Book Reviews By Dal
This collection of stories is a really a compilation of observations on the
human condition. Injecting human traits into various animals and
situations, David Sedaris paints an amusing portrait of our shortcomings.
From the xenophobic Irish setter on a farm, to the wise and compassionate owl
with a family of lazy good-for-nothings trying to help a hippo with a ‘singing
medical problem’, to a pair of lab rats, you’ll see the best and worst that we
admire (or not) in ourselves and others. There is a family of storks in
one story, an amorous squirrel in another. All of the animals are dealing
with something, including the alcoholic mouse who fell in cahoots
with a cat with a nasty disposition. Through it all, all you can do as laugh as
you picture these creatures doing the same silly, or not so silly, things that
we humans do on a constant basis. All of the stories are relatively short
and this book is an easy, laugh laden read. If you can laugh at yourself
you’ll absolutely laugh all the way through this book.
Reviewed by Dal Maxwell
(c)Maine Transgender Network, Inc., 2011