Happy-Go-Lucky (book)

Last updated
Happy-Go-Lucky
Happy-Go-Lucky (David Sedaris).png
First edition cover
Author David Sedaris
Audio read byDavid Sedaris
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Little, Brown and Company
Publication date
May 31, 2022 (2022-05-31)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint, e-book, audiobook
Pages272
ISBN 978-0-316-39245-7
Preceded by Calypso  

Happy-Go-Lucky is a collection of 18 semi-autobiographical essays by David Sedaris. [1] [2] It was published on May 31, 2022, by Little, Brown and Company. [3] [4] Out of these 18 essays, 13 were previously published in a magazine or through Amazon Original Stories; some of these were published under a different title or in a different form. [5]

Contents

Essays

  1. "Active Shooter" [a]
  2. "Father Time" [a]
  3. "Bruised"
  4. "A Speech to the Graduates" [b]
  5. "Hurricane Season" [a]
  6. "Highfalutin" [c]
  7. "Unbuttoned" [a]
  8. "Themes and Variations" [d]
  9. "To Serbia with Love"
  10. "The Vacuum" [a]
  11. "Pearls" [a]
  12. "Fresh-Caught Haddock"
  13. "Happy-Go-Lucky" [a]
  14. "A Better Place" [a]
  15. "Lady Marmalade"
  16. "Smile, Beautiful" [e]
  17. "Pussytoes"
  18. "Lucky-Go-Happy" [a]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 First published in The New Yorker
  2. First published in The Paris Review
  3. First published in Elle
  4. First published by Amazon Original Stories
  5. First published in British Vogue

Synopsis

In Happy-Go-Lucky, Sedaris continues where he left off in Calypso , writing about his transition into late midlife during the final years of the first Trump administration and into the COVID-19 pandemic. He writes about his life and the lives of his family—including his siblings, his longtime partner Hugh, and the decline of his 98-year-old father, with whom he had a fractured relationship.

Reception

Happy-Go-Lucky debuted at number one on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending June 4, 2022. [6]

Happy-Go-Lucky received favorable reviews from critics, with a cumulative "Positive" rating at the review aggregator website Book Marks based on a sample of 12 reviews. [7] Publishers Weekly wrote, "Sedaris's tragicomedy is gloomier than usual, but it's as rich and rewarding as ever." [8] In a rave review, Anita Snow of the Associated Press wrote, "Writing about his teen years, Sedaris is simultaneously amusing and brutal while unflinchingly exposing the ironies of his family and life in general." [9] In a mixed review, Houman Barekat of The Guardian criticized Sedaris as coming across as "glib on racial politics", "cranky" toward the younger generation, and "petty" and "bitter", but admitted "it is partly because of these flaws that people relate to him." Barekat concluded, "On the page he's a somewhat diminished presence: engaging but rarely captivating." [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Foster Wallace</span> American writer (1962–2008)

David Foster Wallace was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace's 1996 novel Infinite Jest was cited by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. His posthumous novel, The Pale King (2011), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2012. The Los Angeles Times's David Ulin called Wallace "one of the most influential and innovative writers of the last twenty years".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Sedaris</span> American humorist and author (born 1956)

David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next book, Naked (1997), became his first of a series of New York Times Bestsellers, and his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Sedaris</span> American actress, comedian, and writer (born 1961)

Amy Louise Sedaris is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Most recently, she has appeared in both The Mandalorian (2019–2023) and The Book of Boba Fett (2022) as Peli Motto. She played Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central comedy series Strangers with Candy (1999–2000) and the prequel film Strangers with Candy (2005), which she also wrote.

<i>Me Talk Pretty One Day</i> 2000 essay collection by David Sedaris

Me Talk Pretty One Day, published in 2000, is a collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris. The book is separated into two parts. The first part consists of essays about Sedaris’s life before his move to Normandy, France, including his upbringing in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina, his time working odd jobs in New York City, and a visit to New York from a childhood friend and her bumpkinish girlfriend. The second section, "Deux", tells of Sedaris’s move to Normandy with his partner Hugh, often drawing humor from his efforts to live in France without speaking French and his frustrated attempts to learn it. Prior to publication, several of the essays were read by the author on the Public Radio International program, This American Life.

<i>A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again</i> Book by David Foster Wallace

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments is a 1997 collection of nonfiction writing by David Foster Wallace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Rakoff</span> Canadian-American humorist and essayist (1964–2012)

David Benjamin Rakoff was a Canadian-born American writer of prose and poetry based in New York City, who wrote humorous and sometimes autobiographical non-fiction essays. Rakoff was an essayist, journalist, and actor, and a regular contributor to WBEZ's This American Life. Rakoff described himself as a "New York writer" who also happened to be a "Canadian writer", a "mega Jewish writer", a "gay writer", and an "East Asian Studies major who has forgotten most of his Japanese" writer.

<i>Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim</i> 2004 essay collection by David Sedaris

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is a collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris. It was released in the United States by Little, Brown and Company on June 1, 2004. The essays detail the author's upbringing in Raleigh, North Carolina, his relationships with family members, and his work and life in both New York City and France.

<i>Holidays on Ice</i> 1997 book by David Sedaris

Holidays on Ice is a 1997 collection of essays and stories about Christmas, some new and some previously published, by David Sedaris.

<i>When You Are Engulfed in Flames</i> 2008 book by David Sedaris

When You Are Engulfed in Flames is a collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris. It was published on June 3, 2008.

Happy Go Lucky may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Jamison</span> American novelist and essayist

Leslie Sierra Jamison is an American novelist and essayist. She is the author of the 2010 novel The Gin Closet and the 2014 essay collection The Empathy Exams. Jamison also directs the nonfiction concentration in writing at Columbia University School of the Arts.

<i>Lets Explore Diabetes with Owls</i> 2013 essay collection by David Sedaris

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls is a collection of narrative essays by David Sedaris. The book was released on April 23, 2013. It debuted at the Number One Spot on the New York Times Bestseller List. Sedaris has said the title was one he had considered for his previous book, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk and was inspired by a fan's suggestion that he inscribe a book with a message along the lines of "explore your inner feelings: "I never write what people ask me so I said, 'I’ll keep the word explore' and I wrote, 'let’s explore diabetes with owls.'"

<i>Reading the Comments</i> 2015 book by Joseph Michael Reagle Jr.

Reading the Comments: Likers, Haters, and Manipulators at the Bottom of the Web is a 2015 non-fiction book by Northeastern University professor Joseph M. Reagle Jr. The book was first published on April 24, 2015 through MIT Press and deals with the subject of Internet comments in locations like YouTube, Amazon, and forums.

Meet David Sedaris is a BBC Radio 4 radio program featuring American humorist David Sedaris reading new and previously collected stories live before an audience. There have been nine series with the first being broadcast in April 2010.

<i>Calypso</i> (book) 2018 essay collection by David Sedaris

Calypso is a collection of 21 semi-autobiographical essays by David Sedaris. It was published on May 29, 2018 by Little, Brown and Company. 14 of the 21 essays were previously published in a magazine or newspaper; some of these were published under a different title or in a different form.

<i>The Man in the Red Coat</i> 2019 book by Julian Barnes

The Man in the Red Coat is a book by Julian Barnes. It was published on 11 November 2019. The book concerns Samuel Jean de Pozzi, a French surgeon and pioneer in the field of gynaecology whose portrait in a red coat John Singer Sargent painted, and other people of Belle Époque Paris, including Robert de Montesquiou, Prince Edmond de Polignac, Jean Lorrain, Sarah Bernhardt, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and Oscar Wilde.

<i>The Country of Others</i> 2020 novel by Leïla Slimani

The Country of Others is a 2020 novel by Leïla Slimani.

<i>We Had to Remove This Post</i> 2021 Dutch novella

We Had to Remove This Post is a 2021 novella by Dutch writer Hanna Bervoets.

Niamh Campbell is an Irish author.

<i>The Best of Me</i> (Sedaris book) 2020 essay and fiction collection by David Sedaris

The Best of Me is a compilation of essays and short fiction by American humorist David Sedaris. It was released by Little, Brown and Company on November 3, 2020, with every entry in the collection selected by Sedaris himself. All of the works had previously appeared in earlier books by Sedaris, save for five essays which had only been published in The New Yorker.

References

  1. Alford, Henry (May 30, 2022). "The Sneaky, Subversive Thrills of David Sedaris". The New York Times . Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  2. McAlpin, Heller (May 31, 2022). "In 'Happy-Go-Lucky,' David Sedaris reflects on his fraught relationship with his dad". NPR . Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  3. "Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris". Little, Brown and Company . Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  4. "Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris". Kirkus Reviews . March 11, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  5. Sedaris, David. Happy-Go-Lucky. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN   978-0-316-39245-7.
  6. "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction". The New York Times. June 19, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  7. "Happy-Go-Lucky". Book Marks . Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  8. "Nonfiction Book Review: Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris". Publishers Weekly . March 22, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  9. Snow, Anita (May 31, 2022). "Review: 'Happy-Go-Lucky,' an amusing look at life's ironies". Associated Press . Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  10. Barekat, Houman. "Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris – lockdown, loss and dentistry". The Guardian . Retrieved June 12, 2022.