Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk book cover

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

Audio CD – Unabridged, September 28, 2010

by
Price
$8.67
Publisher
Little, Brown & Company
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1600244995
Dimensions
5 x 0.75 x 5.75 inches
Weight
5.6 ounces

Description

From Publishers Weekly Like a modern-day Aesop or La Fontaine, Sedaris has his darkly comic and deeply cynical (if somewhat rambling) morality stories enacted by animals. Although Sedaris typically narrates his works solo, here he is joined by Dylan Baker, Siân Phillips, and (the incomparable) Elaine Stritch. The dry tones of both women are particularly well suited to the knowing commentary offered by various domesticated, barnyard, and wild animals on casual racism, self-congratulatory sanctimony, poor excuses for adultery, and fad spiritualism, among other common societal ills. The audiobook features a bonus fable not available in the text version of the book; in addition, the third CD includes PDFs of the book's illustrations by Ian Falconer (writer/illustrator of the Olivia picture book series). A Little, Brown hardcover. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. David Sedaris is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and Public Radio International's This American Life. He is the author of the books When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim , Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, and Barrel Fever . From AudioFile David Sedaris's dark fables aren't warm or fuzzy--instead, they have bark AND bite. Talking animals stand in for people, saying and doing all the base things humans are capable of inflicting on each other. Sedaris, always so good at reading his own material, narrates just a few of the stories in this collection, while Elaine Stritch, Dylan Baker, and Siân Phillips take turns ably narrating the rest. Stritch, especially, seems to flawlessly channel Sedaris, hitting every sardonic note perfectly and even sounding sometimes uncannily like the author (or maybe it's the other way around). Together with illustrations by Ian Falconer (OLIVIA), the whole production walks the line between funny and disturbing. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life. In "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck," three strangers commiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. In "Hello Kitty," a cynical feline struggles to sit through his prison-mandated AA meetings. In "The Squirrel and the Chipmunk," a pair of star-crossed lovers is separated by prejudiced family members.With original illustrations by Ian Falconer, author of the bestselling Olivia series of children's books, these stories are David Sedaris at his most observant, poignant, and surprising.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(355)
★★★★
25%
(296)
★★★
15%
(178)
★★
7%
(83)
★
23%
(272)

Most Helpful Reviews

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The first Sedaris book I haven't liked

I've read and enjoyed every book Sedaris has written, but for the first time, I've been disappointed.

This book is not funny. It is not insightful. The animals all play roles of boring, one-dimensional characters, many of which are quite similiar from story to story. It's dark, and it's depressing. And it's not dark in a hilariously twisted "five dollar now" kind of way (Sedaris fans will get the reference from Barrel Fever). It's dark in an empty kind of way. Kindle readers - download a sample first (I regret that I did not). What you see there is pretty much it - you'll just get more of the same the rest of the way through.

It's a quick read, but I couldn't get through it. I was about halfway through when I decided to throw in the towel.
35 people found this helpful
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Sickening

I became a David Sedaris fan after I read "Me Talk Pretty One Day" over the course of an 8 hour flight. After that I have supported and read everything David Sedaris had to offer and have purchased the audio books, to boot. When I heard that "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk" came out I immediately ran to buy it, anticipating David's new, advertised style of writing. Unfortunately, my high hopes were crushed. I'm not sure where David was going with this (maybe he was trying to show us how powerful his visual delivery is) but nonetheless, talent aside, this was a tragic FAIL. I understood that he was bringing hypocrisy to light and used animals to communicate how ridiculous human nature can be, but the fact that the situations were so over the top made it sickening to read. As mentioned in previous reviews, the illustrations were so graphic that they both spoiled the story and set the mood for it (which is very dark). The first story seemed to be a lure and everything after that went downhill. What a disappointment.
4 people found this helpful
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A very dark Sedaris

I was hooked on David Sedaris years ago after hearing Six to Eight Black Men. In fact, we have shared that particular audio piece with so many of our friends and family. While it wonderful to read his books, it just takes on a delightful level of enjoyment to hear him read his stories. My husband and I even went to see him in person and he was absolutely great. I gave this offering more than a fair chance listening to story after story. This a very dark Sedaris and I thought that even his voice took on a much different cadence and intonation. While some pieces were not bad...I felt that the language was a little raw.

But the bottom line with me is simply that through his stories he made the animals human to the reader and made us care, then he twisted and trampled that emotion.

This is not typical Sedaris so if you enjoy the typical Sedaris don't buy this.
4 people found this helpful
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Even If U Love David S. You May Hate This One. I did.

Even if you love previous works of David Sedarius, I have most of them and love almost all of them...you probably won't like this. He is very nasty about fat people in this one and it's just not as good as earlier writing.
3 people found this helpful
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Snarky Animal Farm Fun

I'm listening to "Squirrel Meets Chipmunk," the latest book by David Sedaris. Let me say first that I adore this book. I think it just replaced "Me Talk Pretty One Day" as my favorite Sedaris work. I'd actually put off checking this title out, because I'd heard from people who usually love Sedaris and they were really disappointed with it. Too dark! Too cynical! Too depressing! Still, when it turned up as available in audiobook format at my library I decided to give it a whirl.

Unlike his previous works, this is Sedaris writing short stories that have absolutely no basis in reality. While he usually combines memoir with surrealist fantasy to create a bizarre and entertaining view of his own life and experiences, this time he writes about animals - animals who behave in strangely human ways. The stories are so out there: repulsive, intriguing, beguiling, and entirely bizarre. But still, Sedaris demonstrates his deep understanding of human nature with these darkly humorous fables and I found myself grinning at his ability to gently mock our idiosyncrasies and more petty motivations. He's a cynical Aesop, not so much intending to help educate with his tales as to point out our foibles without creating a tiresome morality play. In fact, to understand Sedaris you must understand that he revels in humanity's imperfections. If he is a cynic, he's the best sort.

I have to absolutely recommend getting the audio book version. Joining Sedaris, who always reads his works with hilariously dry humor, are Dylan Baker, Siân Phillips, and Elaine Stritch. I have immensely enjoyed these voices reading the short fables included in the audio book. It's a short listen - just three disks - but I love it so much I think I'm going to go back and listen to the whole thing over again before returning it to the library.
3 people found this helpful
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Not David's best work

I get the uniqueness of the project, and the social commentary, but this really isn't David's best work. Just kind of trite, negative, and predictable. I'll forever be a fan, and look forward to his next project.
3 people found this helpful
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Disappointed

I won't say too much because I love David Sedaris' humor. Unfortunately, in his latest work, humor is sadly lacking. Dark and bleak are two adjectives that do the job.
2 people found this helpful
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Pure genius with a wry sense of humor

This book was by no means in the same category as Sedaris' previous works. However, to me, his humor and writing style shown through easily. Only David could have come up with tales such as these and added voices to animals while maintaining their individual animal characteristics.

I purchased the audio and thought the accompanying music was fantastic-whitty and appropriate. The narrators were all good, but nothing tops Sedaris reading his own works (he reads about a fourth of the stories).

Think of this book as snapshots into the lives of animals if we could understand what they were really saying (and they were capable of intelligent conversation). As long as you go into this book with an open mind-and appreciate subtle nuances-you're in for a good read.
2 people found this helpful
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Unpleasant and unfunny

I enjoyed David Sedaris's writing when I was first introduced to it. (I've listened to them as audiobooks, so I'm used to hearing him narrate his own stories.) But the more I have listened, the more I have come to think that he is a self-absorbed, petulant misanthrope hiding behind a smiley mask. I listened to this book hoping that it would be something different, but if anything, it's worse than his usual stories. If you want to see what a REAL humorist can do in this genre, read James Thurber's "Fables for Our Time." If you want to hear a non-stop parade of violence, cruelty, vulgarity, and scatology, read Sedaris. To give you a sample, the final two stories deal with a gerbil crawling up a hippo's sphincter, and two flies discussing the relative taste of the vomit and feces of various humans. I suppose Sedaris believes he is making clever commentary on modern society, but he's really just being offensive. Whatever you do, don't share these with your kids, thinking they are cute animal stories. If you should make that mistake, give them Thurber as an anecdote. What a shame to waste good narrative talent like Elaine Stritch and Sian Philips on this material.
1 people found this helpful
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Big fan, Bad purchase

I'm a huge David Sedaris fan- just saw him a few weeks ago at GW. He was wonderful there, and I love his other books. I like to listen to them on audio as well- his delivery is priceless. I don't know what he was thinking with this book, but I did not get the same feeling reading this book as with his others. This one made me feel sad and depressed. I felt bad for the animals, and found the stories somewhat difficult to follow, as he tried to adapt human situations to the animals, with little success. Let me give one example- there is a story about a bear who can't stop obsessing about the death of her mother. Everyone gets annoyed with her, so she leaves the village, only to be caught by a human, who puts her on stage for other humans to see. She is abused by her keeper- her teeth are broken. She tells the story to her human audience who often laughs, but once in awhile, someone will cry. That's it. I'm sorry, but where is the FUNNY? It just left me feeling sad. Each story is only a few pages, and there is a huge disconnect between each one that leaves you with a feeling like you've read nothing. If they were actually funny, it would be different, but they aren't- they're strange. If I could go back, I would not purchase this book. I would have been much better off just listening to his audio books again for a good laugh. No laughs here, folks.
1 people found this helpful

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