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Happy-Go-Lucky
David Sedaris, the “champion storyteller,” (Los Angeles Times) returns with his first new collection of personal essays since the bestselling Calypso
Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes.
But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he’s stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most. To cope, he walks for miles through a nearly deserted city, smelling only his own breath. He vacuums his apartment twice a day, fails to hoard anything, and contemplates how sex workers and acupuncturists might be getting by during quarantine.
As the world gradually settles into a new reality, Sedaris too finds himself changed. His offer to fix a stranger’s teeth rebuffed, he straightens his own, and ventures into the world with new confidence. Newly orphaned, he considers what it means, in his seventh decade, no longer to be someone’s son. And back on the road, he discovers a battle-scarred America: people weary, storefronts empty or festooned with Help Wanted signs, walls painted with graffiti reflecting the contradictory messages of our time: Eat the Rich. Trump 2024. Black Lives Matter.
In Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris once again captures what is most unexpected, hilarious, and poignant about these recent upheavals, personal and public, and expresses in precise language both the misanthropy and desire for connection that drive us all. If we must live in interesting times, there is no one better to chronicle them than the incomparable David Sedaris.
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Reviews
Good storytelling but not as funny as promised.
By Jane305
I though it was laugh out loud and a bit depressing. Always love his style though I found myself thinking like David at times. Sorta smartly smarmy not caring if others picked up on the sarcasm or irony of my words or darkened humor. Then my friends wife died. Oh boy. Hope he wasn’t offended when I told him I’m dropping everything and go into the house a pop a bourbon to Lois. I meant it but was it just another excuse to have an early bourbon??
By Trepang
I hadn’t read sedaris in a few years; not sure if he changed or if I did. The wit is still intact but the vapidity and misanthropy have crossed from endearing to off putting. I finished it and was frequently amused but didn’t feel great about it and likely won’t read him again.
By sjxufhrnwhxgvydjsjd
Forgot how much I love David’s writing. He’s funny and relatable and always game to make fun of himself. I think his observations on the pandemic, race, and death in this book specifically make it one of his best offerings. I’d recommend to anyone who like short stories or one of David’s other million books.
By brock_zahler
I love reading Mr. Sedaris’s books. I love to read many different kinds of books, but ever since the day Apple “told” me I would probably be interested in ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’, I was hooked. I won’t lie; sometimes I will choose a book either by it’s catchy title or illustration on the front, much like I will choose my next bottle of wine. And I was hooked. Having read almost all of his books since Apple gave me the gift of learning about this author, (and it was only three months ago!!), this book goes into the death of his father. There is a chapter where we learn many things never previously discussed about Lou Sedaris. Even though David makes light (mostly) about the way his father mistreated him growing up in his other books, this chapter really shocked me. However, this book, like all of his other books, is hilarious and fun to read, so this particular chapter and its serious topic was quite out of ‘character’ (not that I know him personally. Although I think we might be good friends :). Reading his stories or diary entrees has been SO awesome! (If you are reading this review Mr. Sedaris, I apologize for the use of the word ‘awesome’; given your absolute disgust with this over-used word!). But it is true. You will be reading along, everything going well and enjoying the story when all of a sudden the last sentence will just shock you. Whether it be because he made a remark and observation that really hit home with me, or he says something SO unexpected and sometimes, completely distasteful, offensive and completely inappropriate ! Thankfully I have a fairly low moral bar and these times crack me up so much sometimes I just bust out laughing! I encourage anyone on the shelf to buy one of Mr. Sedaris’s books. Try to go in chronological, year-published order if you can. If not, no problem! One of my absolute favorite stories is ‘Season’s Greetings to our Friends and Family’-a Christmas letter that goes horribly wrong….so wrong! It’s not in this book (sorry!!) but whichever book you start with you are likely to laugh and maybe learn some things about yourself you didn’t know.
By Martimo8798