Sedaris, David. (1998). Naked. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 291 pp.

Grade Range: 10-12

Genre: nonfiction

Summary and Critique

In this hilarious memoir, David Sedaris describes his adolescence while growing up in suburban North Carolina. The tales of family dysfunction and personal humiliation seem too funny not to be exaggerated but are certainly stranger than fiction. Sedaris showcases the quirks that make coming of age painful at the time and hilarious in hindsight. The early essays recall Sedaris'early obsessive behavior in school (what is now thought to have been Tourette's syndrome), the cultural gap between his Greek grandparents and his American family, and the first explorations of his homosexuality. The last essays depicts a more mature Sedaris remembering hitchhiking adventures with a quadriplegic college roommate, the death of his mother, and his experience at a nudist colony. The end result is a collection of memoirs that are as poignant as they are side-splitting.

Written with a familiar, confessional style that is often tongue in cheek, the essays of this memoir are perfect for reading silently or aloud. Sedaris'words paint vivid pictures of experiences that are both outrageous and familiar. The book is popular with adults for its sharp humor and deft writing, and would be a great addition to high school English classes for the same reason. However, due to drug and sexual content, some essays are better suited for the classroom than others. "Chipped Beef,""A Plague of Tics," and"The Drama Bug" could be used as they appear in Naked. The other stories could be used after editing a few lines or sentences.

Themes/Topics

Families

Friends and Enemies

Generations

Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

Challenges and Triumphs

Love, Sex, and Romance

Author/Illustrator/Editor Information

David Sedaris is a radio humorist for National Public Radio's This American Life. He is the author of other bestselling essay collections, including Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. In the past, Sedaris and his sister Amy collaborated to create successful off-Broadway plays. Sedaris'essays also frequently appear in The New Yorker and Esquire.

For more information on David Sedaris:

http://www.barclayagency.com/sedaris.html The web site of the talent agency representing David Sedaris. It includes biographical information, reviews, articles, interviews, audio files, and a speaking engagement calendar.

Media Connections

Movies/Documentaries

Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986) The film portrays the coming-of-age of Eugene Jerome, a Jewish boy living in a poor, crowded house with his extended family in the 1940s.

Radio Days (1987) A nostalgic look at the radio as the main form of entertainment in the 1940s. It focuses on its effects on the members of a Jewish family.

Beautiful Thing (1996) In London's lower class suburbs, two homosexual teenagers experience their first love.

What's Cooking? (2000) A tense Thanksgiving in LA's Fairfax district unites Jewish, Vietnamese, African-American, and Latino families.

Monsoon Wedding (2001) A modern, upper-class Indian family is preparing for the arranged wedding of one of the daughters.

Bend it Like Beckham (2002) A young Indian girl desires to join the Women's United Soccer Association despite her traditional parents'disapproval.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) An amusing cultural struggle ensues when a Greek-American woman from a very traditional Greek family becomes engaged to an American man.

Television

Malcolm in the Middle – any episode (family relationships)

My So-Called Life – any episode (coming-of-age and friend and family relationships)

Music/Audio Recordings

"Family Business." Lyrics by Kanye West. From College Dropout. 2004. (An African-American rapper dedicates this reflection about family relationships and memories to his cousin in prison.)

Online Resources

http://www.scarleteen.com/ Information on an array of teen sexual health issues.

http://www.gayteens.org/ Education and support for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning Teens and their families.

http://familyeducation.com/home/ Numerous articles about maintaining healthy family relationships. It includes information about communication, parenting, and childhood development issues from kindergarten to high school.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/ A veteran English teacher's web site containing many great literature, writing, and poetry lesson plans.

http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/summerinstitute/modules/mwrubel/Memior/ An educational Web site about the elements of effective memoirs. It contains links to memoirs that students can read and analyze.

http://www.sothere.com/ A shared experience Web site that provides a forum for people to write about somewhat personal issues. This site can be used as the basis for a great writing assignment.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jhholly/pnarrative.html This web site offers a collection of thought-provoking personal narrative prompts teachers can use.

Related Texts

Angelou, Maya. (1970). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House, 281pp. African-American poet Maya Angelou's memoir of childhood in 1930s rural Arkansas. The book's style, as well as race and gender issues, would be interesting points of comparison and contrast with Naked.

Thomas, Rob. (1997). Slave Day. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 188pp. The story of Slave Day, a high school fundraiser disrupted by African-American student Keene Davenport. Keene's protest antics and the experiences of other students at the school make Slave Day unforgettable. This story is told in alternating first-person narratives by Keene, school jocks, nerds, members of the popular crowd, and teachers.

Chbosky, Stephen. (1999). The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket Books, 213pp. The poignant story of a shy boy named Charlie and his freshman year of high school. Charlie relates his experiences through letters he writes to an unknown person.

Soehnlein, K.M. (2000). The World of Normal Boys. New York: Kensington Publishing Corporation, 282pp. The story of Robin McKenzie, a gay teenage boy growing up in the late 1970s. This story's themes of sexuality and coming-of-age make this a great book to supplement Naked.

Hidier, Tanuja Desai. (2002). Born Confused. New York: Scholastic Press, 413pp. Dimple Lala is an Indian-American teenager growing up in New Jersey. She feels caught between the American culture she has grown up in and her parents'traditional Indian culture. This story's cultural issues would be interesting to compare and contrast with those in Naked.

Cart, Michael (Ed). (2003). Necessary Noise: Stories About Our Families as They Really Are. New York: HarperTempest, 239pp. This young-adult short-story anthology from some of today's best young-adult novelists includes eleven stories about a variety of family issues in numerous diverse families. Stories of families of different races, cultures, sizes, and types inspire readers to ponder the joys and challenges of family relationships.

Alter, Cathy (Ed.). (2004). Virgin Territory: Stories from the Road to Womanhood. New York: Three Rivers Press, 224pp. A collection of short personal narratives by women of all ages, races, and cultures about the unforgettable first times of womanhood.

Rachel, T. Cole and Rita D. Costello (Eds). (2004). Bend, Don't Shatter: Poets on the Beginning of Desire. New York: Red Rattle Books, 111pp. This young-adult poetry anthology addresses the budding sexuality of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teenagers with sensitivity and acceptance. Teenage students of all sexual orientations can relate to these poems.

Teaching Ideas

(1) "The Case Study" Have each student imagine that he or she is a psychiatrist and one of the characters from the book is his or her patient. After careful observation of the patient at three meetings, the psychiatrist will need to diagnose the patient's conflicts and problems. Next, the psychiatrist will develop a treatment program to help the patient resolve or alleviate his/her problems. Students will need to take notes about their patients and should use descriptions from the text when appropriate. Notes should consist of (1) Description of character at first meeting, including physical appearance, behavior, and mental state. (2) Family background with notes on parents, siblings, and home environment. (3) Educational and social background of character. (4) Description of character at second meeting. (5) Description of character at third meeting. (6) Description of character's diagnosis. (7) The conclusion of the character's diagnosis. Did the character's problems get treated? Why or why not?

[Summarized from "The Case Study" by Mamie Hoskins in Ideas Plus Book 3. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1985, pp. 25-26.]

(2) "Remember?" Have each student make a sensory inventory of memories of elementary school. Put a large sheet of butcher paper on the chalkboard and have each student write one memory on it. Once there is a large list of memories, have each student make a poem with specific sensory images. The first line of the poem should be the title and the last line should be a summary of the memories.

[Summarized from "Remember?" by Richard Harmston in Ideas Plus Book 3. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1985, pp. 61-62.]

(3) "Write What You Mean" Prepare two sentences or short paragraphs. One sentence/paragraph should include several activities, but no descriptive adverbs or adjectives, such as "The girl stood in the yard and watched the boy play with the dog." The second sentence/paragraph should be a descriptive version of the first sentence/paragraph using adverbs and adjectives, such"The tall, thin girl stood in the small, overgrown yard and watched the chubby, two-year-old boy play with the scruffy dog." Read the first paragraph aloud and ask students to draw what the words make them see. Next, read the second paragraph and ask students to draw what the words make them see. Compare and contrast the two paragraphs and drawings. Discuss how descriptive language enhances writing. [Summarized from "Write What You Mean" by Judy E. Neal in Ideas Plus Book 19. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2001, pp. 9-10.]

(Review written by Amanda Green and edited by Jennifer E. Moore)