Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

by David Sedaris

I didn't like this book much. And it's not just because I had forgotten how crude Sedaris can be. Despite it's small, compact size and the cute cover illustration, these stories are not for children. It's a bunch of short stories, 'modern fables' Sedaris wrote, with animal characters that act and talk a lot like people. They're dark. Unpleasant, wry and snarky. I didn't laugh out loud once. Several times I was left scratching my head- expecting just a bit more to wrap up a tale. Especially the last one about the hippo and the owl- I really wanted to know what that exploring gerbil found. The story about the lamb and the crow was disturbing, the one about a mouse with a pet snake overly predictable, the storks arguing about what nonsense to tell their children about where babies come from, kinda lame. There's a dying rat in a lab, an Irish setter dog whose mate wonders if he's cheating when his owners take him to be bred to other females, a brutal rabbit who wants to safeguard his part of the forest with a ridiculous gate. Makes his point well. It was mildly amusing in an uncomfortable way, but I probably won't read this book again. The animals act too much like dissatisfied people, and too many of the stories leave me hanging.

Rating: 2/5       159 pages, 2010

more opinions:
She Treads Softly
Boston Bibliophile
a good stopping point
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