A riotous collection of memoirs which explores the absurd hilarity of modern life and creates a wickedly incisive portrait of an all-too-familiar world. It takes Sedaris from his humiliating bout with obsessive behaviour in 'A Plague of Tics' to the title story, where he is finally forced to face his naked self in the company of lunatics. At this soulful and moving moment, he brushes cigarette ashes from his pubic hair and wonders what it all means. This remarkable journey into his own life follows a path of self-effacement and a lifelong search for identity leaving himself both under suspicion and over dressed.

David Sedaris's new collection tells a most unconventional life story. It begins with a North Carolina childhood filled with speech therapy classes and unwanted guitar lessons taught by a midget. From budding performance artist to writing teacher in Chicago, his career leads him to New York and eventually, of all places, France. Arriving a "spooky man-child" capable of communicating only through nouns, he is led ever deeper into cultural confusion. Sedaris brings a view and a voice like no other -- "Original, acid, and wild". said the L.A. Times -- to every unforgettable encounter.