Holidays on Ice is a collection of three previously published stories matched with three newer ones, all, of course, on a Christmas theme. David Sedaris's darkly playful humor is another common thread through the book, worming its way through "Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!" a chipper suburban Christmas letter that spirals dizzily out of control, and "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol," a vicious theatrical review of children's Christmas pageants. As always, Sedaris's bes... (show more)
Holidays on Ice is a collection of three previously published stories matched with three newer ones, all, of course, on a Christmas theme. David Sedaris's darkly playful humor is another common thread through the book, worming its way through "Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!" a chipper suburban Christmas letter that spirals dizzily out of control, and "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol," a vicious theatrical review of children's Christmas pageants. As always, Sedaris's best work is his sharply observed nonfiction, notably in "Dinah, the Christmas Whore," the tale of a memorable Christmas during which the young Sedaris learns to see his family in a new light. Worth the price of the book alone is the hilarious "SantaLand Diaries," Sedaris's chronicle of his time working as an elf at Macy's, covering everything from the preliminary group lectures ("You are not a dancer. If you were a real dancer you wouldn't be here. You're an elf and you're going to wear panties like an elf.") to the perils of inter-elf flirtation. Along the way, he paints a funny and sad portrait of the way the countless parents who pass through SantaLand are too busy creating an Experience to really pay attention to their children. In a sly way, it carries a holiday message all its own. Read it aloud to the adults after the kids have gone to bed. --Ali Davis (show less)
Photo Gallery
You might like these
Another wonderful Sedaris read! This one is a collection of stories previously published in his other books, as well as some new ones, all relatin... (show more)
Another wonderful Sedaris read! This one is a collection of stories previously published in his other books, as well as some new ones, all relating to the holidays. David Sedaris is one of the few authors whose works make me laugh out loud.
My favorite story of his is called "Six to Eight Black Men," and it describes how different Christmas traditions are elsewhere. The title comes from a conversation he has with a Dutchman, who claims that St. Nicholas dresses like the pope and lives in Spain; also, instead of elves, he brings six to eight black men with him. If a child has been bad, St. Nicholas and his men will beat the child.
"A Dutch parent has a decidedly hairier story to relate," he writes, "telling his children, 'Listen, you might want to pack a few of your things together before going to bed. The former bishop of Turkey will be coming tonight, along with six to eight black men. They might put some candy in your shoes, they might stuff you into a sack and take you to Spain, or they might just pretend to kick you. We don't know for sure, but we want you to be prepared'" (151). (show less)
The first story, “SantaLand Diaries,” is hilarious and the only reason this book gets any stars. It is Sedaris’ experience of being an elf at Macy... (show more)
The first story, “SantaLand Diaries,” is hilarious and the only reason this book gets any stars. It is Sedaris’ experience of being an elf at Macy’s in New York City. I laughed out loud several times as I read this story and read the highlights to my husband. It is amazing the way that people treat their children and the way that they treat the people who work as Santa and the elves.
Unfortunately, after this first story, the book went downhill. The other Sedaris stories of holiday experiences during his life were pretty good, although none lived up to “SantaLand Diaries.” The stories where Sedaris veered off into fiction were quite terrible in my opinion. I understand that Sedaris was trying to be ironic about different things, but the death of children is never funny. And it kept popping up throughout the fictional stories. I found myself quite disgusted.
Overall, I really enjoyed the first story, but I could have skipped the middle section of the novel and been quite happy. (show less)
Most of us are David Sedaris fans so there were many positive reviews of most of the stories. Sedaris does write dark humor and that came out squarely in a couple of the stories especially "Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!". Some of us found this to be Sedaris's typical humor while others found it a little too dark - offering up children to appear more giving than the neighbor. It was outrageous enough to see beyond the dark, however, understandable that when it com... (show more)
Most of us are David Sedaris fans so there were many positive reviews of most of the stories. Sedaris does write dark humor and that came out squarely in a couple of the stories especially "Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!". Some of us found this to be Sedaris's typical humor while others found it a little too dark - offering up children to appear more giving than the neighbor. It was outrageous enough to see beyond the dark, however, understandable that when it comes to children some topics are not funny. While the stories are humorous there is some dark hidden truth lurking behind the humor that warrants reflection. If you find yourself in one of the stories, don't be surprised. Women :-| - The subject or author pertains to women. Some of the stories centered around women.
Short :-)) - The book can be read in a short period of time or is easily picked up or put down without missing the story. Lots of short stories easy to read in short sittings.
Atlanta :-( - The topic, author or setting has some Southern roots.
Depth :-) - The book captures and holds the reader. If you didn't capture the depth re read a story and see if you don't catch it the second time around.
Recommend :-) - Would you recommend this book. Yes especially to Sedaris fans.
Bookshelf :-) (show less)
Already read
I love David Sedaris, but honestly this particular compilation of short stories was beyond dark.
(1) "SantaLand Diaries." By far the funniest of the bunch. This is an extremely comical recollection of time spent working as a Macy's Santa elf. The essay has a rather abrupt ending, but it'll make you laugh out loud.
(2) "Season's Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!!" Here the collection already starts to take a toll for the morbid and frightening. Written in a holiday... (show more)
I love David Sedaris, but honestly this particular compilation of short stories was beyond dark.
(1) "SantaLand Diaries." By far the funniest of the bunch. This is an extremely comical recollection of time spent working as a Macy's Santa elf. The essay has a rather abrupt ending, but it'll make you laugh out loud.
(2) "Season's Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!!" Here the collection already starts to take a toll for the morbid and frightening. Written in a holiday-letter form by a desperate, murderous housewife this story stretches the limits of dark humor to places that are just wrong. Infanticide + attempt at humor = bad, not funny.
(3) Dinah, the Christmas Whore. Sedaris almost redeemed himself. Almost. The story was okay. It wasn't a laugh-out-loud tale like "SantaLand," but it was decent.
(4) "Front Row Center." At least it's short. In this short story, a "reporter" gives reviews for all the Christmas-themed school pageants. Kinda creepy that someone would go to all of them, and there's only so much kid-acting-bashing one can take. Guess that's why it was short
(5) "Based Upon a True Story." This was absolutely criminal. A TV producer pays the local town preacher off in order to give one of the most insulting, degrading, soul-less "sermons" in history.
(6) "Christmas Means Giving." This one had potential. Sedaris at least was creative in his exaggerations. However, it did seem once again to go a little over the line.
These essays had potential. The biggest problem was that Sedaris frequently confused sarcasm with humor. It won't exactly put you in the Christmas spirit, but if you like Sedaris, you'll probably still manage to find ways to like the book. (show less)
Already read
This book has been added to these lists:
LivingSocial.com is a social discovery and cataloging network that allows people to review and share their favorite movies, books, games, music, restaurants and beer
Add Bookmark
