This is the best thing Sedaris has ever written ... No point planning a heist; Sedaris has opened the vault himself. The genius of The Best of Me is that it reveals the growth of a writer, a sense of how his outlook has changed and where he finds humor ... It is miraculous to read these pieces placed close together, the earliest written without any knowledge of where things would lead, the last guffawing at the ridiculousness of where they did ... You must read The Best of Me. It will be a new experience, knowing that enough time has passed to find humor in the hardest parts of life. More than ever — we’re allowed to laugh.
OK, so technically, there’s nothing new here. But The Best of Me is an excellent introduction to Sedaris’ work if, somehow, you’re not among the millions who have made him a mainstay on bestseller lists and flocked to his ticketed readings. Even if you’ve read or listened to every word he’s ever written, it’s a terrific highlights reel and a chance to view the arc of Sedaris’ development as a writer over 25 years ... In general, he’s moved from the often outrageous, escalating rants of unhinged characters, in which he takes an off-the-wall idea and runs with it, to more deeply personal material ... a well-earned victory lap.
He’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.
The best pieces in this compilation are gems of smart prose ... The best of Sedaris’s writings revolve around his notoriously dysfunctional family. Sedaris mines their quirks for humor, but the description of their odd doings, often hilarious, is unvaryingly human. Regardless of the their idiosyncrasies, Sedaris loves his family and is thankful to be connected to them. He writes about them out of a well of humanness that makes them real and these pieces far from trivial. Combine that with a razor-sharp wit and a penchant for bons mots and you have a writer worth savoring ... This collection of favorite and beloved writings by an author with legions of fans is warm, witty, and guaranteed to please longtime and new readers alike.
Sedaris’s brilliant knack for observational humor is on full display in this terrific retrospective essay collection ... Sedaris finds ample fodder for his keen satiric sense in his life and the lives of those around him. Sedaris can take even the most serious subject and evoke both empathy and laughter. He can also be just plain hilarious ... This is the perfect introduction for the uninitiated, while Sedaris’s fans will enjoy rediscovering old favorites
A welcome greatest-hits package from Sedaris ... It’s not easy to pick out fact from fiction in the author’s sidelong takes on family, travel, relationships, and other topics. He tends toward the archly droll in either genre, both well represented in this gathering, always with a perfectly formed crystallization of our various embarrassments and discomforts ... Sedaris’ register ranges from doggerel to deeply soulful ... There’s not a dud in the mix, though Sedaris is always at his best when he’s both making fun of himself and satirizing some larger social trend ... It’s a lovely mélange by a modern Mark Twain who is always willing to set himself up as a shlemiel in the interest of a good yarn ... One of the funniest—and truest—books in recent memory and a must-have for fans of the poet laureate of human foibles.
