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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Very funny and relatable on the strangest topics and comments. I audibly laughed a handful of times. Thanks for the gift pook.
I think this is more 3.5. Better than the last book of his I read, for sure, but I find it more difficult to relate to him when most of his stories are about a second home. Still, enjoyable and a good read.
This was not just laugh-out-loud funny, as you might expect from David Sedaris, but it was also thoughtful and poignant. He got more personal in this collection of essays than I remember him being in any of his other work. My only regret was not listening to the audio version; my husband was willing to let me read a few parts aloud to him and I found it much funnier when read aloud versus on paper.
If you haven't read David Sedaris, you need to know one thing before you do; he's not your average human being. Things like naming his beach house in North Carolina "Sea Section," or managing 25 miles in a day on his Fitbit are what really call to him. In his collections of essays, you don't get your drab stories about a man living his life. You get stories written from the small details that life hands you but sometimes you forget.
Reading David Sedaris reminds me of watching episodes of Roseanne. What looks to be your typical American family turns out to be much more than that. There's a deeper truth behind the stories and sometimes the stories are just stories. There's controversy, but you realize why the events taking place are so controversial.
In Calypso, you can sense a theme spanning across Sedaris's stories. The main theme was definitely middle age. There isn't much about his twenties or the life he lived before he met Hugh. There isn't much about his childhood and growing up with three sisters. However, there's a lot on colonoscopies, staying fit while getting older, and the continued battle of who's political party is the better one.
Many of his stories take place on his beach property in North Carolina. Many of them are written about his sister's suicide and his father's old age. Some of the stories are light-hearted and remind you that life is a little bit weird and you can make it weirder on your own like buying culottes in Japan or feeding a snapping turtle part of a lump they took out of your body. Other stories are much more serious.
I've read stories about his sister, Tiffany, before. This isn't the first time David Sedaris incorporated her experiences into his work. However, this feels like the first time he dives deeper into her personality and the impact her death made on his family. It's kind of funny that David Sedaris is able to laugh about getting married to his long-time partner, Hugh, but then it goes real dark with stories about how old his father is getting.
But I guess that's kind of what life is like and that's what I love about David Sedaris's work. You laugh a little and you cry a little. Each moment is just another stamp in the passport of life. Of course there's also stories about the current political state America is in despite the fact that he's lived in England for decades. It just goes to show that the moments we live through make up the later years of our lives. We spend time reminiscing on the past and avoiding the shock of knowing you're suddenly in your 50s.
If anything, this book made me feel at ease. Middle age is a ways away for me, but I always imagine what it's like to be my parents' age. I know it's inevitable that I'll get there, but it's always nice to know what I'm about to get into.
Reading David Sedaris reminds me of watching episodes of Roseanne. What looks to be your typical American family turns out to be much more than that. There's a deeper truth behind the stories and sometimes the stories are just stories. There's controversy, but you realize why the events taking place are so controversial.
In Calypso, you can sense a theme spanning across Sedaris's stories. The main theme was definitely middle age. There isn't much about his twenties or the life he lived before he met Hugh. There isn't much about his childhood and growing up with three sisters. However, there's a lot on colonoscopies, staying fit while getting older, and the continued battle of who's political party is the better one.
Many of his stories take place on his beach property in North Carolina. Many of them are written about his sister's suicide and his father's old age. Some of the stories are light-hearted and remind you that life is a little bit weird and you can make it weirder on your own like buying culottes in Japan or feeding a snapping turtle part of a lump they took out of your body. Other stories are much more serious.
I've read stories about his sister, Tiffany, before. This isn't the first time David Sedaris incorporated her experiences into his work. However, this feels like the first time he dives deeper into her personality and the impact her death made on his family. It's kind of funny that David Sedaris is able to laugh about getting married to his long-time partner, Hugh, but then it goes real dark with stories about how old his father is getting.
But I guess that's kind of what life is like and that's what I love about David Sedaris's work. You laugh a little and you cry a little. Each moment is just another stamp in the passport of life. Of course there's also stories about the current political state America is in despite the fact that he's lived in England for decades. It just goes to show that the moments we live through make up the later years of our lives. We spend time reminiscing on the past and avoiding the shock of knowing you're suddenly in your 50s.
If anything, this book made me feel at ease. Middle age is a ways away for me, but I always imagine what it's like to be my parents' age. I know it's inevitable that I'll get there, but it's always nice to know what I'm about to get into.
I laughed a ridiculous amount reading this. The odd anecdotes get me every time;
“Guests usually take the train from London, and before
we pick them up at the station I remind Hugh that, for the
duration of their visit, he and I will be playing the role of a
perfect couple. This means no bickering and no
contradicting each other. If I am seated at the kitchen
table and he is standing behind me, he is to place a hand
on my shoulder, right on the spot where a parrot would
perch if I were a pirate instead of the ideal boyfriend.
When I tell a story he has heard so often he could lip-
synch it, he is to pretend to be hearing it for the first time
and to be appreciating it as much as or more than our
guests are. I'm to do the same, and to feign delight when
he serves something | hate, like fish with little bones in it.
I really blew this a few years back when his friend Sue
came for the night and he poached what might as well
have been a hairbrush. Blew it to such an extent that after
she left I considered having her killed. "She knows too
much," I said to Hugh. "The woman's a liability now and
we need to contain her."
“Guests usually take the train from London, and before
we pick them up at the station I remind Hugh that, for the
duration of their visit, he and I will be playing the role of a
perfect couple. This means no bickering and no
contradicting each other. If I am seated at the kitchen
table and he is standing behind me, he is to place a hand
on my shoulder, right on the spot where a parrot would
perch if I were a pirate instead of the ideal boyfriend.
When I tell a story he has heard so often he could lip-
synch it, he is to pretend to be hearing it for the first time
and to be appreciating it as much as or more than our
guests are. I'm to do the same, and to feign delight when
he serves something | hate, like fish with little bones in it.
I really blew this a few years back when his friend Sue
came for the night and he poached what might as well
have been a hairbrush. Blew it to such an extent that after
she left I considered having her killed. "She knows too
much," I said to Hugh. "The woman's a liability now and
we need to contain her."
This is the first book I’ve read by David Sedaris, and I’m so excited to get my hands on more. It’s kind of annoying how effortlessly funny he seems — I’m envious, and taking notes. And he manages to touch on some of the deepest topics, suicide, addiction, aging and so on, all while making me laugh out loud. An absolute gem of a book.
Surprisingly entertaining and thought provoking book about aging, relationships, family, death, etc. While I am not in the target age demographic, and the author is pretty much my polar opposite, I greatly enjoyed this book. Great, quick read to mix up my usual reading list.
I’ve never read anything from Sedaris and having this as an audiobook with him as the narrator really made this book great! It’s odd to laugh at some of the things he was describing, but life is oddly funny anyway. I’ll definitely read another Sedaris book!
To me this is Sedaris at his best. I love to read his more biographical stuff. I feel like that is the medium or genre I guess in which he thrives. He can be to the point,weird and crass without having to rely on metaphors or symbolism (things that I feel really hurt his style. Check my review on Squirrel seeks chipmunks). As always I highly recommend this on audio.