Calypso

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

David Sedaris returns with his most deeply personal and darkly hilarious book.

If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong.

When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself.

With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality. Make no mistake: these stories are very, very funny - it's a book that can make you laugh 'til you snort, the way only family can. Sedaris's powers of observation have never been sharper, and his ability to shock readers into laughter unparalleled. But much of the comedy here is born out of that vertiginous moment when your own body betrays you and you realize that the story of your life is made up of more past than future.

This is beach reading for people who detest beaches, required reading for those who loathe small talk and love a good tumor joke. Calypso is simultaneously Sedaris's darkest and warmest book yet - and it just might be his very best.

©2018 David Sedaris (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The latest essay collection by humorist David Sedaris is a meditation on aging. It's a sardonic one at that, that he narrates himself in his quintessential tongue-in-cheek fashion.... Fans of Sedaris, who may well be in the middle of their own lives by now, will listen along, laughing, and perhaps wiping away a few tears." (AudioFile)

Laugh out loud

The story about insults abroad was hillarious! The gross tales are never my favorite but there is a good mix.

One of my favorites from David

Obviously the legions of readers who love David will enjoy this book. Get this for anyone who is OCD over managing their step count!

53 min into this and NON-STOP fantastic.

What an excellent word artist. I've laughed until I cried. Clear and real. Awesome. So many gems.

Hilarious as usual

If you love David Sedaris, you will love this book. From the clever naming of his beach house to his obsession with the fit bit, this is yet another honest and funny dive into the rabbit hole that is the author’s mind.

What a marvelous book!

I’ve read most of David’s books. I’ve always looked forward to them.
But Calypso is by far the best of them all. I adore his way of capturing everyday moments in time that we all can relate to, and not only make you feel like you’re right there, but causing you to laugh out loud no matter where you are! Thank you David Sadaris!!

Brilliant!

I fully enjoyed listening to this book. Knowing it was the author reading it gave it a personal feel, as if I was talking with him while sitting beside him on his beach towel in the Emerald Isle or at his table in his cottage in England. I would highly recommend it to anyone that loves to think about and discuss all the little things in life they add up to the big picture.

Loved this book

This book was funny, like all of David’s books. It was also sad and touching.

Belly Laugh and Punch in the Gut

While reading “Calipso" by David Sedaris, your diaphragm will hurt, either from a belly laugh or a punch in the gut. This collection of essays is more cynical, more comically crude, and more revealing than his previous works. It has reigned on top of the New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction bestseller list for the past six weeks. Mr. Sedaris is a literary juggernaut. His last book “Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977 - 2002”, released last year, was good but does not prepare you for the emotional depth of many of the stories in “Calipso”.

Interweaving and sometimes overlapping stories of his experiences create a mosaic of his modern life that none of his other books have reached thus far. This collection covers some old memories and many recent ones, even his feelings on the election of Donald Trump.

Perhaps it is a sign of the times that Mr. Sedaris’ hilarious and cruder stories come closer to matching the zeitgeist of modern life. I think it is intentional. However, no matter how many times bowel movements and benign cancerous masses are featured in “Calipso”, there is a clarity of point of view, eccentricity, and pathos that elevates his writing to a new strata of maturity.

This is partly due to the shroud of death that lingers over several stories. His writings on the death of his mother (previously mentioned in his other works), a more fuller discussion of the suicide of his sister Tiffany, and the current state of his elderly father Lou create the most intimate bond yet between the author and his audience.

I was quite surprised, even though I should not have been, that after all of these years and all of his prior published writings that he had been holding back. I think a writer must hold back about writing about a family member’s suicide until he is ready. I also think that his purchase with his longtime partner, Hugh, of a summer cottage on Emerald Isle in North Carolina, where he spent summer with his family in his youth, also prepared him to write about Tiffany and the present day Lou. (The new cottage is featured prominently in many of the stories in “Calipso”.)

Thinking back to “SantaLand Diaries” which was first read on National Public Radio in 1992 and all of his other writings, I feel that Mr. Sedaris has been more of a friend than any other writer that I have followed through the years. This feeling of closeness that he has created with his audience is probably one of the greatest achievements of any modern author.

No one like him

David Sedaris is both hysterical and personal. And yet I find myself reacting intimately to his stories! And wanting to ask him questions... But we have to do with what he tells us, and the memory of the images he creates for us. I'll be ready for the next batch! (Oh, and if you have a chance, go see him live - it's such a treat!!)

Medicine for a grieving soul

Taking care of oneself while caring for a person getting ready to die is not easy. David Sedaris with his wit and wonderfully quirky voice provides a wonderful respite to sadness. It’s a great companion to walking when one can imagine what his reaction would be to someone walking, doubled over with belly laughing. His family members come totally alive through his voice. I don’t think the book would be so appreciated by just reading. Listening is a must and I will listen again. I hope to be able to use his candor in my feeble attempts at memoir writing.