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    Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary
    Unavailable
    Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary
    Unavailable
    Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary
    Audiobook3 hours

    Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary

    Published by Hachette Audio

    Narrated by Elaine Stritch, Siân Phillips and Dylan Baker

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life.

    In "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck," three strangers commiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. In "Hello Kitty," a cynical feline struggles to sit through his prison-mandated AA meetings. In "The Squirrel and the Chipmunk," a pair of star-crossed lovers is separated by prejudiced family members.

    With original illustrations by Ian Falconer, author of the bestselling Olivia series of children's books, these stories are David Sedaris at his most observant, poignant, and surprising.

    A Hachette Audio production.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateSep 28, 2010
    ISBN9781607886464
    Unavailable
    Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary

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    Reviews for Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

    3.5/5

    1,012 ratings109 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Trademark offbeat and scurrilous observations from Sedaris applied to the cutesy world of animals. Stylish, rather cruel, but always ingenious: "I tried to tamp down my disappointment. How can you not want to know what your parasites are talking about? I wondered."
    • 3/5
      A quick fun read.
    • 4/5
      This was "hit or miss" for many readers. I enjoyed listening to it. I found the stories, while occasionally bizarre and cruel, funny, well-crafted, and entertaining. It's like The Wind in the Willows for us with bent senses of humor. I won't apologize for it and don't look down on those who didn't appreciate it. Each to her own.
    • 3/5
      Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk is a fable on amphetamine and licorice. Sedaris strikes the right chord with his sardonic depiction of woodland creatures emulating human role plays whilst imparting the acumen of logic and prejudicial edification that we seem to adhere with cynical normality.
    • 3/5
      Some of these stories didn't work for me. They went a little too far with the concept of animals displaying humanity's worst traits and lost the satire perspective and just became sad. That said it was still Sedaris' usually humor and it was only three discs. Enjoyed the other narrators too.
    • 2/5
      I wonder very much if I would have liked this book better had it not been written by Dave Sedaris. I thoroughly love his short-story anecdotes, and reading a few books' worth of them has him firmly pigeon-holed in my head into the "hilarity" category. though this book remains in the short-story format, it's most definitely rarely approaching anything resembling hilarity.

      a dozen or so stories in the format of fables (i.e., anthropomorphic animals have some distinctly human desires), some of them bring a smile to your face, but not much is really LOLsome, and a few are downright uncomfortably gross or cruel. additionally, framing these as fables had my mind primed for the pithy final "life lesson", and few delivered on that front, either. a few gems are to be had, but for the most part we're learning the various ways that people are fools or assholes, and I kinda already knew that.
    • 4/5
      Definitely liked this better than Sedaris' biographical essays, which I don't dislike but find a little off-putting in how much family laundry he airs. These short stories have his wry cynicism and clever phrasing without the discomfort of knowing just how badly damaged he himself is. (This is not to imply I don't eagerly get on the request list for an audio version each time he releases a new book.)

      While some stories are ultimately forgettable, there are still others that will resonate for a long time, if not for their content than just for their phrasing. Referring to a snake "with a belly full of unconditional love"? That, I'm going to remember.
    • 2/5
      Sedaris' fiction just doesn't thrill me the way his memoir stuff does. Plus, I don't like reading about animals taking on the bad points of human behavior. Animals are so much better than that.
    • 4/5
      This is an odd little book. But then David Sedaris is a little odd himself. I've read a few of his books and enjoyed them but this one, well it's different.I think if I had taken a degree in English literature I might be able to find all kinds of meanings in these stories but, as I'm a science geek, I just read them for their entertainment value. I think my favourite story was the last one, The Grieving Owl. A Great Horned Owl lost his mate and now seeks to find knowledge, not love or food. He will let something he has caught go free if he can learn something from the prey. That's how he found out that there is a type of leech that can only live in the anus of a hippo. He goes to the zoo to see if this is true and becomes friendly with the hippo who does have leeches. And those leeches are having a wonderful time in her anus, singing away at top volume. The hippo wants them out. When the owl picks up a gerbil who likes tight enclosed spaces he realizes he has found a way to help his friend the hippo. Meanwhile his family is following him around and scooping up the prey that he lets go. He's a "Great" Horned Owl and the rest of his family are "Not So Great" Horned Owls.My book club chose this book to read for January 2013. It will be interesting to see what others thought of this book which is quite different from anything else we have read.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book, I think more people would enjoy it if they didn't take the book and themselves so seriously. David Sedaris, had me laughing at each story especially when I realized that "Squirrel seeks Chipmunk" is just a basic retelling of how awful and wonderful humans can be.
    • 4/5
      A collection of wickedly funny stories by David Sedaris as he channels Aesop and his Fables to milk-snorting effect. A must-read for folks who believe in the nobility of "Nature's Screechers" (as Walt Kelly phrased it in "Pogo"). News flash, people: animals have all our faults and foibles, and more. With very apt and funny illustrations by Ian Falconer, who wrote and illustrated the "Olivia" children's books.
    • 3/5
      I've been wanting to read this for a while now. The title got me interested. I managed to pick it up at my local library resale. Before I read it I looked at some of the reviews and none of them were very good. I guess I have a twisted sense of humor because I saw some humor in quite a few of this collection of short stories. I could see the "people" in them. I would recommend this book for a fast read to people who can handle seeing the worst in people.
    • 3/5
      Not my favorite David Sedaris. I admire the creativity and some stories were better than others but overall this was not his best effort. Hopefully all of the profits will go to charity. This sort of reminds when Woody Allen tried some experimentation that didn't work. I look forward to Sedaris returning to what he does best.
    • 1/5
      I like David Sedaris. I would even go so far as to call myself a fan. This, however, is godawful dreck. I cracked one smile throughout this book, which is mercifully short. It took me an hour to read, and I was ready to give up after fifteen minutes, but as I was stuck in a hospital room with an IV in me at the time, I figured I'd plow through. Not only was it painfully unfunny, but it was needlessly gross. And believe me, I like gross-out humor, when I'm expecting it. So maybe if you read this review and are aware that some of this is disgusting, you might find it slightly more humorous than I did. Let's hope he makes a quick return to form.
    • 4/5
      David Sedaris is a wonderful observer of human behavior. In this volume of short stories, he replaces humans with different animals such as storks, squirrels, chipmunks, toads, chickens, snakes, mice, hippos and owls but bestows on them human characteristics. These animals are placed in situations ranging including AA meetings, kidnappings, dealing with bureaucratic process and having to experience discrimination, preconceived prejudices, jealousy, arrogance or fear.He presents animals with human thoughts and emotions, and while some of the stories are funny, there are some stories which expose the dark side of humanity. His choice of animals in some of the stories to represent certain human behavior are emphasized in certain stereotypical characteristics we attach to those animals.It's a clever collection of insightful stories.
    • 4/5
      I LOVE books that make me laugh out loud. Imagine Aesop's fables sprinkled with a sick, twisted sense of humor and plenty of blood and guts. I would recommend the audio version, because I can't imagine that it would sound as good in my head as it does with these narrators reading it.
    • 3/5
      Currently reading "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk"
    • 3/5
      Strange yet interesting twists on interactions between human written from the perspective of animals
    • 2/5
      If you are attracted to the idea of crossing Kill Bill with Aesop's fables, then you'll probably enjoy this book. I gave up on it halfway through, when it started to look like each story would become bloodier than the last. I'm not into blood and guts in any measure, so this book was not for me at all.
    • 4/5
      An interesting take on animal personification, told in a fable-esque type of short story vignettes. David Sedaris can be really funny, but can also be so in a crude sort of way. Some of these fables ended rather morbidly, but hey -- so goes the life of the animal world. This was good on audio -- a varied cast of readers, but I thought Elaine Stritch & David himself were the best. My favorite track? The Judicious Brown Chicken, although after reading other reviews, it seems everyone has a different favorite. But that one had me laughing out loud several times.
    • 3/5
      Funny in a really cringe-producing kind of way.
    • 2/5
      Definitely not a feel-good book, with the modern day fables on modern topics like alcoholism, religious hypocrisy, and ugly Americans.
    • 4/5
      David Sedaris captures a variety human foibles and hypocrisies in this collection of odd little animal fables. Many of them are quite sharp and bitter and some are downright uncomfortable, but all of them are amusing.
    • 4/5
      Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk is a look at human behaviour using animals as the characters. While this was much darker - and a bit less funny in parts - than some of his other collections, it was no less poignant.I didn't think it was possible to make human behaviour seem more ridiculous than David Sedaris does with these stories. Some how, by placing animals into the title roles, he makes even typical human emotions and actions absurd. A number of different issues are addressed - racism, adultery, anger, religion, people obsessed with their pets.My biggest complaint would be that the stories were very short. I would describe them more as vignettes, little looks into interactions and moments. After each story I was left wanting more.My favourite would have to be 'The Parenting Storks'. I loved the contrast between the sister storks - one who believes themselves to be educated, the other a flake. Yet, in the end you see how each has a profound - and negative - affect on their children as a result of shared selfishness.Nonetheless, despite the short stories, this was still an interesting collection. I also loved the illustrations which were included in the book. While Holidays on Ice is still my favourite collection, I can just imagine how much better it would have been with pictures of Macy elves dancing across the pages!
    • 3/5
      Interesting collection of short stories -- fables, really -- told from animal viewpoints. The animals have all-too-human foibles, which help point out how ridiculous we can be. For example a stork tells her child that babies are brought by mice. The stories are humorous and telling...but a bit to gruesome for my taste. This version of the book has really gorgeous illustrations.
    • 3/5
      I have read several of David Sedaris's books before. This one is similar in style, but, if you ask me, doesn't quite hit the nail on the head. You will find some stories to be humorous and witty. Others, you will find to be just, well, not quite up to par. It seemed to me that he was out of his realm when he ventured into animal stories. I can see the social commentary that Sedaris is famous for, but it just didn't entertain the way I thought it would. I still enjoyed the book, but didn't feel like it was his best work.
    • 1/5
      Horribly negative and mean. Grotesque and inhumane. I couldn't even finish this book.
    • 4/5
      cute and funny. each character has a distinctive voice.
    • 3/5
      I picked this up after listening to Sedaris' read an excerpt from his "Santaland Diaries" on NPR; it was not what I expected. The "Santaland Diaries" had me in stitches, "squirrel seeks chipmunk" had me cringing. Given the animal theme I expected satire; what I didn't expect was unrelenting caustic, biting, humorless satire. Sedaris' insightful depictions of the rationales we employ to justify our worst behaviours were accurate to a fault, and totally lacking in empathy.
    • 5/5
      As Katy said, you have to read this is Sedaris's voice. I do prefer his family stories to his fiction, but these very short stories were great. I read the last half all in one go, and they sort of get a bit dark towards the end (so many missing eyeballs!) but I will read pretty much anything David Sedaris writes.