33. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
Rating: ☆☆
Recommended by: Melissa Byers
Author: David Sedaris
Genre: Fiction, Short Stories, Humor
Info: 159 pages, published September 28, 2010
Format: Book
Summary
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk is a collection of short stories from master storyteller David Sedaris focused on animal-themed tales. While the characters are not human, the situations in these stories bear a strong resemblance to the madness 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.
Quotes
“The squirrel and the chipmunk had been dating for two weeks when they ran out of things to talk about. Acorns, parasites, the inevitable approach of autumn: these subjects had been covered within their first hour, and so breathlessly their faces had flushed. Twice they had held long conversations about dogs, each declaring an across-the-board hatred of them and speculating on what life might be like were someone to put a bowl of food in front of them two times a day. ‘They’re spoiled rotten is what it comes down to,’ the chipmunk had said, and the squirrel placed his paw over hers, saying, ‘that’s it exactly. Finally, someone who really gets it.’”
“Plenty of animals had pets, but few were more devoted than the mouse, who owned a baby corn snake—“A rescue snake, she’d be quick to inform you. This made it sound like he’d been snatched from the jaws of a raccoon, but what she’d really rescued him from was a life without her love. And what sort of a life would that have been?”
“Nothing irritated her more than these high-and-mighty vegetarians who ate meat sometimes and then decided that it didn’t really count.”
“But songbirds are trash,” the chicken said, and the guinea hen laughed, saying, “Well, then, I guess we could all use a little more trash in our lives.”