A CARNIVAL OF SEDARIS AT UCLA
For those unfamiliar with David Sedaris’s work, he is a prolific writer, mostly of satire and non-fiction. Many of his stories revolve around his personal life and family, though — as with any great writer, and by his own admission — he does tend to embellish. His latest book, however, is a departure from his collections of essays: A Carnival of Snackery is the second volume of his curated collection of diary entries that he has compiled over decades.
If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leaping to his death. There’s a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party — lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs.
These diaries remind you that you once really hated George W. Bush, and that not too long ago, Donald Trump was just a harmless laughingstock, at least on French TV. Time marches on, and Sedaris, at his desk or on planes, in hotel dining rooms and odd Japanese inns, records it. The entries here reflect an ever-changing background — new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can’t by the end. At its best, A Carnival of Snackery is a sort of sampler: the bitter and the sweet. Some entries are just what you wanted. Others you might want to spit discreetly into a napkin.
As with much of his work, the diary’s stories range from serious to comedic, poignant to ridiculous. While he is on his latest tour to promote the book, know that his evenings are always a glorious grab bag of stories. And they always sell out. So jump to if you want to see him in Los Angeles at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Sunday May 8, 2022, at 7.
photo by Ingrid Christie
An Evening with David Sedaris
Royce Hall at UCLA
Sunday May 8, 2022, at 7pm
for tickets, call 310-825-2101 or visit CAP UCLA
for tour dates and cities, visit David Sedaris
