When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

I've never read humorist type books before and I was a little surprise to laugh to myself at points in this book. I think "The Understudy" narrative in this book was the funniest and probably one of the only few bits of reading by a professional writer that I felt fully captivated by for the sake of humor. The narrative essay is an interesting form in that you think the piece is just going on and if it did just go on tangents it would be entertaining in itself but I was surprised to find pieces tie back in with the beginning again. The ending of the "The smoking Section" an extended narrative of sorts about quitting smoking did this trick in that you think it goes on a 2 page tangent about throwing trash away but winds up again for an instant in the very end on Sedaris talking about throwing away a cigarette and how he couldn't do it in that not he was afraid of the germs but afraid of the feeling he would get of holding one. I remember one of these tie backs felt a little forced and I always think if they are necessary to perhaps to provide a pithy punch line at the end like a cherry on top or to actually get his last final thought in.
The amount of detail Sedaris uses in his narratives is great. It was interesting to hear how he did it in his book in that he carried a note pad everywhere then transcribed it to his journal and mentioned basically that his narratives are like really cleaned up journal entries. His last journal was interesting in that he included short staccato notes like they were from a notepad and journal entries. It felt really personal and yet there was this playful type organization that was fun to think about in that the shorter more informal parts blended well with the longer more narrative like parts. The whole chapter revolved around his quitting smoking but he told it from a day to day basis and in two different countries. I was confused if the sole purpose of going to Japan was to quit smoking and for how long he stayed there but the whole chapter was great to get just how much of his life ran like a body around a spine of tangents, his daily actions, to replace smoking with something else. I'm also currently trying to kick a habit of my own and could relate to some of the pains.
It was also interesting to focus the title of this book about an instance in the last chapter. It makes me wonder if there was a theme running through the whole book. When I was done reading a chapter and there was a sort of reconnecting with the beginning it made me wonder if I could go back and reread it with the perspective brought on in the end. It also makes me wonder if he actually did try to tie the whole book around this theme of quitting and smoking and if the other stories he told would fall more into place with the perspective of his last narrative. Just being able to hold this book in my hands is kind of satisfying looking at the cover and title as symbols a large chunk of his lifetime that he was feeling could be worked through and looks nicely packaged and organized in a way, Knowing inside it contains a ginormous amount of note taking he did on a daily basis.