Calypso
David Sedaris returns with his most deeply personal and darkly hilarious book. 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.
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Community Reviews
One and half stars. One of the main things that makes something funny is how we relate to it. Jokes about growing up in a Hispanic household I find funny because I grew up in a Hispanic household. Jokes about growing up in an Estonian household I find less funny. Not because those jokes aren't as inherently funny but because I cannot relate to a childhood in Estonia. Herein lies the problem with my unenjoyment of this book; I just couldn't relate to the bulk of the material. The patently exaggerated nature of the stories didn't work most of the time for me. Yes, jokes take something absurd and magnify it to make it funny - exaggeration is part and parcel of humor -but Sedaris takes things decidedly unfunny and through his exaggeration magnifies them into something even more unfunny. Were there some funny moments? I concede that I laughed a time or two. But a few chuckles in 273 pages does not an enjoyable book make. Mostly I find his writing contrived and forced. I think it is best described as NPR humor. Not my cup of tea.
I enjoy David Sedaris and his stories about his life and family. Sedaris describes any given situation so that you feel as if you are right there beside him. I'm not a political person so when I hear comedy start to talk politics I tune out. I've had too much of the bashing from all sides, so those two short parts weren't my favorite. But since I am a second generation Greek-American I especially enjoyed hearing stories about his Papou and Yaya and all his Greek experiences! I could listen to him talk about the Greeks for hours and I'm sure I would be in stitches laughing. Calypso has a little bit of everything and it's good to hear some up-to-date material from Sedaris.
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