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This was the second David Sedaris book that I read.  I’m glad I finished Naked first or I would have wondered what the big deal with this Sedaris guy is and why am I reading this,  fortunately I reached for the other book first and this book made all the more sense.

This book is the most recent of his books, it’s about a mature David Sedaris’  life and hobbies and spending time walking around Paris and Normandy with his boyfriend Hugh.  It’s not as gut splitting as Naked was, I’d almost say it’s slightly inferior.  It doesn’t quite ring the same bells as Naked does and I think the reason why could be that I’m a slight bit younger than Sedaris.  Maybe I just enjoyed Naked more because I had a similar misspent youth but in our adulthood our differences shine a bit brighter.  For some reason it didn’t seem as universal but without talking to more people who have read both books I fear that what I actually mean is that When you are Engulfed in Flames is in a much more different land than I inhabit.

One great feature of the book was his trip to Japan to quit smoking.  Strangely enough even though I quit smoking regularly a few years ago the parts of the story I loved the most were the cultural differences between here and Japan, not the smoking stories.

I did like this book, I do remember laughing at parts and I do remember not putting it down, but I don’t remember the experience being one that evolved me and therefore I can’t call this book one of the greats.