Holidays on Ice: Featuring Six New Stories

On the Friday after Thanksgiving 2003, a news report circulated telling us of a woman trampled nearly to death during a mad rush in an early morning sale at her local Wal-Mart. Underneath her bruised and broken body was discovered a sad cardboard box containing an ultra-cheap DVD player, which the store managers kindly put on hold for her.The above story is something that isn't a million miles away from the non-fiction Christmas stories told in HOLIDAYS ON ICE. All these stories have the ring of truth about them even (as in the anecdote I mentioned above) if one suspects that the facts may have been somewhat embellished. It's their inherent believability that makes them funny. But once David Sedaris moves towards outright fiction, his stories are less successful. It feels as though he is constantly trying to outdo himself, making the stories more and more outrageous for fear that the mundane may not be as funny as the shocking.In any case, here are some quick comments on each of the five essays that make up this short collection:"SantaLand Diaries" -- David Sedaris entertains us with his stories of working a terrible job as one of Santa's elves in a Macy's department store. This is the highlight of the collection - a very funny piece indeed. People are funny to Sedaris. From the utterly bizarre people who take on the role of Santa and his elves to the equally strange people who show up to wander through SantaLand, all of them provide us with many laughs."Season's Greetings to Our Friends And Family!!!" -- Not one of the more successful efforts in this collection. Oh, the initial idea is amusing enough, but the execution leaves much to be desired. In short, this is a parody of one of those over the top generic Christmas letters than some people will mail out to everyone they know in an attempt to compress an entire year's worth of news into a single newsletter-sized message. The essay is funnier when it's mocking the little things that go into these communications (the overuse of multiple explanation points, the disturbingly flowery language), but less funny when it tries to tell it's story."Dinah, The Christmas Whore" -- The story of the Sedaris family taking in a lady of the evening. This essay is rather short, and ends up feeling more sweet than funny (though it's definitely amusing)."Front Row Center With Thaddeus Bristol" -- An even shorter essay than the previous offering, but it is hilarious. Yes, one of the more annoying things about the holidays is being dragged to the inevitable children's production of some Christmas themed story. Or, to be more specific, an adult directing a group of unenthusiastic children in a horribly boring play. Sedaris perfectly captures the deep, deep horror that each self-aware member of the audience will experience if forced to attend one of these ghastly affairs."Based Upon a True Story" -- Yikes. I didn't care for this one at all. An amoral television producer comes to a small town on Christmas to ask permission for the filming of a Based On A True Story TV Movie. This might have been much more amusing had Sedaris not beaten us over the head with his satire."Christmas Means Giving" -- Again, a fictional story, and, again, not as successful as the true-life memoirs. This details the escalation that two families undergo in their attempt to become the biggest present-giver in the neighborhood. Sedaris abandons any attempt of subtlety and instead goes for over-the-top laughs.As you may have gathered, all of the stories in this small collection revolve around the holidays, and there's a lot of comedy fruit to be harvested from that time of year. But for as many as he successfully picks, he bludgeons others to pulp. It was a short collection so even the uninteresting pieces don't drag on for too long. HOLIDAYS ON ICE makes for a handy antidote to anyone feeling overwhelmed by the "holiday cheer" that comes around without fail every year at this time.

I have just started reading this book and so far it's enjoyable - I'm guessing it will continue to be entertaining. But buy beware - for ten dollars, it's just a little book. I could never give this book as a gift, it's barely a book. I buy a lot of books, so the over-pricing is a little annoying.

"A mildly amusing collection of satirical stories, some non-fiction, others fiction, wherein Sedaris lets the reader see what it is he thinks the Holidays are all about."Pros: Quick read and some genuinely amusing storiesCons: I understand that the author is a satirist and so none of the stories should be taken seriously but, to be honest, I felt like he was condescending to me. It was a weird feeling to get it from a book and I just felt like I was too immature to "get" the humor.Full Review:A quick and mildly entertaining read from one of, if not, the, most well known satirists, David Sedaris. Holidays on Ice is part memoir and part fiction to create an odd but interesting concept of what the Holiday spirit really means.Some stories, like SantaLand Diaries, Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol and Jesus Shaves had some genuinely entertaining and amusing parts. Sedaris' re-telling of his time working as an Elf in a Department Store "Winter Wonderland" during the Holiday Season in New York is priceless. Front Row was a brutal, scathing review of children's elementary school pageant/holiday plays, which we've all suffered through and Sedaris' "critic" holds nothing back. And Jesus Shaves is more about Easter and how different cultures celebrate it in different ways. The ending line was priceless.Other stories like Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!! and Based Upon a True Story a, I think, were too out there, a little too far fetched as to be believable or, in my opinion, that amusing. Though Seasons Greetings had its amusing moments, since it was basically taking those "holiday newsletters" you get from extended family and turning it on its head, for the most part it just left me feeling kind of horrified. And Based Upon, was just...strange. More or less written as a script that a TV Producer would give to prompt the people of a rundown town to spill the beans on a true "Christmas miracle", I just found myself going through the motions of reading it to get it done.It all probably boils down the fact that my sense of humor is most likely too immature for the likes of Sedaris. Perhaps I should have started with another of his works, like the renowned, Me Talk Pretty One Day, but overall, Holidays on Ice just left me feeling kind of meh. It was a quick read which I appreciated since it gave me something to do during commercial breaks but overall I just wasn't all that impressed.Far be it from me though to dissuade anyone from reading. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys satire and who is looking for something outside of the box.

The holidays bring out something truly special in David Sedaris, making this more a "best of" than a mere holiday book. It's simply brilliant and, as many reviewers have experienced, one of those rare books that may cause you to laugh out loud in spite of yourself. Its only flaw is that it's a short book, but in content it's a giant.Avid NPR listeners will instantly recognize the first essay in this book, "Santaland Diaries"; the author's reading of that story is their single most requested encore. His description of becoming a Christmas Elf at Macy's is a true guilty pleasure; scathingly unkind and screamingly funny. If you ever held an undignified job, this is somehow your story - even if you never (pardon the pun) stooped so low as to play an elf.Sedaris writes like a post-modern Mark Twain, with a dry and piercing wit that drips with charm and cynicism in equal measure. His is the kind of writing that makes me go back to re-read a sentence, a paragraph, even a whole story hoping to savor some particular gem I only wish I'd written. His tone is often dark, even bleak, but there's a wry quality in his stories that lets you know he's really doing it all for effect - setting you up for an even bigger laugh because you know he's enjoying every minute of telling his sad, hilarious stories.Get in on his story now so you can savor the feeling of waiting impatiently for his next book - and there's no better way to start than to read Holidays on Ice.

Bought this having heard David Sedaris on the radio - 5.30 in the morning and a brilliant beginning to the day as I start off laughing. This has only just arrived and have read only the first five pages but know that it'll be a fun read. Yes his wit can be sarcastic but often poignant, I can hear his voice as I read; so glad I bought this.

I have read several of his books in the last few months of lockdown, and I really enjoyed them. However this one is in part, printed in another of his books, where he recounts his exprerience working as an elf in a department store. These are funny tales, but were reproduced in the book as well. Other than that I did like the book.

I bought this having read lots of reviews from other readers and whilst it is a decent, easy read I don't quite understand the adulation from some.It's an amusing book but I found it a little predictable. The book is the story / notes of the time David Sedaris spent as an elf during a Christmas season at Macy's. In it he covers off the mixture of families and individuals? that visit Santa and how he tries to avoid the boredom of being an Elf.I have not read anything else by this writer (maybe this is not his best work) and whilst this isn't bad I really expected something funnier from a scenario which I believe could be really funny.

Bought as it was a book club book. Collection of short stories. Some stories are funny.

Being a fan of the author I was intriqued to read a book or two, having got 2 audio tapes. I am about halfway Santaland Diaries, and it doesn't disappoint, my only grumble is that it's a very short read (perhaps I should have taken notice of the amount of pages). I do find myself agreeing with his muses and always laugh out loud. In time I will probably purchase another book, A good introduction to new David Sedaris fans starting out.