Don't Get Too Comfortable: 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 takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess. Whether he is contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings populism of Hooters Air; working as a cabana boy at a South Beach hotel; or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot--where he is provided with his very own personal manservant--rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly skewered. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. Simultaneously a Wildean satire and a plea for a little human decency," Don't Get Too Comfortable shows that far from being bobos in paradise, we're in a special circle of gilded-age hell.

Review :
"If I were to die suddenly while the reading of this book were in my recent memory, I would probably beg to be reincarnated as a bird so that I could eat seed out of Rakoff's hand. I can't write a more loving review than that." --"Pop Matters "A cannily satirical tour guide." --"The New York Times Book Review "The pleasures of reading what results when an exceedingly sharp pen encounters an exceedingly inviting target are not to be denied, and Rakoff offers many such delights in these pages." --"Washington Post "The belly laughs start on page 7 and occur regularly throughout Rakoff's frequently impertinent, occasionally irascible, yet always inimitable take on contemporary American society." --"Booklist "Rakoff's strength is the turn of phrase that deftly and wittily dissects its subject at a stroke." --"Chicago Tribune Praise for "Fraud: "Fraud marks the debut of a significant new voice . . . Rakoff is something special." --"The Globe and Mail Praise for David Rakoff: "With Fraud, David Rakoff manages to successfully pass himself off as the wittiest and most perceptive man in the world." --David Sedaris "Rakoff likes to paint himself as urbane to a fault, an outsider anywhere unpaved. But then, in the woods or on a mountaintop, he reveals himself, despite his searing and hilarious observations, to be a completely unrelenting romantic." --Dave Eggers "Possessing a wicked wit and a sharp, elegant writing style, [David Rakoff] has become known as one of our most potent humourists." --"The Oakland Tribune "From the Hardcover edition.