Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk David Sedaris
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Imagine Simon and Garfunkel's "At the Zoo" is playing with blazing guitars and screaming vocals. Then imagine all the creatures depicted in the song - along with owls, hippos, rats and cats - shooting meth and taking on the unholy characteristics of human beings. That is an exaggerated backdrop for Sedaris's
latest, in which he gives animals human qualities and turns them into mean, backbiting, selfish things.
The stories are short and fable-like, full of the satirist's sharp humor and twisted wit. Here, from a tale titled "The Parrot and the Potbellied Pig,"
Sedaris renders his reader stupid. The animals are at a costume ball at the museum.
"A wolf in sheep's clothing called out for a fox-trot, and, as if a switch had been thrown, the party came to life. Here was the hare in cat's pajamas dancing with a chameleon, whose costume changed with every turn. The ugly duckling cut in on a swan. A trio of mice lowered their sunglasses, and as they scoured the floor for partners, the parrot turned to the pig and held out her claw. He accepted it awkwardly in his hoof, and so began what the reporter would later refer to as her days of swine and neuroses."
Elsewhere in the book, an assortment of toads, turtles, ducks and chipmunks attend AA meetings, climb in the backsides of hippos and talk about waiting in bureaucratic lines.
Funny and strange stuff.
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Steven Rosen, 2010
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