Okay, the assignment for tonight was to read the first two essays. "Go Carolina", and "Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities" respectively. I guess the first logical question here, is what did everyone think about these two essays? More importantly, what does everyone think of David Sedaris himself?
Personally, I found both of the essays to be humorous and kind of entertaining. But, they're kind of dry. This guy's gay, and he's used various drugs. I know there's more he can talk about and I'm waiting for that to kick in. But as far as these two essays went... I noticed he likes to make readers read between the lines a lot. He doesn't come out and explicitly say things that often. You have to be smarter than the average bear sometimes to get what he's really trying to say. I don't mean it in the sense that the essays themselves are hard to read; on the contrary, I found them of no particular difficulty whatsoever. But you just have to open your mind a little and "unlock" the essay so to speak.
And that brings me to the other situation here: the whole opening my mind issue. I take it none of us can say we share many experiences with him, or can say "yeah I know how that feels." Its going to be challenging at times, but what do you guys think?
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Yeah, good point. At least this way the book will be unlike anything we have done before for an LA class. I mean, the perspective that sedaris brings to the table is entertaining in the sense that we can laugh at the unique situations he went through being a gay guy in school. I mean the ridiculousness of the situations he writes about are a breath of fresh air, compared to the unfortunate group reading the obama book.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think that while we can't really relate to it, does not mean that this book wont eventually click. Think about it, its something different every "chapter". So there will be something for everyone at some point in time.
well i dont know about you guys.....but im sad to say that im kinda into the book. i mean the whole gay thing is still bothering me. but im actually pretty fasinated with how he talks about it and how he acts about it. it all has just taken me by suprise really. i mean originally we were thinking that this book was gunna be about the life of a gay kid with a lisp. turns out, well so far anyway, that hes a drug addict, homosexual, and has some serious family issues in my opinion. so im actually very excited to see where this goes.
ReplyDeleteSo far it's been pretty much what I have expected it to be. I thought the first couple essays were pretty funny at times and had really interesting subject matter.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely digging how each essay is about something different. It's refreshing to know that if I don't find the plot of one essay to be all that interesting then its not that big of a deal because there's a new plot for the next.
But yeah this book seems pretty legit. David Sedaris obviously has a lot of talent when it comes to make his stories humorous. I don't think the whole not being able to relate to Sedaris's experiences thing will be too big of a deal. He knows that most of his readers aren't gay and will hopefully make it as relatable as possible for non gay people.
I agree with everyone else here that this book is pretty good. I am posting this late so I know what happens in the next couple chapters and it's enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteNot being able to relate to David Sedaris's experiences shouldn't be too much of a problem. Although I havne't ever had intensive speech therapy because of a bad lisp problem or enjoyed baking scones and cookies, I think most people can relate to a lot of the big ideas. For example most people have parents who have forced their kids to do something they aren't intrested in like a sport or instrument. I know I had to take Piano and Saxaphone lessons for years when I was younger. Not only did I hate it with a passion, but I was absolutely terrible at it.
Fair enough.
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