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Happy-Go-Lucky Audiobook
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(4.00) - 2 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
David Sedaris 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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"This is Sedaris at his best. Most of the essays involve the death of his father and I get the impression that he is trying to reckon with that relationship. His previous book of essays dealt with the death of sister. Here he reflects on the end of his father's life, including some disturbing aspects of his life that he did not write about during the old man's life. As always, the writing is elegant, thoughtful, and funny. "
— Brett (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Sedaris recounts his lockdown experience with his customary blend of wry self-deprecation and affable misanthropy.”
— The Guardian (London) -
"Hilarious…Much of Sedaris’s humor comes from saying the quiet parts out loud—writing frankly about things most of us never mention."
— Tampa Bay Times -
“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 Atlantic -
“Sedaris is simultaneously amusing and brutal while unflinchingly exposing the ironies of his family and life in general.”
— Associated Press -
“Happy-Go-Lucky is more somber than Sedaris’ usual fare, but there are some fresh, funny bits wedged between the weighty boulders.”
— NPR -
“A fresh infusion of his unique candor and comedy…Amid the barbed quips, there is genuine sorrow, an empathy born of arduous experience.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“A sweet-and-sour set of pieces on loss, absurdity, and places they intersect…Sedaris remains stubbornly irreverent even in the face of pandemic lockdowns and social upheaval.”
— Kirkus Reviews
Awards
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A #1 New York Times bestseller
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A #1 New York Times Bestseller in Audio
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A #1 Amazon bestseller
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A Libro.fm Audio bestseller
Happy-Go-Lucky Listener Reviews
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" I’ve followed David for over 20 years, and he is always entertaining. Having worked in healthcare through covid, I would have probably avoided this book had I known that it was the primary focus. Still an enjoyable read. "
— Rnguy10, 12/28/2023
About David Sedaris
David Sedaris is the author of a dozen books, including four that made the #1 New York Times bestsellers list. He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and BBC Radio 4. In 2019, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, Jonathan Swift International Literature Prize for Satire and Humor, and the Terry Southern Prize for Humor.