Yet for some reason we'd escaped, had prospered, even.

August 23, 2014 9:00 PM

The one that got away - a very short story about exes, by David Sedaris
posted by Mr. Six (14 comments total)

Wow, after reading about Hugh for years, I think this is the first time I've actually seen a pic of him.
posted by MoxieProxy at 10:35 PM on August 23, 2014 [20 favorites]

I love lots of writers for lots of reasons. I love David Sedaris because not only do I snort out loud when reading/hearing him, but he has a comforting, pull-you-in-close manner where I have always felt like I kind of know him (and can picture his entire family as well as Hugh).

Hugh is exactly how I pictured him and I have no idea why but this really pleases me.
posted by kinetic at 3:55 AM on August 24, 2014 [5 favorites]

Why is this under "The One Who Got Away"? Aren't they still a couple?
posted by Omnomnom at 5:39 AM on August 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

(Hugh was the one that got an away from those other fellas. A multiplicity of them, it seems.)
posted by notyou at 5:47 AM on August 24, 2014

"By what miracle had neither of us contacted Aids? How had we gotten away?"
posted by drlith at 6:00 AM on August 24, 2014 [6 favorites]

Does Sedaris have a new book coming out? He has been showing up more often in FPPs and on NPR, which usually goes along with a promotional campaign.

"By what miracle had neither of us contacted Aids? How had we gotten away?"

That was an interesting shift in the story, from the general discomfort about a partner's sexual past to the vey specific issue of HIV.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:07 AM on August 24, 2014

Yeah, drlith has the meaning above. Well, the subtextual meaning.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:19 AM on August 24, 2014

I've always enjoyed Sedaris's writing; like kinetic, I snort out loud when reading his essays. Few writers have that effect on me -- Wodehouse and Hiaasen come to mind.
posted by Agave at 8:01 AM on August 24, 2014

Wow. That is awesome.
posted by allthinky at 8:01 AM on August 24, 2014

I haven't heard about a new book, but he's coming to my town again in a few months. He doesn't always have a new one coming out right away every time that happens, but he does sometimes read from books in progress.

Seconded on "huh, Hugh is pretty cute." And this is reminding me of the scene in Four Weddings And A Funeral where Andie McDowell is counting everyone she ever slept with and Hugh is clearly all "yeah, I haven't done so many." This kind of thing is why I haven't asked my exes how many.... but they told me anyway.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:10 AM on August 24, 2014

For a humorist, David Sedaris's prose has always struck me as incredibly depressing.
posted by psoas at 9:59 AM on August 24, 2014 [6 favorites]

Is that some wardrobe knob sticking out from behind Sedaris' head? It makes him look like he wears a bun.
posted by Omnomnom at 11:25 AM on August 24, 2014

The only time in my life that I've been completely starstruck was when I met Hugh. I had translated a David Sedaris essay for an Icelandic literature festival. One of the organizers said hi to me at the opening reception and then introduced me to the man she was speaking with.

It was Hugh.

These words came out of my mouth: "Oh my God, my friends will never believe this."

Then my brain thought: "Dear ground, please open up and swallow me now."

Hugh, of course, replied with charm and wit. He's pretty much exactly how you'd imagine him from Sedaris' descriptions of him.
posted by Kattullus at 12:38 PM on August 24, 2014 [11 favorites]

Hugh looks exactly nothing like the guy I've been picturing all these years. Me oh my.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 6:05 PM on August 24, 2014