#29 in Essays
Barrel Fever
- 256
- Pages
- about 4.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Barrel Fever” is early David Sedaris, zany and surreal, and by most accounts not yet as funny as the books that followed. The collection puts short fiction first and autobiographical essays second; some readers find the stories the weaker half and the switch between the two jarring. Some find it comes alive in the audiobook he reads himself. It is for those who already like Sedaris and want to see where he began.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Barrel Fever is a 1994 collection of short stories and essays by American humorist David Sedaris. The first section consists of pieces clearly labeled as short fiction and the second half contains autobiographical essays, a distinction that is not made in his subsequent books.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.1 across 107 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 42% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Essays average of 8.0. That is how 7.7 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.4 | 7 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 7.1 | 100 | 94% |
Frequently asked
How long is Barrel Fever?
It has 256 pages — longer than 62% of the ranked books in Essays.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Essays — with scores between 7.7 and 8.1, closest to this book.
