Audiobook Review: Calypso by David Sedaris

Calypso by David Sedaris
Narrated by: David Sedaris
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Release Date: May 29, 2018
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

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 realization: it’s impossible to take a vacation from yourself.

With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality. Make no mistake: these stories are very, very funny–it’s a book that can make you laugh ’til you snort, the way only family can. Sedaris’s powers of observation have never been sharper, and his ability to shock readers into laughter unparalleled. But much of the comedy here is born out of that vertiginous moment when your own body betrays you and you realize that the story of your life is made up of more past than future.

This is beach reading for people who detest beaches, required reading for those who loathe small talk and love a good tumor joke. Calypso is simultaneously Sedaris’s darkest and warmest book yet–and it just might be his very best.

I listened to Calypso because David Sedaris reading his essays makes them a million times funnier than they already are. And they already are hilarious. I highly recommend that you do the same – for any of his books actually. Calypso is just as funny as all his other books but it’s also his most personal. He has an essay about his sister Tiffany’s suicide and another about his mother’s alcoholism. Both are bittersweet.

As with his other books, family is at the heart of most of his writing. He bought a beach house in North Carolina, which he named The Sea Section, and his family spends quite a bit of time together there, giving him much material for this book. It’s pretty amazing how close he and his siblings are. His dad is in his 90s now and his rough edges have softened a bit, changing David’s relationship with him. I liked that this book went deeper than his others. After reading most of his books and seeing him perform several times, I feel like we’re old friends and I enjoyed getting to know him even better and laughing a lot.

Other books David Sedaris books I’ve reviewed:
Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls
Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002