Happy-Go-Lucky

De: David Sedaris

Narrado por: David Sedaris

An Audie Award Winner

David Sedaris, the “champion storyteller,” (Los Angeles Times) 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.

©2022 David Sedaris (P)2022 Little, Brown & Company

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Sedaris's latest update on his family and society brings the funny. Still, there's growing depth and empathy in his writing and delivery. Sure, shooting guns with his sister and visiting his nonagenarian father bring laugh-out-loud moments. But profound reflections also pepper his writing as his tone and delivery match his heartrending observations. Sedaris chronicles the Covid-19 pandemic and all the absurdities of reactions to precautions. His voice matches the frustration and bewilderment of lockdown and life behind a mask." (AudioFile)

“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

The best

I hope this author never spends any time worrying that he is anything but the absolute best. It’s a constant joy, as someone who has read every single word, well ok 92%, to have witnessed his work go from screamingly funny to also heartbreakingly poignant and profound.

Another great book by David Sedaris

Really enjoyed this book. Love that the author reads it himself and how he reads it. Thank you David Sedaris.

Brilliant and hilarious

Funny and compelling. David Sedaris crafts humor as his best protective armor to survive life's complexities with insight and candor. Brilliant humorist.

He's great as always

I've loved listening to David Sedaris' work. He is such a great writer and makes you feel a wide range of emotions with each book.

David Sedaris is an American treasure.

What a wonderfully funny and often touching and sometimes gut-wrenching collection of essays/stories. Bravo, Mr. Sedaris. Bravo.

I’m not sure where to begin

Poignant, funny, this book dips into a difficult and complicated family history. This was a good book for me to read as a near 66 years of age, as I now reflect upon my own complicated family from a distance.

grew up listening to David Sedaris

while I disagree on a lot of his view points, I still appreciate hearing them and his humorous way of coveying things. hearing about how his father into his old age continously put him down and tried to undermine him constantly was very sad. processing his father's death amidst that somewhat toxic dynamic was very interesting. he is easy to listen to and I've always loved his stories and live readings. he's quite charming and funny in person too.

David Never Disappoints

Twisted and wry, Sedaris' observations always bring a smile, or at least a grimace

He’s mad at his late father.

He’s mad at his late father for being mean. There is some recycled material about traveling in Europe. It is an OK book.

David’s best

This is the best work David Sedaris has ever produced. That’s intended as high praise considering the consistent thread of quality, and often inspired brilliance, that preceded it. David is as vulnerable and sincere as he ever has been about very personal feelings regarding his abusive father, his estranged late sister, and how he feels about his smile. The audiobook reading performance is top shelf as always. I had a rich listening experience, and I laughed out loud many times on my walks through the neighborhood. I cannot recommend this book any more highly, for those new to this author, but especially if you’ve enjoyed his work in the past.