Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary

David Sedaris

Sep 2010 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this ebook

Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life.

In "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck," three strangers commiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. In "Hello Kitty," a cynical feline struggles to sit through his prison-mandated AA meetings. In "The Squirrel and the Chipmunk," a pair of star-crossed lovers is separated by prejudiced family members.

With original illustrations by Ian Falconer, author of the bestselling Olivia series of children's books, these stories are David Sedaris at his most observant, poignant, and surprising.

Ratings and reviews

The stories are very clever and the writing is quite good as per usual in Mr. Sedaris's work. These stories are quite dark though; if your sense of humor is built upon pillars of darkness this might be the book for you. I prefer his earlier books. Please take a look at the publisher's review below. This is a piece of marketing that has little resemblance to the words in this book (at least not the "hilarity and heart" and "utter delight" parts. Me thinks something is amiss here. "Hachette Digital, Inc., 2010 - Fiction - 176 pages Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life..."

Mr. Sedaris has moved outside of his comfort zone with this piece. I will not report what a lot of other reviewers have already wrote. I will say that after several excellent books he has written with "hey! look at me!" at there core, he has moved away from the use of the narcissistic mortar here. So we are left with weak clay holding the thing together instead. It is a nice change of pace in some ways but it simply does not work for me. I hope this book is a bridge to a new place for David. I look forward to learning of that place, and am so happy myself to have these words behind me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Yes it's dark & very out there, but you just have to see it for what it is. If you were a fan of Rocky & Bullwinkle's Twisted Fairy Tales you'll get this. It's hilarious

About the author

David Sedaris was born in Binghamton, New York on December 26, 1956, but he grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Much of Sedaris' humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and it often concerns his family life, his middle class upbringing in the suburbs of North Carolina. He graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1987. He is a popular radio commentator, essayist, and short story writer. He held many part-time and odd jobs before getting a job reading excerpts from his diaries on National Public Radio in 1992. His first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, was published in 1994. His other works include Naked, Holidays on Ice, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002), and Calypso. Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2001. He has also written several plays with his sister Amy Sedaris including Stump the Host, Stitches, and The Little Frieda Mysteries. In 2014 her title, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, made The New York Times Best Seller List.