Ms. Hen reviews When You Are Engulfed in Flames

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

David Sedaris

Little, Brown and Company

2008

Ms. Hen has read a David Sedaris book before, when she spent time in France. She was talked into reading ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY because a lot of it is about France. She does not read essays that much, but she enjoyed that book, so when she found this book at a Little Free Library near where she lives, she scooped it up. She thinks she might try to become a spokesperson for the Little Free Libraries, since she goes to so many and continuously finds great books to read. She would like to get paid well for doing this, so she wouldn’t have to work at a normal job.

This collection of essays reminded Ms. Hen of how strange and funny David Sedaris truly is. She thinks that if she met him, she would like him. She doesn’t think this of many writers. Ms. Hen is a strange hen herself, and she gravitates toward weirdoes, or chickens with similar types of feathers.

This collection deals with the dark side of life, but with a humorous twist. All of the essays have to do with death in one form or another. One of Ms. Hen’s favorites is “Memento Mori,” an essay about the time the author bought a genuine skeleton for his partner, and it haunted him when they hung it in the bedroom. The skeleton seemed to remind him that he was going to die. This is hilarious, but sad at the same time. Memento Mori is a Latin expression meaning remember you must die. This essay spooked Ms. Hen because she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a real skeleton in her bedroom.

Another that Ms. Hen liked is “April in Paris,” which is about the author’s obsession with spiders, and one particular spider that he adopted and fed flies to entertain himself, whom he dubbed April. They were living in Normandy, and decided to take April to Paris, but there weren’t enough flies to feed his favorite spider in the big city, so April was distressed. When they got back to Normandy, she ran off, leaving her owner upset over her disappearance. Ms. Hen thinks this is weird, but the story stuck in her head. How many people actually love spiders enough to make one into a pet and take it to Paris? Not many.

The last essay in the book, “The Smoking Section,” is the longest in the collection, and is all about the author’s history of smoking and the process of quitting. He decides to travel to Japan to stay there for a while to see if that will help him quit. Ms. Hen thinks it’s strange to quit smoking in Japan because she understands that everyone smokes there, but the author does a lot of strange things, so this does not surprise her. He writes about trying to learn Japanese and failing, and also about the Japanese mannerisms, such as humility and putting others first all the time which Ms. Hen found fascinating. He quit smoking, which Ms. Hen has learned is more difficult that stopping drinking or heroin.

Ms. Hen thinks this book is fantastic. She believes in the power of humor, and wishes there were more humorous writers that she could enjoy. Life is difficult, but why shouldn’t we laugh at ourselves? If we don’t laugh, we could end up crying, and there’s no point in that.