Review: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris is a collection of autobiographical essays that describes the difficulties that occur within American families as a young man recounts his childhood and youth as he becomes apart of the LGBTQ community and struggles to gain acceptance from his family. This young-adult read is told through the narration of the author, David Sedaris, now an accomplished author with interviews by NPR. The collection follows his eccentric family as he recalls the childhood memories that have shaped him. Sedaris’ collection of essays are told through his grown up point of view which allows him to reflect and understand different occasions in which the ways his parents treated him and his siblings were quite harsh.

First mentioned in the “Us and Them” essay, it is clear that Sedaris adores his mom, Sharon. However, she is regularly unsympathetic toward her own children and in his “Let it Snow” essay, Sedaris tells of a time when Sharon commanded him and his siblings to get “the hell out of her house” and stay outside in the freezing weather. After relentlessly attempting to go back inside, Sedaris recalls looking through the window and seeing his “mother in the kitchen, watching television,” and drinking a glass of wine. This is a scene which he and his siblings observed frequently. Sedaris’ example of experiencing child neglect can connect with some readers who may be going through the same or similar difficulties. At a young age, Sedaris was well aware of his homosexual identity which he hid from his parents until a later age.

In the essay “Full House,” Sedaris' father, Lou, encourages him to attend an all boy sleepover in hopes of the boys transforming him into a regular boy with little knowledge of Sedaris’ budding homosexuality. Later in their relationship, Lou realizes that David was in fact gay and has a hard time understanding. He proceeds to kick David out of the house after displaying his lack of support and acceptance towards Sedaris’ sexual identity. This experience contributes to Sedaris’ struggle with self-confidence. This mirrors many real life stories that have been portrayed in the news as well as on social media, relating to any young people in the LGBTQ community or anyone struggling with their sexual identity, that may not have the support of their families.

During Sedaris’ adult life, in his essay “Chicken in the Henhouse,” Sedaris recollects the time in which he listened to prejudiced attitudes about homosexuals in the media. One speaker expressed a bold statement stating that “these homosexuals can’t reproduce themselves, and so they go into the schools and try to recruit our young people.” This comment was nothing that Sedaris had not heard before, but naturally he was still slightly offended by the statement. Not only is the LGBTQ community categorized into just lesbian and gay, but people have also created a stereotype for the portrayal of lesbians and gays. Similar to race or religion, these stereotypical representations vilify marginalized and misunderstood groups. The American media has more recently become more sympathetic and shown the way the LGBTQ community contributes to our society moving away from negative stigma that first surrounded it. Celebrity host of the renowned talk show, “The Ellen Show”, Ellen DeGeneres came out in 1997 and has since then been a loved person. Not only is charismatic and open about her relationship with her wife, she is also so generous in giving away grants, scholarships, and many other things to the public. Ellen uses her platform to show that people in the LGBTQ community are one in the same as others

In addition to being a humorous collection of essays, Sedaris allows some readers who are going through similar experiences to connect with him through literature. For others who may not be undergoing similar things, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim can help generate a deeper understanding of the difficulties people may be experiencing in life. Sedaris aims to be an example of a success story by depicting the difficulties he endured throughout most of his adolescence and adult life. He hopes to convey that if he is able to overcome those difficulties and continue on, other young adults are hopefully inspired to persevere through their personal hardships and create a success story for themselves.