Honored Guest

People are weird. If you into dark comedy like a good Coen Brothers movie you might like Joy Williams. When David Sedaris mentioned how much he loved her in his diaries she was moved up in my reading queue. Honored Guest is a collection of short stories where at least one character is strange. How can in a person in polite society deal with this behavior?  Well, I hate to tell you this but we can't.  Ok, the people I know from Boston or Jersey can, but not in the Midwest.  If you know what to do, please let me know because I have my fair share of nutcases in my life. Seriously...help me (drowning sounds...glug, glug, glug).

One of my favorite stories involves a small cocktail party in which one guest describes all ten of her daughters. One of the other guests, just says something like: This is not how you speak at a sociable evening! She then just storms off. Preach! I can really see why David Sedaris loves her stuff.  I'm not a huge fan of short stories, but I like dark humor so it was fine, not amazing but wryly amusing. I'm going to give one of her novels a chance.

Joy's name is ironic as she has a touch of misanthrope, but she likes irony so maybe it's all for the best. I was worried I was a misanthrope myself but it turns out I just have a few loud duds in my life.  You know the type, the conversational LeBron James where they just dominate you. Hey, I'd like to talk now--No, in your face! Don't you dare drive the lane! Fine, I'll just sit on the bench....(they don't even notice--continue to talk about Trevor's SAT prep class).  Anyway, this isn't for everyone.  If you are expecting David Sedaris, please don't, it's more literary, subtle and kind of melancholy. 

We need to counter this dark humor with a little Sunshine (that's the drink): 2 ounce of white rum, 1/2 ounce vermouth, 1 ounce pineapple juice and dash of grenadine. Mix all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, strain into a cocktail glass. I think you could add the grenadine later as a visual element but well, I'm weird too.