Book Review

by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert

(Hyperion Books, 288 pages, $22.95)

Amy Sedaris is insane--in a delicious, freaky, roller-coaster-ride way. Her latest book, Wigfield, with fellow Strangers with Candy alumni Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, is a spoof within a spoof.

Russell Hokes, the fictional "real-life" author of Wigfield, is a down-on-his-luck highway-stripe painter with three Universal Truths: 1. Paint a straight line; 2. Go slow; 3. Keep plenty of paint on the brush. When he gets fired for misunderstanding "sick day" he takes up writing and sells an idea to Hyperion about writing on small-town America. Grabbing a large advance, Hokes hits the road.

When Hokes' car breaks down in Wigfield, it's like a strong dose of fate. Here's a small town with a story--plus some brochures and newspaper clippings, which lend themselves perfectly to padding word counts. Wigfield is caught in its own cross hairs. The state is threatening to knock down a giant dam looming over the town, almost guaranteeing imminent wetness. Hokes skitters through town collecting thoughts on dams and life from an unusual group of residents, including Cinnamon, the ecstasy-popping stripper, and town artist Julian Childs--a sultry Siegfried look-alike whose productions feature all-bunny casts.

The drama builds during a muckraking interview with a local politician when Hokes learns that Wigfield isn't really a town at all! Without giving too much away, there follows a Protest Parade, some burnt flesh and more of Hokes padding his word count. Speaking of word counts, I need 12 more so let me close with this 12-word nugget from the book: "Words cannot describe all the things that I have left to write."

WWeek 2015