Theft by Finding

Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF. While using a diary to flesh out a biography, or mining your own for story or essay ideas is perfectly legit, the idea of publishing your own for public consumption seems a little full of yourself. This is my first Sedaris book and obviously not the best intro. While I admire his ability to find a snarky observation in daily life, I found him very unlikeable. He’s in his late 20s blowing any good money he makes on drugs and alcohol. He observes people being abused, humiliated, or hopeless and seems to only use their pain for his amusement...no empathy or desire to make things better, just wry observation. I thought maybe it would chronicle his change and rise to the “great” essayist he is revered to be, but halfway through I was only more and more ambivalent and wondered why I was wasting my time with his uninspiring minutiae, so I quit.

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