Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules

By David Sedaris

'When apple-picking season ended, I got a Job in a packing plant and gravitated towards short stories, which I could read during my break and reflect upon for the remainder of my shift. A good one would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit . . . Once, before leaving on vacation, I copied an entire page from an Alice Munro story and left it in my typewriter, hoping a burglar might come upon it and mistake her words for my own. That an intruder would spend his valuable time reading, that he might be impressed by the description of a crooked face, was something I did not question, as I believed, and still do, that stories can save you'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Apr 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781847375902

David Sedaris

David Sedaris is the author of the internationally bestselling Barrel Fever, Naked, Holidays on Ice, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk.

Reviews for Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules

[yougotamber · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I love David Sedaris and I went to see him live... he recommended some books to read and then I found this collection he compiled. I am not a huge fan of short stories. I like them only if the story completes itself and isn't all about symbolism and themes. A few stories I loved and some I couldn't get into (... borderline hated). If you like short stories, David Sedaris is a great author with excellent taste and I am sure this compilation will not disappoint. If not, go into it realizing it's what it is... that's what got me through it. Thankfully there were a few stories to make the book worthwhile.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A friend gave me this, as we are both Sedaris fans. None of this is his work (save the introduction, which was on par with most of his better essays), but I decided to trust his judgment and try something new. As with most collections, the stories were of varying quality.Where the Door is Always Open and the Welcome Mat is Out by Patricia Highsmith, read by Cherry Jones: Mildred is rushing around frantically to prepare for her sister Edith’s visit. The reader was great, but the story itself was pretty boring. Maybe it was because I just wasn’t all that interested in the characters, or maybe because all the minutia felt excessively detailed.Bullet In the Brain by Tobias Wolff, read by Toby Wherry: A fascinating little vignette that stretches out an instant of time into a fully coherent narrative, and it ended at just the right spot too.Gryphon by Charles Baxter, read by David Sedaris: A new substitute teacher with crazy ideas. Sedaris did an excellent job, which is kind of surprising since he tends to narrate in a sort of monotone, but somehow he managed to get across everything with subtle changes in pitch and inflection. Probably my favorite of the batch.In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried by Amy Hempel, read by Mary-Louise Parker: I’ll be perfectly honest here: I had a whole lot of trouble following this one. Maybe I was just distracted, but I have absolutely no idea what it was about.Cosmopolitan written and read by Akhil Sharma: A somewhat strange tale about an older Indian man attempting to have an affair with his American neighbor. Sharma probably should not have read his own story, as his cadence tended toward the droning, but I still very much enjoyed the story, and the ending made me smile.In all, not a bad collection. These are the sorts of stories we’d read in creative writing classes, which gave me weird flashbacks from time to time, but it was a nice break from the string of novels I’d been listening to lately.

[rosencrantz79 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

David Sedaris's introduction to this short story collection, which he edited, is a lovely ode to reading and taste, and the way a really good story can just flatten you. "I believed, and still do," he writes, "that stories can save you." The stories included here, he says, are the "Herculai"--the literary giants that make him feel like "a comparative midget, scratching around in their collective shadow." Among my favorites here were "Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired," "Gryphon," "People Like That Are the Only People Here," and "Cosmopolitan." And--on top of a great read--when you buy this book you get to feel like a do-gooder, too; all proceeds from the sale go to 826NYC.

[traciolsen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

for a book edited by David Sedaris, not overly funny. Having said that, I think I have found a few new authors to read.

[dkestler_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Some of the oddest short stories, ever!

[juva_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ah well... I thought this was WRITTEN by David Sedaris and was all ready to chuckle along with my fave memoirist. Despite my initial disappointment, this collection is great! I enjoyed the stories and will be exploring each of the authors in more detail.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

short stories selected by David Sedaris.
I am pretty sure I didn't fall asleep during this audiobook, but there seemed to be only a handful of stories--maybe 5 or 6? Is there such a thing as an abridged audiobook of short stories?
They weren't as entertaining as Sedaris' own work, but as his favorites serve as a sort of window into his literary tastes.

[sarahlh-41506 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I desperately want my own copy of this now. It is that good. David Sedaris, you have damn good taste in short stories. Although that isn't much of a surprise, is it?

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Now it begins, the sorting and testing of words. Remember that words are not symbols of other words. There are words which, when tinkered with, become honest representatives of the cresting blood, the fine living net of nerves. Define rain. Or even joy. It can be done.So, short stories. I do like them, but have trouble reading several by one author as they end up feeling like Faberge eggs. You know, you see one and it's exquisite. And then you see the next one and, hey, it's quite nice too, but by the third or fourth, any elements of surprise are gone and after a half dozen I'm a little bored and looking forward to the cafe. An anthology of some sort is a different matter. Each author spins their perfect little tale and then is finished. I don't become jaded with a dozen instances in a row of subdued disappointment or witty dialogue, but get to be astonished all over again with the next story. This book is a collection of short stories gathered by David Sedaris. There is the expected Dorothy Parker (Song of the Shirt, 1941), but there's also Richard Yates (Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired), Joyce Carol Oates (The Girl with the Blackened Eye) and Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies). Sedaris favors stories with emotional resonance over clever wordplay, and the best two stories in the book were amazing; Revelation by Flannery O'Connor and Cosmopolitan by Akhil Sharma.I loved rediscovering how a short story can compress all the emotion and heft of a novel into a dozen or so pages. I think I may start reading from all those Collected Stories of I have sitting around, but one at a time, with a few months between each story so that I can be newly astonished with each one.

[oreillynsf_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Readers should be aware that this is a collection of Sedaris's favorite essays, not his own work. That said, the pieces are generally excellent, and it is interesting to get a perspective on the more serious literary side of this remarkable comedic writer.Perhaps the best aspect of this book is that his popularity will encourage more people to discover the pleasures of short stories. All this great storytelling, and the proceeds of new sales go to charity!After reading these pieces, it's easy to see how Sedaris got his inspiration for his tightly constructed comedic essays. A great read.