Barrel Fever - David Sedaris

No, I don't imagine you've heard of David Sedaris, though he is currently being quite heavily promoted in the UK. Unfortunately, the promotion seems to mainly consist of under-attended book signings and brief interviews on local radio stations – not really enough to break into the mainstream. A friend of mine the States recommended his writing to me, and when I was over there, I read a collection of Sedaris's short stories entitled 'Holidays On Ice'. Easily the funniest of these stories was one entitled 'SantaLand Diaries', which consisted of Sedaris's real-life experiences working as an elf in the SantaLand of Macy's Department ...  Read the complete review

Barrel Fever is a collection of short stories that have come from the twisted mind of David Sedaris and some essays that have come from the equally twisted life of David Sedaris. His humour is bleak, dark, disturbing and also laugh-out-loud funny. In his stories Sedaris writes as a horny teenager, a waster, an unloved suicidal woman, a father who's doesn't bother with hospitals because he believes he can treat everything himself - each one an American social outcast in some way. The essays include the wonderful Santaland Diaries, detailing Sedaris' time working in Macy's as an elf - you'll never think of the department store Santa ...  Read the complete review