Hello, Buzz Book Club readers! Holidays on Ice still has me bursting into laughter, how about you?
Here's a recap of how the Book Club goes if you're new: Every week I'll suggest chapters to complete by the next post (which, in this case, will go up every Friday in December). In these weekly Book Club posts, I'll posit a few questions to prompt discussion in the comments section.
Of course, you are always welcome to read beyond the weekly chapters, but please don't spoil anything in the comments! After the jump you'll find some questions that struck me as I read this section.
The next assignment: Read the stories "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol," "Based Upon a True Story," and "Christmas Means Giving." We'll chat about this section a week from today, Dec. 26, when we'll be done with the book and really in the holiday spirit!
To discuss the second section of Holidays on Ice, in which we read the stories titled "Season's Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!" and "Dinah, the Christmas Whore," read more.
- I absolutely love the spoof on yearly Christmas letters. Do you write family Christmas letters every year, or did your family do it growing up? Did/Do you know families that write the sort of letters he's presenting here, in which even the most atrocious things are glossed over with a bright peppiness?
- In "Dinah, the Christmas Whore," David has a few moments when he suddenly sees his sister Lisa in a new light. Have you had those moments when you've suddenly seen sides of your relatives that you had no idea existed?
- Also in "Dinah," David talks about the moment at a party that becomes the moment that everyone will remember — and says the gathering's always downhill from there. Is that idea something you can relate to? Have you had those capital-M Moments at any of your holiday parties this season?
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1) YES!!! I loved this- truly funny to see Sedaris's take on the yearly holiday letter. Sure, it's nice to know what your friends are up to, but after years of pretentious "My son will be going back to Yale," "My daughter received straight A's, yet again," and stuffing all kinds of bragging rights into 1-2 pages, it is refreshing to read a "letter" that uses that same holiday cheer to describe things as they actually are. The point I took away from this, and that perhaps Sedaris is trying to make is...stop shoving the joy of the holiday down our throats. Christmas isn't the best time of year it's cracked up to be for everyone; in fact, its quite often the opposite. =P
2) Absolutely, and again...most often during the holidays. My dad gets worried about money, my brother feels claustrophobic with all of the family closeness, we're forced to see relatives we don't want to see- it is truly the best and worst of times (and personalities).
3) I haven't had a "Moment" yet this year, but I feel Sedaris on this one. In his own unique way, he conveys something we all feel- at some point, the holiday has to end. At some point, you're going to have to take down the Christmas tree and throw out the eggnog. Same logic with the weekends- you can still enjoy Sundays because you have them off, but a part of you is depressed knowing you have to go to work the next day.
1Sedaris' spoof on Christmas letters is absolutely brilliant! I laughed until I cried, remembering that when I was younger our family always received a three page xeroxed letter from an acquaintance (not a close friend) that detailed the illness(and sometimes deaths)of family members and pets, accidents, tragedies and other mishaps--but always in an upbeat tone. My parents and I could not wait to read the letter aloud and (guiltily) laugh at some of the most absurd details of the tragedies that befell the family during the past year. Seriously, it almost read like the chapter in the book. Why, we would wonder, would anyone want to share these details with all but their closest friends? Though we would feel awful for laughing, we had to admit that, as my dad always said, "Christmas wasn't Christmas until we got THE letter."
While I've never written a mass letter at Christmas, I do write personal notes to friends who like to get the updates about children, work, and travel. I do admire those friends and relatives who can masterfully write a letter that is meaningful and inclusive since I love to know what is important in the lives of others who I don't see often but about whom I care. But there are limits, and Sedaris spoofs those kinds of letters brilliantly!
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