When You Are Engulfed In Flames: David Sedaris
Little Brown $32.99
By Nina Cullen
The scope of David Sedaris' writing isn't grand. His realm consists of domestic, everyday observations that ring almost too familiar. And this is what makes them magical. He photoshops our most recognisable routines and interactions and turns them into perfect vignettes where sibling snipes, grocery shopping and procrastination are recreated as interesting, poignant or laugh-on-the-bus funny.
This collection of observations ranges in format from a few random sentences to diary entries and longer essay style pieces. He always starts with the personal - details of character and space - before panning back to take in the bigger social landscape. The book covers singing appliances in Japan, the modern obsession with germs and the moral conundrum of being friends with an accused child-molester in a small French town.
But a good portion revolves around Sedaris' decision to stop smoking. He and his partner move to Tokyo for three months to enforce the complete change of routine the how-to-quit books recommend. Diary entries charting this should be indulgent, but in his hands they are too well-observed, self-deprecating and witty to come even close.
Sedaris can spot the drama and contrasts that hide in people's backyards. No one escapes scrutiny, not even his 15-year-old self, complete with bad poetry, bung dress and artistic pretensions. There are a lot of chuckles and cute asides, but this doesn't do justice to the book's more introspective pieces that simply chart the quiet confusion of being a small person in a big world.