Editorial Reviews
Product Description
David Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess. Whether he is contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings populism of Hooters Air; working as a cabana boy at a South Beach hotel; or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot—where he is provided with his very own personal manservant—rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly skewered. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. Simultaneously a Wildean satire and a plea for a little human decency, Don’t Get Too Comfortable shows that far from being bobos in paradise, we’re in a special circle of gilded-age hell.
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Customer Reviews Read 43 more reviews...
Fun, breezy look at life in the 21st century. October 21, 2008
Joseph C. Sweeney (Portland, Maine)
David Rakoff's collection of short essays is an enjoyable romp through various adventures in modern America and Europe. He skewers everyone he meets, including himself. If you like David Sedaris style humor, you will enjoy this book!
fabulous!! September 5, 2008
Mary
david is funny, and smart and sweet, all at the same time. i love his writing.
What exactly was the point of this? August 29, 2008
Jezebel
Not good. I actually stopped reading and returned it to the bookstore about halfway through. Most of it was just meaningless; I'd reach the end of a chapter and wonder "What was the point of that?" While there were definitely funny parts, they were too few and far between. I expected witty social commentary, but all I got was pointless anecdotes and pretentious language. If I could describe the book in one word, it would be "self-indulgent"; I suspect that Rakoff is the type of person who talks just to hear the sound of his own voice.
Best of breed March 21, 2008
Justin F. Gaynor
David Rakoff is, by far, the funniest of the genre created by David Sedaris. At least, I certainly think so, when he notes that Hooters girls look like "olympic athletes representing the tackiest nation on earth, which they kind of are" or notes that what he seeks in a vacation destination are "a melancholy populace given to creating monochrome woodcuts of hollow-eyed women sitting disconsolate in shabby rooms with their dinners in tin trays before them." If you don't find this at all funny, maybe these books aren't for you.
Very Funny September 7, 2007
nettie hartsock (Austin, TX)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book's writer has some very humorous insights into how the luxury we all live in is often taken for granted and he finds a great way to portray that in his essays. I also like Lloyd Dangle's latest book "Troubletown" as it presents the misguided adventures of our current leadership in a humorous yet insightful fashion as well. Troubletown Told You So: Comics that Could've Saved Us from this Mess
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