After reading Sedaris' previous collection, I began to suspect that he had mined all of the material he could from his family and the earlier hard times he experienced. It appeared he was now left with the task of finding hilarity and poignancy in the life of a rich, celebrated author. "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" confirms that his days of dressing as an elf, picking apples, and hitch-hiking cross country with an incomplete quadriplegic are long gone. In their place we are left with essays about catching flies, cantankerous car service drivers, and foul-mouthed airline passengers (two essays on this topic in fact).

This would be a real problem if they weren't entertaining (most are), but they lack the quality of desperation that so fueled his earlier work. Add to that the author's note at the beginning of the book: "The events described in these stories are realish. Certain characters have fictitious names and identifying characteristics," along with a recent article from The New Republic revealing him as a serial exaggerator, and I'm left with the impression that his best work is behind him. I hope he proves me wrong.