David Sedaris’s Happy-Go-Lucky is available on Audible as a 7 hrs 30 mins unabridged audiobook, narrated by David Sedaris.
Publisher’s Summary
David Sedaris returns with his first 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.
“A champion storyteller” —Los Angeles Times
Audiobook Details
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 7 hrs 30 mins
- Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
- Release year: 2022
- Audible category: Literature & Fiction / Essays / Relationships, Parenting & Personal Development
Listener Ratings
Happy-Go-Lucky holds an average listener rating of 4.8/5 from 5945 Audible ratings.
On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:
- Performance (narration): 4.9/5
- Story: 4.8/5
- 5-star ratings: 84% of all ratings
What Audible Listeners Are Saying
5/5 stars — “Always 5 out of 5 stars”
I love everything David Sedaris writes. I was dissapointed that so much of the book was previously published in The New Yorker though.I enjoyed the story about his father’s inappropriate behavior. I know that’s horrible to say, but I’ve been reading his books since he was just breaking out in the 90s, and while he is a master of self depreciation, I’ve always sensed huge intentional gaps about his family dynamic. Obviously, the family has a right to their privacy, so I truly appreciate his willingness to share such difficult topics with us all.
I miss stories about his mother. It is clear in his essays that he loved her so deeply, and even when he relays negative details he does it with such care and delicacy. I enjoy her stories immensely.
— CharlieBear, Audible listener
4/5 stars — “If only I could tell a story like that”
It is so enjoyable to listen to David Sedaris tell stories. Some people might find him offensive but if anyone’s honest with themselves they know they think the same way… Sick and twisted from time to time. I hope he takes it as a compliment. The only thing that made me feel a bit bummed out was that I had listen to a bunch of his talkshow and podcast appearances before listening to his books and the stories do repeat so lesson learned… But this is also my first book of his that I have read/listened to so if I go back to the beginning and read some of his early work I’m sure I will be delighted through and through— Kimberly Kurau, Audible listener
5/5 stars — “His best yet. Funny, dark, thoughtful. “
This collection of stories are easily some of my favorites. Funny, touching, heartbreaking, enlightening. Moving through family laughs, dysfunction, abuse, and love, David Sedaris speaks to so much of what so many of us understand. There are cringey stories and stories that help frame some of the horrible events we all endured during the pandemic. He also walks us through his experience grieving the death of his father, who had somewhat of a transformation near the end of his life. This not uncommon theme – abusive young father to loving elderly father – is thoughtfully explored. Each topic in the book is truly well crafted with his trademark acerbic humor cutting right through the darkest moments. I enjoyed every minute spent listening to this book.— Patti Winker, Audible listener
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