"Naked"

David Sedaris describes a humiliating bout with obsessive behavior in "A Plague of Tics," from his bestselling essay collection.

Published March 16, 2001 9:37PM (EST)

Humorist David Sedaris is well-known for his public radio commentaries featured on "This American Life." He is the author of "Me Talk Pretty One Day" and the bestselling "Barrel Fever." Sedaris' essays appear regularly in the New Yorker.

According to Booklist, "Sedaris' sardonic wit will already be familiar to listeners to National Public Radio's Morning Edition, but the venom he exposes in these pages proves he is more than a cuddly curmudgeon. In 'Naked' he lets loose with a devastating comic ire worthy of Dorothy Parker. Demonstrating low tolerance for human foibles, his misanthropic humor is vindictive and nasty.

"More than once it crosses the line of good taste, but it's also extremely, relentlessly funny. The short stories in this collection dwell on themes of domestic hell and self-delusion as dysfunctional families tear each other apart and losers refuse to see how pathetic they are."

Listen to Sedaris read "A Plague of Tics" from his collection "Naked."


By David Sedaris

MORE FROM David Sedaris


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Satire