for a time reading this "memoir", but for the most part I wasn't. I laughed at times, especially early on in the early childhood chapters, but for the most part this is an overly controlled grotesque. A sad little novel about a sad little man trying too hard to liven up the past.

[bluepigeon-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first David Sedaris book that I have read. I had heard he is witty and funny, and Naked proved to be a laugh-out-loud kind of read. There is a loose chronology to the essays which start from his childhood, moving to North Carolina, his grandma, and family life, his problems in school, and eventually his crazy adventures of hitchhiking across the country in his college years. The musing about immigrants, gays, siblings, fathers, friends, disabled people, blacks and whites, and, of course, nudists, are all presented from the Sedaris lens, where his personality and his antics are what makes everything seem rather funny. I very rarely laugh out loud when I am reading, but this was one of the few books that was able to do that. Perhaps the highlight of the whole book, for me, was his mother. Certainly a very colorful character, his mother seems to have to shaped the family and created the humor that seems to run in their blood out of thin air, no matter what the situation.
Will I read another Sedaris book of essays? I sure will. Will I ever go to a nudist trailer camp? Certainly not!

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had high expectations for this book after reading Me Talk Pretty One Day, and I have to admit, I was somewhat disappointed. While Sedaris' writing is still sharp, sarcastic, and biting (just the kind of humor I like), the topics addressed in these stories seemed to be darker and, therefore, less laugh-out-loud funny. I still enjoyed it, but would recommend Me Talk Pretty One Day over this title.

[glitterlife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Its a great collection of short stories. I wont be suprised if most of the stories are actuall events on the authors life. Its a great read and I laughed so much out load with some stories....very very good read.

[heikid · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What is it about: A collection of short storiescentered around a fictional family of David's,creating a maddening / humorous /half-believable memoir, constantly stretchingthe reader's imagination, while subtly bringing upquestions about the true nature of humanity.What went through my mind:- Is this author crazy?This question lingered in my mind the whole time.- This book would have worked just fineeven with half its length.- I have not read another book quite like this,i'd have to admit.- If he's not crazy, he must be veryobservant and imaginative.& i guess he's not that crazy,given his superb literary techniques.- It's amazing how the single literary trick:Constantly creating climax/anti-climaxduring the exposition of the story, akaleading the readers on & surprising themwith twists & turns --really made this book stand out from the crowd.

[katie_h_11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Naked is my first exposure to the humor of David Sedaris, and not only did I enjoy it, I will definitely read more by him. The comedic memoir is a collection of short stories from his childhood through his adulthood, including his experiences with OCD, the death of his mother, and coming out. I can't say that I can relate to his tales, but I experienced many laugh out loud moments. One of the more hilarious chapters chronicles the time he spent in a nudist colony. Underneath all of the silliness, it was hard to miss the dark and sad emotions that were also there. Due to the "bathroom humor," I wouldn't recommend this fun read to those who are easily offended. Anyone who enjoys Augustin Burroughs would probably also like Sedaris and vice versa.

[bibliophile26 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this author! I urge you to read all of his books immediately.

[juliannekim · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

couldn't tell one apart from the other when it comes to Sedaris books. All hilarious.

[vtn_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a highly unusual autobiography of David Sedaris, who, according to the New York Magazine, is a "Playwright, author, radio star, and retired elf". I wasn't sure what he is actually. I came across his name when his book (also in my already-bought-please-read-it-quickly list) Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim made it into the various reading lists of newspapers and magazines. I thought he was quite interesting and I started to take note of his name. The book is a collection of essays outlining his experiences growing up in a dysfunctional Greek and Jewish family, his problems (he suffers from severe tics and he is a homosexual), his drug-induced days in colleges, and generally, his observation of human nature. It's nothing like the typical biography with details and pictures of parents, grandparents, and relatives of three generations and boastful accomplishments lined up neatly in a timeline. It is a simple story of an ordinary but talented man. He is described as a humor writer and this book is supposed to fall under the genre of comedy. However, let it be warned that the language is not all that simple. His style can be quite mouthful (in a good way) and takes time to get used to. Sentences can be quite complex but still honest and to the point. Having said all that, the book is undoubtedly funny. I caught myself chuckling aloud a few times after getting used to his style. His specality is cleverly turning sad, or even cruel, events into great satires.Read it. It's really different.

[msleighm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read at the recommendation of my boyfriend, it's one of his favorite books. Found it funny and sad, some laugh out loud humor, but in my opinion, the New York Times Book Review quote of "Sidesplitting" is highly misleading.

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I just couldn't read this book and had to put it down after a while.

[whicker_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sedaris is, as always both hysterically funny and strikingly poignant. This collection takes the reader on a tour of a younger Sedaris' life as he travels throughout the United States. An enjoyable and easy read.

[carmarie_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How can you not love anything by David Sedaris? Another series of short stories/memories is captured fantastically in this humorous collection. Not to miss.