Holidays on Ice

by David Sedaris

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

David Sedaris' Christmas stories have me torn. My favorite of the six short stories is his retelling of his holiday job as Santa's Elf. He turns a humiliating job into well, not so humiliating. Sedaris recounts the beauty of people watching. The various Santas and their different approaches with the anticipated children and the parents instructing their child on what to ask, and pose for that year's Christmas card. I am sure there are much better and more in depth ways of recounting said story but this short synopsis will suffice for now.

Unfortunately, half of the six stories were a little to obscure and "out there" for me, the author has been know to enter essays of this nature in his books but I felt this was the majority of the novel. This is not to say Holidays on Ice isn't funny or enjoyable, which makes what I said before look like a contradiction. I think the best way to describe Holidays On Ice is to compare it to A Christmas Story with such pop culture references as "You'll shoot your eye out" with the Red Ryder BB Gun, or the infamous "leg lamp". Despite being "out there" Holidays On Ice is a staple in my holiday reading, akin to my yearly watching of Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life