259 pages
English language
Published Jan. 21, 2018
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 it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself.With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality.
This is the first book where I noticed that David comes off as a consummate Karen.
I mean yep it was definitely a David Sedaris book.
Funny as usual.
I wish this book was twice as long. Three times as long. A perfect book to read when one is sick to death of the news. Sick to death of our current president. Sick to death of politics.
A great blend of the poignant and the absurd. And absurdly poignant. Laugh out loud funny. Recommended when one wants to escape into something easy going and lighthearted, but at the same time, never shallow. I've read a few books by David Sedaris at this point and I think I'll read them all because they are the perfect antidote to our current time.
More like 3.5.
I'd heard most of these stories when he tested them during live readings in recent years, and - like any great story - was happy to sit through them again. (I listened to the audiobook, which in my opinion is the ONLY way to truly experience Sedaris's magic, since he reads the essays himself.) Not surprisingly, the most hilarious story of the collection is the one that starts out with a stranger shitting himself on an airplane. And once again, Sedaris has reserved a seat at my table if I ever get to arrange a dinner for 10 interesting strangers of my choosing.
