I don't quite get the people who say this isn't as funny as his other books- I thought it was plenty funny. The comment about having a 400 dollar sweater that looked like it had been thrown to a tiger and thus was already ruined and incapable of being further ruined.. that made me laugh. And saying a cracker tasted like penis. And lots of little one-liners. But what's really awesome about his stuff is that it's MORE than just a bunch of one-liners. He really is a very observant, intelligent, hilarious writer. I think.Admittedly a few times he seemed to kind of go.. off track, and there were all these little asides that didn't seem to be related to the main theme, or whatever. So, I guess, some of the essays were a bit less cohesive than usual. But, he can pull it off. I could listen to him ramble about anything.Also I LOVE his descriptions of his relationship with Hugh. It's so awesome that he can complain so much about his partner and yet do so in a way that indicates clearly that he is deeply in love with him. It's adorable.Oh, and speaking of adorable. I listened to the audio-book version of this, too. If you haven't heard Sedaris read his work, you're missing out. He's excellent..Also: Because I'm a spaz for Chip Kidd I have to say this: he designed the cover ISN'T IT AWESOME? I think it's really apt for this book, because, besides several literal references to skeletons and smoking in this book.. I think it captures the overall mood.. there is a lot of reference to death, but it's all relatively lighthearted and humorous.. as is an image of a skeleton smoking a cigarette. Kind of awesomely dark and a bit morbid, I think.

A solid and damn near close to that we'll settle for ½. But then again, I'm a serious Sedaris fiend.When You Are Engulfed In Flames makes Sedaris' previous collection, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, seem like a disaster, a complete train wreck. Which is unfair because I think that Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is a strong collection with some exemplary essays. And also because I get the feeling that it was a more personal werk for him, that he's a bit more exposed and vulnerable in those essays.Thematically, When You Are Engulfed In Flames is a reprise of Me Talk Pretty One Day -- highly focused on language and style, on the humanity of humiliation and (to echo some other reviewers) those dark places where our sentimentality tends to get the best of us. But it's a counterpoint melody to Me Talk Pretty One Day -- arrogant where the other was modest, chagrined where the other took delight.Structurally, this collection is an echo of Naked, though a bit more mature. As I wrote of DFW's Consider the Lobster, the essays are arranged well, jokes from earlier essays recurring, serving to inform your tittering later on. That said, the individual essays seem to follow a rhythm that is new for Sedaris. If this were an elementary school music class, I would say that his earlier essays have a rhyme scheme that goes ABAB, these are turned more toward ABCA.But if you're reading this, it's probably because you were curious what I thought of When You Are Engulfed In Flames. By now, you (dear reader) have already made up your mind about David Sedaris and have either worked your way through this collection or else long ago discarded him, irrelevant as an expended filter tip.

Another exceptional work by Mr. Sedaris. Kept me laughing from beginning to end.