Reading David Sedaris' Moving On Long Essay on Quitting His Smoking Habit in 'When You Are Engulfed in Flames'

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I realized before re-posting this here from my Goodreads.com account that David Sedaris must have been wanting to share his moving on experience on giving up smoking, which he did for at least 3 decades. This story dominates much of my reading memories of this book, which remains as humorous as ever and as what I expected prior to reading it. I'm sure he's still missing smoking, every once in a while. Smoking contributed a lot to killing my Father who smoked for at 45 years. I'm not advising anyone to stop smoking --- we're all given free choice and we know better what to do next with the remaining moments of our lives. 

You'd feel weird right away when you read and try to make sense of the book's title, which is usually expressed as 'When you're on fire' or 'When you are getting burned' by most. The title apparently's a flaming reference to one of those weird English statements the author saw in Japan and found numerous and humorous. I can also imagine how Mr Sedaris really enjoyed himself while staying in Japan, which trip was made mainly to help him give up smoking from the way I understood the long essay he had on this trip and included  in this book. I had similar experiences, too, during my Japan visit, but I understand these statements differently because I studied Nihongo (and passed some qualifying examinations to determine the level of my ability and competency in the language). For starters, I like to claim that the Japanese look up to people in the UK when in comes to their notions on 'correct English,' which I'm basing on my  contacts with the Japanese people with whom I've worked with for at least 15 years. Some translations sound superfluous, and hence weird sounding (and humor inducing to some). But that's mainly, most probably, because those who translated them got help from sources coming from the UK. And English (i.e., the language) certainly sounds different here in the US, which can be humorous, too, to some who are coming from countries where they use and have learned the English language to conduct their business undertakings.


Honestly, I didn't really enjoy this book as much as the other 2 books I read of his ('Naked,' and 'Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim') that I've read so far, but that doesn't mean I won't be reading the rest of his books. I just think this one's been dominated mainly by this long essay on his Japan stay and efforts to give up smoking. That essay just winded way too long for my taste. I've read variations of the same topic that Mr Sedaris had in his articles on smoking from some magazines. I actually wanted more 5 to 10 pages of humorous essays, which didn't happen with this book. Let me see if I'll have them again when I read another book by him.




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