AGENDA:
Listen to "Me Talk Pretty One Day"
Audiobook: Go to 3:09:51/ pg. 166
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdRpz9PkOhY
1. What better place to start a discussion of a Sedaris book than with the parts you find the funniest? Which parts make you LOL (laugh out loud)? Go around the room and share your belly laughs with others.
2. Are there sections of the book you feel are snide or mean-spirited? Perhaps his criticism of Americans who visit Europe dressed "as if you've come to mow its lawns." Or perhaps the piece about his stint as a writing teacher. Is petulance a part of Sedaris's schtick...his charm?
3. Talk about the Sedaris family, in particular his parents. How do they come across? Whom does he feel closest to? Sedaris makes an interesting statement about his father: it was a mystery that "a man could father six children who shared absolutely none of his interests." Is that unusual?
4. David Sedaris is a descendant of Woody Allen's brand of humor—personal idiosyncrasies or neuroses raised to an art form. What does Sedaris reveal about himself, his insecurities, angst, secret hostilities, and do you find those parts funny or somewhat touching, even sad? Actually, do you like Sedaris as he reveals himself in his book?
5. Are there parts of Me Talk Pretty that you disliked, didn't find funny, found overworked or contrived?
6. For a book club meeting: it would be fun to get the audio version and listen to selected segments. I especially recommend the French lessons in Paris.
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
1.The part of the book that actually made me laugh out loud, the only time, was when he was describing his hope and fear of drawing nude male models. He was worried he would be drooling over them.
ReplyDelete2. None of the parts of the book are mean at all, and if they are at all negative, Sedaris is making fun of himself. It is more charming and witty.
3. Sedaris's parents come across as a regular, typical pair of parents that raised their children well and with support but also challenged them. They had a lot of kids, and they did their best.
1 the only part in the book that actually made me laugh was the part when he was describing Joan to his guitar teacher
ReplyDelete2. I don't any part in the book are actually mean. I think that he makes fun of himself more than anything else in the book.
3. I think that his parents came across as typical parents. Their are parents who have obsessions with things and try to get their children to find the same kind of love they had for it.
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ReplyDelete1. One part of the book that made me laugh not out loud, was when he was talking about drawing the naked male models. (it wasn't funny, the part that was funny was he is scared of becoming gay basically)
ReplyDelete2. Nothing was mean. At all.
3. I think his parents are like normal parents. Im not explaining what normal parents are like because we all know what they are like.
1.I thought him talking about naked models was beyond funny because of the word choice and how he talks. "I long to capture the playful quality of your buttocks."
ReplyDelete2.Nothing was mean at all somethings were his personaly directed to himself out of humor.
3.His parents are like any other normal parents; a couple who has a lot of kids that they wanted them to take part in the interesting things they did but that really doesn't amaze them so any little gift they have they jump to claim responsibility for their child's gift.
1. The part I laughed about the most was in Go California; When the teacher was always on him about his speech therapy session and he would get annoyed about it. She kept talking to him with clean S sounds as if he was dumb, but he could not help the fact that he had a lisp. It seemed like his teacher was really on him a lot.
ReplyDelete2. It was not mean-spirited because the book was made to spoof and or make fun of certain things. Its not met to take personal but to laugh at and eventually get over.
3.His parents came off as regular parents who tried to give their family a regular life. They tried to find the same interest as their children a lot,so they could have something in common.
1. The essay that made me laugh is “you can’t kill the rooster.” He is talking about his brother and the way he is I’ve never personally met anyone like that so the way he talked was funny. The really funny part in it was when I found out where the title of the essay came from. The fact that his brother called himself the rooster was the most random thing and he kept on saying you can’t kill the rooster.
ReplyDelete2. I don’t think he is snide or mean spirited. I think he interprets things about people based on his run ins with them. Like his speech teacher or guitar teacher.
3. The way he portrays his family is that they are really weird in a way but also that they’re all different from each other. The father comes across laid back but also real passionate about music and wanting his kids to become great. He’s always trying to get Sedaris and his sisters to play and instrument even though they don’t like it. I say he’s laid back because he doesn’t curse at all and he sees the best in rooster even though he’s kind of messed up and he lets him talk to him any kind of way which is definitely not normal for a parent. The mother seems really caring like when she put the dog in the oven to save its life when Sedaris says it was a mystery that "a man could father six children who shared absolutely none of his interests” he’s talking about his love for music. The kids just don’t like it as much as he did it’s not unusual though.
1. I liked the part when he was talking about his brother rooster because the language his brother used was hilarious to me
ReplyDelete2. I feel that in " me talk pretty one day" when he was talking about the characteristics of his teacher. When he was saying how she treated him and his class mates I found it kind of snide.
3.His parents were typical normal parents who anted the best for their kids so they challenged them
One part in the book that made me laugh was this “Certain motherfuckers think they can fuck with my shit, but you can't kill the Rooster. You might can fuck him up some times, but, bitch, nobody kills the motherfucking Rooster. You know what I'm saying?” this made me laugh because of the word type the cursing in it and the way he tried to make it sound serious but it wasn’t it was funny. They’re certain sections in the book that are mean-spirited and snide. But most of the book has to do with him and his family are book parts where Sedaris starts to talk about his family life. His father etc. Sedaris talks about his family mostly through the whole book. He mainly talks about his father when there is a story to be told about him. For Sedaris to say “To me, the greatest mystery of science continues to be that a man could father six children who shared absolutely none of his interests.” That is kind of unusual. It’s unusual to me because children are supposed to learn from their parents. I feel like as the kid grew up he grew out of his parents as well and that would probably be why they have nothing in common.
ReplyDelete1. The part that made me laugh out loud in the book was when Mister Mancini was teaching him how to play guitar and when Mister Mancini was judging the name Oliver.
ReplyDelete2. In all honesty, I believe that in this book he had no negative at all, he is just making fun of himself in a good way.
3. In the book, Sedaris came across came across ad if they didn't really care that much about them, they cared but not as much as many parents do now a days. I started to notice this when I read, "You Can't Kill the Rooster" as also I feel that he was closer to his mother since he and his father didn't have nothing in common.
1. I thought how Sedaris describes his brother Rooster and his acts throughout his time in South Carolina
ReplyDelete2. Nothing was mean in the story, I just think that he's making fun of himself.
3. His parents are just the usual typical parents of pushing their children to become better than what they were.