Calypso by David Sedaris
Need a book recommendation? This is it!!!
David Sedaris' Calypso. Not quite a novel and not quite a series of essays, it nominally circles around his purchase and enjoyment of a beach house in NC but really, its about him and his life. Note that the reviews say its about a man in mid-life who buys a beach house in NC and faces his age-did they even read the book? Its not about that AT ALL! I mean, yes, he is and does those things in the course of the book, but that's not what its about...book reviews sometimes annoy me. \
I have not read Sedaris before and I have since gathered that all of his books are about him but this one could have been about me...he grew up in Raleigh in a displaced family (meaning they were not from Raleigh, not that they were refugees or anything), had a family of six kids, vacationed every summer on the NC coast, values his siblings like crazy, etc. I mean, I'm not a short gay man (well, I suppose one could call me short) who has made millions (or at least enough to have a different house on half the world's continents-some months I wonder if I can really afford the one house that I have) off of my writing and lectures so the similarities only go so far, but still!
He writes of how sibling alliances shift over the years highlighting a fact of big family life that I find incredibly accurate but had never focused on before; the scene where he is walking on the beach and can't figure out which house is his is pure gold, not the least because of how he eventually figures it out and therefore resolves to NOT have a throw-down with his partner...The story also keeps circling back to the death of a family member so if that is something you have experienced recently his story may be too raw. Throughout, while as a reader you are certain he is exaggerating for entertainment's sake, my willing suspension of disbelief was firmly in place. Highly recommend.
Rating: #3 Enjoyed It Very Much
David Sedaris' Calypso. Not quite a novel and not quite a series of essays, it nominally circles around his purchase and enjoyment of a beach house in NC but really, its about him and his life. Note that the reviews say its about a man in mid-life who buys a beach house in NC and faces his age-did they even read the book? Its not about that AT ALL! I mean, yes, he is and does those things in the course of the book, but that's not what its about...book reviews sometimes annoy me. \
I have not read Sedaris before and I have since gathered that all of his books are about him but this one could have been about me...he grew up in Raleigh in a displaced family (meaning they were not from Raleigh, not that they were refugees or anything), had a family of six kids, vacationed every summer on the NC coast, values his siblings like crazy, etc. I mean, I'm not a short gay man (well, I suppose one could call me short) who has made millions (or at least enough to have a different house on half the world's continents-some months I wonder if I can really afford the one house that I have) off of my writing and lectures so the similarities only go so far, but still!
He writes of how sibling alliances shift over the years highlighting a fact of big family life that I find incredibly accurate but had never focused on before; the scene where he is walking on the beach and can't figure out which house is his is pure gold, not the least because of how he eventually figures it out and therefore resolves to NOT have a throw-down with his partner...The story also keeps circling back to the death of a family member so if that is something you have experienced recently his story may be too raw. Throughout, while as a reader you are certain he is exaggerating for entertainment's sake, my willing suspension of disbelief was firmly in place. Highly recommend.
Rating: #3 Enjoyed It Very Much
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