David Sedaris

"Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk" By David Sedaris Illustrations by Ian Falconer Little, Brown: 2010

I remember when this book came out last year. I was in Korea and listened to interviews of the author and read reviews of it. I really wanted to read it, but I knew I did not have the chance to do it since I could not get books in English in Korea that new or particular books that I wanted in English there. Books in English in Korea are like gold there.

I have read other books by David Sedaris and found them to be very funny. He writes memoirs like my friend Ted does. Ted is a huge fan of his and they have met several times and even had lunch once. These stories are not like a memoir but are stories of animals but are not really stories of animals. I have talked about my friend Ted and he recommended this book and thought I had it already. I got this from the library. What Ted did not tell me is that some of the stories were actually quite sad. I complained to Ted over the phone about it and he said that Sedaris explained that life is funny and sad so that is why the stories are that way too or something like that. It was hard to make sense what Ted was say because he was in Seattle, Washington and drinking coffee and espresso out of every coffee shop, it seems, he could find. Ted is a 12 step man and he has switched over to coffee in a big way.

Anyhow, I do recommend the book. It is a wonderful series of very easy to read stories that are not for children. Trust me on this. We, adults, need stories like this, even the sad ones, that are for us only. Harry Potter can be read by adults and children. These stories can be read only by adults. The story that came from the title of the book is a sad one but funny. A squirrel meets a chipmunk and they have this thing immediately. He is happy he can talk with her, the chipmunk, about anything. He is so in love as she is. Then he brings up something and says he really thought she might like as much as he did and she asked what it was. He said it was jazz. She was afraid to admit that she did not know what it was and envisioned it was all sorts of odd sexual practices. Because she became so cold to him, he drifted away and she later married a chipmunk and it was one of her grandsons who told her what it was. She had never saw the squirrel again.

A word about the illustrations. They are wonderful too. Ian Falconer is the author and illustrator of the Olivia series of children's books. They captured the whimsical quality of these stories very well.

If you haven't read any of Sedaris' other books, I recommend them to you. They are really funny. They are about his life in the form of memoirs. If life gives you lemons, one can survive it all by developing a sense of humor like this author.