WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES
Written by David Sedaris
“Buy it.” This is my sister Amy’s advice in regard to everything, from a taxidermied horse head to a camouflage thong. “Just get it,” she says. “You’ll feel better.”
David Sedaris seems to have led an interesting life. He comes from an interesting family, has have lived in interesting places, known interesting people, and experienced interesting events.
I’m using interesting as a vast understatement.
Americans are likely to be far more familiar with the best-selling Sedaris and his writing. But Canadians like me should read more of his essays, because he takes his “interesting” life and transforms it into a series of literary adventures & commentaries that run the gammut of emotions…and you’ll never want to put it down.
Aside from his blisteringly funny turns-of-phrase, Sedaris demonstrates one of the greatest gifts that any writer can possess: the ability to transform the mundane, banal, everyday monotony of life into exciting, hilarious, and touching stories. He is uncompromising in his assessment of both himself and the people in his life (be they family or acquaintances)…but it doesn’t translate as sledgehammer bluntness. The stories and anecdotes Sedaris writes about wrap themselves around the reader like a comfortable, aging blanket. There are shocking moments that punctuate the prose…ones powerful enough to stop your reading for a moment. But these serve only to enhance the easy familiarity — the lovely joviality — of a man who not only appreciates life, but appreciates the hassles life throws his way.
It would be BORING otherwise… 
In the spotless restroom of Tamachi Station, I noticed that beside each urinal there’s a hook for your umbrella. It’s just another of those personal touches that keep you coming back.
The final quarter of the book concerns itself with the saga of Sedaris’ attempt to quit smoking. It’s full of contradictions, doubts, crazy notions, worry, and contentment. It’s a mini-epic that beautifully anchors a collection that celebrates the quirky-yet-pedestrian urban/suburban lives most North Americans think they live. But these lives turn out to be far from pedestrian. As Sedaris demonstrates, even the smallest irritations can produce the most wonderful appreciation for everday life. When You Are Engulfed in Flames is the equivalent of a hot bath: a completely ordinary experience, that always turns out to be luxurious and welcoming, and never quite the same on each occasion.
Oh, and did I mention it’s ridiculously funny? Well, it is… 
