Happy-Go-Lucky

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris

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 Hachette Audio UK

Awesome as always

He never disappoints! He has such an great ability to share his darkest flaws, most of which we all share

Great collection of stories

This is a collection of different stories from the amazing David Sedaris, including ones from live performances. There is quite a lot about his relationship with his dad and his sisters, including his deceased sister Tiffany. Some of this is quite raw and his honesty is very disarming and intimate, especially given the taboos there are about discussing mental health, and speaking “ill of the dead”. He is such a unique story teller and there is a lot of humour in his work that is very unforced and genuine. I really enjoyed this, particularly as it was spoken by his voice which is so lyrical.

Small production problem at 1 hour 58 min, 49 sec where there is about 10 seconds of speech overlapping with the next passage. Needs fixing.

Too many repeats of stories in other collections

Although the stories and the narration was as entertaining as always, I had a major issue with the fact that almost half of these stories were already in his other books. Especially since the blurb states that this is "his first new collection of personal essays".