PositivePittsburgh Post-GazetteHe’s hilarious and poignant at the same time, honest and ridiculous ... As a fan, it is fun to have a chance to survey Sedaris’ writerly tics ... The dead women in Mr. Sedaris’ life, his alcoholic mother who died of cancer and his younger sister Tiffany who committed suicide, are the subject of his most powerful pieces ... In what is supposed to be a humorous critique of a kids school performance (\'Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol\') he criticizes the casting of a young Black boy saying, \'It’s a distracting move, wrongheaded and pointless.\' Likewise, Mr. Sedaris’ mockery of those from more impoverished backgrounds than his own in \'The Understudy\' and \'The Girl Next Door\' just felt cruel, especially coupled with this insensitive piece on television about how customers should be able to fire customer service workers. For David Sedaris fans, this may not be his best, but it is still funny. Readers will have to decide if that is enough reason to purchase the text or if they should just stick with the audio versions—from the library.
Sigrid Nunez
PositivePittsburgh-Post GazetteThe pleasure of this novel comes in its juxtapositions ... Readers are fortunate to be along for this journey of understanding. Ms. Nunez offers this quote from a famous unnamed playwright: \'There are no truly stupid human beings, no uninteresting human lives, and that you’d discover this if you were willing to sit and listen to people.\' WhatWhat Are You Going Through is an effective brief for that contention.
