Calypso

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

A New York Times Notable Book of 2018

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 writing has 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 tumour 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 UK

Critic reviews

"Unquestionably the king of comic writing...Calypso is both funnier and more heartbreaking than pretty much anything out there." (Hadley Freeman, Guardian)

“In Calypso, David Sedaris’s essays marry meditations on family, suicide, grief and mortality with the hazards of bodily functions and frequent travel for his massively popular public readings. Sedaris is as much standup comic as writer, making this a great audio and one for the car journey.” (Aminatta Forna)

Offensive but even more funny

Boomerish kind of offensively biased but even more funny so I forgive the former.

Better than ever!

Wonderful stories by DAVID Sedaris again. Funny and poignant and intimate and just wonderful. Best yet.

Funny and sad

Really funny but also surprisingly sad, probably because even though my family and life are pretty different, it was so easy to relate to.

A laugh with a tear

This is now officially my favorite David Sedaris book. The audio version was great, and I would strongly recommend that you listen to the author tell these stories, as it really enhances the experience.

Sedaris has always been funny, but in Calypso there is always a keen sense of regret and/or sadness. Almost all the stories focus on his family, especially on his mom who passed away a few years ago and his sister who committed suicide. I laughed out loud and shed some tears, often doing both while listening to one paragraph.

This is probably not for everyone, but I think it takes quite a bit of talent to write about nothing and still make it interesting, humorous and touching.

#Memoir #Funny #Author-narrated #Family-focus #Recommended #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

Entertaining as ever

David Sedaris is as entertaining and iconoclastic as ever. More stories about later life than younger days but perhaps his young life has already been explored enough in his earlier books. He's an interesting narrator to listen to.

Loved every minute

A wonderfully read audiobook from an insightful, funny author that is definitely worth a listen - or two.

Enjoyed everything except...

the live recordings. It was still classical Sedaris, but I found the audience’s laughing inappropriate at times

Explores the spaces between you and your Family

A podcast that David had done with Conan O' Brien brought him to me. He will make you remember moments when you were eight years old and first spoke back to your dad. Or when you truly hated a sibling. And many more grotesque things about childhood as well.

Mundane. Sedaris on boring subjects

Big Sedaris fan. But this a drag. Hit wit and storytelling is buried underneath the mundane and boring subject matter. Tried 3 times to finish. But can’t