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Happy-Go-Lucky

'Unquestionably the king of comic writing' Guardian

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Happy-Go-Lucky

By: David Sedaris
Narrated by: David Sedaris
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About this listen

 'It's hard to think of a better living practitioner of hilarious honesty than David Sedaris' The Times

'David Sedaris is funny - invariably. That's his gift' Los Angeles Times

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.

Praise for Calypso

'Sedaris is the premier observer of our world and its weirdnesses' Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt

'He's like an American Alan Bennett' Guardian

'Unquestionably the king of comic writing . . . Calypso is both funnier and more heartbreaking than pretty much anything out there' Hadley Freeman, Guardian©2022 David Sedaris Entertainment & Celebrities Relationships Funny Nonfiction Witty Feel-Good Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Happiness

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Critic reviews

It's hard to think of a better living practitioner of hilarious honesty than David Sedaris
In this latest collection of anecdotes, the American humorist David Sedaris riffs on Covid, death and family . . . No longer elfin, Sedaris has matured into a devilish imp who scourges human folly and filth (Peter Conrad)
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
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
Sedaris is one of the writers whose discovery you wish on friends, because it means they have a wealth of brilliant writing to discover . . . David Sedaris still delivering his killer lines
The writer's affable misanthropy and self-deprecation are on display in a new set of reflections on life and death (Houman Barekat)
Sedaris gazes unflinchingly [...] at his family, including himself, in a way that is laugh-out-loud funny yet somehow avoids being cruel (Books of the Year)
There's a reason why David Sedaris has his own Radio 4 series and sells out Carnegie Hall in New York: as a performer of his own prose he's unmatched... The best way to enjoy Sedaris's waspish and funny essay collection is to hear it read by its author... [delivered] with impeccable comic timing (Fiona Sturges)
All stars
Most relevant
Just a remarkable achievement to write so acutely on a series of potentially distressing topics, clearly deeply personal to himself and yet I found myself for the most part laughing out loud or if not that then feeling comforted. And now I feel guilty.

Pandemic over and yes, life does move on.

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My favourite of his recent works- reminds me of his early writing. His family stories are always his strongest work, I think, and there was lots here to consider.

Another Brilliant Book!

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This is David Sedaris on top form. For me it’s his most personal book so far, and all the better for it. He also taps into the zeitgeist of the pandemic, and it’s aftermath. It is very human, sometimes touching and great to listen to. I listened to it twice in a month, the second time with my wife on a long journey, enjoying her enjoyment.

Best yet

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era, and the decline and death of his father, this book is an astringent mix of the profound and petty. It’s both funny and a bit disturbing. Apparently always honest, it’s marvellously free of cliche. I loved it.

Mostly about the COVID lockdown..

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At the start I’d no idea who David Sedaris was and I still don’t really. However that’s not important the way he looks at the world and the great sense of humour he possesses makes this worth a listen.

I think we could have been great friends!

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