Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

"A mildly amusing collection of satirical stories, some non-fiction, others fiction, wherein Sedaris lets the reader see what it is he thinks the Holidays are all about."

2 Stars

Pros: Quick read and some genuinely amusing stories

Cons: I understand that the author is a satirist and so none of the stories should be taken seriously but, to be honest, I felt like he was condescending to me. It was a weird feeling to get it from a book and I just felt like I was too immature to "get" the humor.

Full Review:

A quick and mildly entertaining read from one of, if not, the, most well known satirists, David Sedaris. Holidays on Ice is part memoir and part fiction to create an odd but interesting concept of what the Holiday spirit really means.

Some stories, like SantaLand Diaries, Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol and Jesus Shaves had some genuinely entertaining and amusing parts. Sedaris' re-telling of his time working as an Elf in a Department Store "Winter Wonderland" during the Holiday Season in New York is priceless. Front Row was a brutal, scathing review of children's elementary school pageant/holiday plays, which we've all suffered through and Sedaris' "critic" holds nothing back. And Jesus Shaves is more about Easter and how different cultures celebrate it in different ways. The ending line was priceless.

Other stories like Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!! and Based Upon a True Story a, I think, were too out there, a little too far fetched as to be believable or, in my opinion, that amusing. Though Seasons Greetings had its amusing moments, since it was basically taking those "holiday newsletters" you get from extended family and turning it on its head, for the most part it just left me feeling kind of horrified. And Based Upon, was just...strange. More or less written as a script that a TV Producer would give to prompt the people of a rundown town to spill the beans on a true "Christmas miracle", I just found myself going through the motions of reading it to get it done.

It all probably boils down the fact that my sense of humor is most likely too immature for the likes of Sedaris. Perhaps I should have started with another of his works, like the renowned, Me Talk Pretty One Day, but overall, Holidays on Ice just left me feeling kind of meh. It was a quick read which I appreciated since it gave me something to do during commercial breaks but overall I just wasn't all that impressed.

Far be it from me though to dissuade anyone from reading. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys satire and who is looking for something outside of the box.

Comments

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