David Sedaris and the Loss of a Sibling

[kybearfuzz]

I learned watching a segment of a Swedish (I think) documentary show that one of my favorite humorists, David Sedaris, had lost his youngest sister to suicide this past summer. I've listed to Sedaris on audiobooks in my car for years and have always enjoyed his humorous stories about his family, including his sister actress Amy Sedaris. It is strange how familiar you can become with a family that isn't your own in this way. He had written stories about his sister Tiffany before. She was the youngest daughter, the fifth of the six Sedaris children, and had a rocky teenage period where she ran away from home and was sent to an institution for troubled kids. From his description of her, she was the least social with her family. In fact, David had not spoken to her for eight years when she ended her life. I thought that sounded bad, but then I realized that I'd not spoken to my brother Ronnie for ten years when I had learned he died.

The story below is titled "Now We Are Five," which is familiar to me in a sense as I have titled journal entries in a similar fashion after the passing of my older brothers in the last three years. It is an odd feeling when telling someone how many siblings I have as I always feel the need to qualify, saying "I have three brothers and one sister, but two of my brothers have died." Such a statement always invites questions, but it feels even stranger and almost mean to not acknowledge them in saying "I have one brother and one sister."

I was wondering how long it would be until he would write about losing his sister. The story was posted in the New Yorker online at the link below.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/10/28/131028fa_fact_sedaris

As always, it has a bit of humor in it. It's a good read, I think, and I do feel sad for his loss.

Comments

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I always feel I have to qualify it when people ask if I have any brothers or sisters. It confuses people when I talk about my brother in the past tense - growing up with a sibling but not having one now. I wrote about it on here some time ago.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this--I'm sure this resonates with you. I didn't know about Tiffany-thisis the first I'd heard of it. Was good to read his article.
I love David Sedaris. I've read all his books, and have his audio books as well. We saw him live a few years ago here and really enjoyed it. I too, feel like I know his family as well. I was surprised to see that his Dad is still alive and taking spinning classes at 90!

I liked the pic of the kids in the article. You rarely see pictures of the family. I have this image in my head of them. Amy is the only one outside of David that you ever really see.

[texwriterbear.livejournal.com]

I finally got around to reading the article. Thanks for pointing it out. Was a great read.

[pudgybloke.livejournal.com]

I'm just hearing this news; Tiffany Sedaris lived less than a mile away from me, in Somerville, Massachusetts.

[huxbear.livejournal.com]

I've always really enjoyed his writing and spoken-word performances of his stuff, but hadn't heard about his sister's death... It's strange to feel an impulse to "grieve-with" someone you don't really know... Almost as strange as the impulse to "grieve-for" someone you don't know in any way, really, like Tiffany... :-( Death makes us think about loss in general and the unresolved losses in our own lives, specifically, quite often...

[[snuggs & rubs]]