Don't Get Too Comfortable (Unabridged Selections)

The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems

By: David Rakoff

Narrated by: David Rakoff

Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, the Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems.

David Rakoff's collection of autobiographical essays, Fraud, established him as one of our funniest, most insightful writers. In Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff journeys into the land of plenty that is contemporary America. Rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly and wittily portrayed. 

Whether contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good times and chicken wings of Hooters Air, portraying the rarified universe of Paris fashion shows where an evening dress can cost as much as four years of college, or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core Playboy TV shoot, where he is provided with his very own personal manservant, David Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess, delving into the manic getting and spending that defines the North American way of life.

Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism, and Rakoff is there to map that frontier. He sits through the grotesqueries of “avant garde” vaudeville in Times Square immediately following 9/11. Twenty days without food allows him to experience firsthand the wonders of “detoxification”, and the frozen world of cryonics, whose promise of eternal life is the ultimate status symbol, leaves him very cold indeed (much to our good fortune). 

At once a Wildean satire of our ridiculous culture of overconsumption and a plea for a little human decency, Don't Get Too Comfortable is a bitingly funny grand tour of our special circle of gilded-age hell.

©2005 David Rakoff (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Rakoff knows the incantatory power of a story well-told, the art of keeping words aloft like the bubbles in a champagne flute. He possesses the crackling wit of a '30s screwball comedy ingenue, a vocabulary that is a treasure chest of mots justes, impressive but most times not too showy for everyday wear." (Los Angeles Times)

PJ O'Rourke has nothing to worry about

Though the views of the publisher and selected Newspaper reviews term this book and author, "one of the funniest and insightful writers," of "crackling wit," who has created a "story well told," allow me to differ.

Within the first ten minutes we learn that the author has decided to immigrate to America, and that he seems to hate everything about America. Who would take the time and effort he describes to migrate to a country whose leaders and politics he can't stand? The writer definitely is not insightful.

As for "witty"? Perhaps one listens to a description of Barbara Bush, W's daughter, '.. liquor-swilling, girl-gone-wild, human ashtray of a daughter. I'm sorry, that's not fair; I've no idea if she smokes." and thinks it witty. Quite simply it is adolescent and immature.

One certainly will not hear anything as witty and insightful as Mr. O'Rourke's riff on Congress - far from it. Not worth the electrons to hold it in your computer, the CD on which to burn it or the window to throw it out of.

Not for Anne Coulteresque hate rant readers

Eloquent, wry, and brutally honest, the author takes us on a journey that forces us to discard our half-baked presumptions and petty prejudices, and consider a worldview that beckons us to take a closer, second look at our over-indulgent, mega-consumption, sense of entitlement and ignorance. Writing and narrating with rapid-fire, tongue in cheek, eloquence, the author paints a picture of decadence and misguided ambitions that leaves one both laughing and crying at times. Often aloof and uncomfortable in his environment, he tempers his sparsely sprinkled political diatribes and infrequent ad hominem jabs, with genuine humor and moments of real humanity and insight - always somehow delivering the challenge to see beyond our homophobic, bigoted, and often over-simplified view of society and world affairs, and to finally push away from the dinner table before we need a bucket. For a fresh and entirely different angle, I highly recommend this book.

Listen to the entire audio sample.

This book should be subtitled, 'Yes I am a homosexual, and Yes I do hate George Bush". The book is humorous but with a sharp biting edge that you will find irritating unless you also hate George Bush. If you are at the far left edge of the American political spectrum or you hate America for any other reason, you will love this book.

How many actually listened/read the book?

One reviewer writes "Liberal, gay", as if this is enough to tell one all one needs to know about why the book is bad. Personally, I find liberals a much more decent and pleasant lot than conservatives. I do not care one wit about a person's sexual orientation, as long as they understand the word "no". The author is writing about the decadence of America. And it is true. Our society has gotten to the point where we have to create stress and difficulties for entertainment (Survivor, the Apprentice, the list goes on), and we have a great proportion of our society overweight. We drive gas guzzlers and state that it is our right.

Is it wrong to fault us for this? I think not. If you spend any time in other countries, you quickly realize how spoiled American's are, and how we feel it is our right, not a privilege.

This book is not for all, and neither are Ann Coulter's books. Be forewarned.

The is a terrible book

I guess if I were to boil down my review it would read: DO NOT BUY THIS TRASH. So, having said that...why? Well essentially, as other reviewers have said, this book really is a diatribe on people the other seems
1. Never to have actally met
2. Seems to hate

Sound good to you? Didn't think so....

More wonderful David Rakoff

I love all this author's stories, which I must hear, rather than read, because his voice is so important to the personal quality of his work. I highly recommend all David Rakoff's print and audio books, but if you need to make a choice between this and his audio collection before this one, choose this one; it's a bit more full of the good stuff. He gets better all the time.

One of the best of the millenium

For anyone who thinks this essay collection is "about George Bush", well, they certainly didn't listen very long. Only a very few of the pieces are particularly political, and in each case they reflect ways in which current American policies have impact the life of the author. That's what a collection of personal essays is suppose to be about!
Rakoff does a flawless job of skewering many ripe subjects, including the fashion industry, Martha Stewart and the people who froze Ted Williams's head. He has a reporter's observational skills and a humorist's compassionate delivery. Having him read his own work is a lovely plus; Mr Rakoff's concise speech and delicate timbre make for an easy, hilarious listen. I also bought two copies in paperback which I loan out carefully ALL the time.

Yeah we do have it pretty good, eh?

Even the subtitle for the book is funny, "The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems". Check it out.

Perfect Tone

I purchased this audiobook after seeing Rakoff on the Daily Show - I have rarely been as pleased with a purchase as I have been with Rakoff's work. I purchased the books for my daughter, and have read the essays that do not appear in the audio version, and I am so much happier listening to Rakoff reading. Thankfully, when I read his books myself, I can hear his voice in my head. He strikes the Perfect Tone on each topic. I've read the other suggested books in this genre and although they are enjoyable, they don't come close to Rakoff's work.

Genius

Rakoff once again hits nerves and makes insightful points. Kudos.