Happy-Go-Lucky

De: David Sedaris

Narrado por: David Sedaris

An Audie Award Winner

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.

Reseñas de la Crítica

Praise for Happy-Go-Lucky:

“Sublimely funny… Sedaris is back, doing the thing his readers have come to adore: offering up wry, moving, punchy stories about his oddball family… The pieces range widely, following the path of Sedaris’s travels and his eccentric mind, but a through line involves his nonagenarian father… This is one of the more complicated relationships of Sedaris’s life, and he is unflinching as he tries to understand who his enigmatic father was, and how living with him altered the shape of his own existence.”—Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic

“Sedaris’ signature wit has always thrived on the macabre, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that Happy-Go-Lucky is some of his darkest—and most astute—writing yet… No topic is out of bounds for Sedaris’ acerbic humor and sharp observations.”—Time

“Sedaris is funny—invariably. That’s his gift… Even amid the overwhelming gloom of the pandemic, a summer of unrest and the death of a father toward whom he still has complicated feelings, Sedaris never loses his wit or his crack timing.”—Tyler Malone, Los Angeles Times

“Consistently funny… when you’re dealing with a talent as outsize as Sedaris’s, even the missteps are fairly negligible… Rather, the lasting impression of “Happy-Go-Lucky” is similar to that of Sedaris’s other books: It’s a neat trick that one writer’s preoccupation with the odd and the inappropriate can have such widespread appeal.”—Henry Alford, New York Times Book Review

“Comically blistering… David Sedaris is the standard against which all other humor essayists are judged, the overwhelming heavyweight of the genre… Happy-Go-Lucky could serve as a textbook to readers dealing with the end times of their own parents with whom they don’t get along.”—Brian Boone, Vulture

“A new collection of poignant, honest and funny essays… Sedaris is simultaneously amusing and brutal while unflinchingly exposing the ironies of his family and life in general.”—Anita Snow, Associated Press

“Sedaris has long been frank about his lifelong disconnect with his father, but he has reflected more openly — and movingly — about it since his father reached his nineties… Happy-Go-Lucky is more somber than Sedaris' usual fare, but there are some fresh, funny bits wedged between the weighty boulders.”—Heller McAlpin, NPR

“Engaging… Sedaris recounts his lockdown experience with his customary blend of wry self-deprecation and affable misanthropy.”—Houman Barekat, The Guardian

"Hilarious… much of Sedaris’ humor comes from saying the quiet parts out loud—writing frankly about things most of us never mention."—Collette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times

Always 5 out of 5 stars

I love everything David Sedaris writes. I was dissapointed that so much of the book was previously published in The New Yorker though.

I enjoyed the story about his father's inappropriate behavior. I know that's horrible to say, but I've been reading his books since he was just breaking out in the 90s, and while he is a master of self depreciation, I've always sensed huge intentional gaps about his family dynamic. Obviously, the family has a right to their privacy, so I truly appreciate his willingness to share such difficult topics with us all.

I miss stories about his mother. It is clear in his essays that he loved her so deeply, and even when he relays negative details he does it with such care and delicacy. I enjoy her stories immensely.

If only I could tell a story like that

It is so enjoyable to listen to David Sedaris tell stories. Some people might find him offensive but if anyone’s honest with themselves they know they think the same way… Sick and twisted from time to time. I hope he takes it as a compliment. The only thing that made me feel a bit bummed out was that I had listen to a bunch of his talkshow and podcast appearances before listening to his books and the stories do repeat so lesson learned… But this is also my first book of his that I have read/listened to so if I go back to the beginning and read some of his early work I’m sure I will be delighted through and through

His best yet. Funny, dark, thoughtful.

This collection of stories are easily some of my favorites. Funny, touching, heartbreaking, enlightening. Moving through family laughs, dysfunction, abuse, and love, David Sedaris speaks to so much of what so many of us understand. There are cringey stories and stories that help frame some of the horrible events we all endured during the pandemic. He also walks us through his experience grieving the death of his father, who had somewhat of a transformation near the end of his life. This not uncommon theme - abusive young father to loving elderly father - is thoughtfully explored. Each topic in the book is truly well crafted with his trademark acerbic humor cutting right through the darkest moments. I enjoyed every minute spent listening to this book.

Never tire of this guy

As weird as he sometimes gets, I find myself nodding in agreement, laughing in recognition of an insightful truth, delighting in his outrage at annoying people, and marveling at his curiosity. And despite his umbrage with the inanity of fellow Americans (or maybe because of it), whenever I listen to him speak David Sedaris restores my faith in humanity.

Sedaris never fails

I enjoyed this read. An ironic review of current events. Lots of laughs and a few tears.