Calypso by David Sedaris

(hb; 2018: nonfiction)

Overall review

This is an excellent, hilarious, heartfelt and family- and relationship-themed collection of twenty-one essays. The humor and truths of his stories sometimes run a little dark and occasionally political, but there is always an undercurrent of warmth to the work. Calypso is a book worth owning.

A sampling of standout essays

1.)  “Company Man”: Hilarious and heartfelt essay about behaving around house guests, people’s quirks and the joys of family.

2.)  “Now We Are Five”: Sedaris recounts his family’s reactions to his sibling’s suicide, the youngest of six children─heartfelt and wry work.

3.)  “A House Divided”: Continuing the thematic and narrative thread of “Company Man” and “Now We Are Five,” Sedaris writes about a post-Tiffany-suicide family vacation. He details his kin’s further reactions to her unexpected death, his vacation house [the Sea Section] and gratitude for  what he and his family have.

4.)  “Perfect Fit” details Sedaris’s shopaholic trips with his sisters [Amy and Gretchen] and his boyfriend [Hugh] in Japan. There is an underlying and funny theme of family and other warm bonds to this, as well as other works in this collection.

5.)  “Leviathan” talks about hanging out with family, and his father’s changing perspective over  the years.

6.)  “Your English is So Good”:  Sedaris takes note of overused and past-their-expiration-date words and phrases for his fictional American English for Business Travelers. Hilarious, spot-on.

7.)  “Calypso” is about feeding wildlife─specifically a snapping turtle─and a minor surgery, as well as what might bring those two experiences together.

Most of the essays that follow these pieces are just as excellent.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, by David Sedaris

(hb; 2010; illustrations by Ian Falconer)

From the inside flap:

"If animals were more like us,

if mice kept pets and toads could cuss,

if dogs had wives and chipmunks dated,

sheep sat still and meditated,

then in the forest, field and dairy

you might find this bestiary,

read by storks, by rats and kitties,

skimmed by cows with milk-stained titties.

'I found this book to be most droll,'

might quip the bear, the owl, the mole.

Others, though, would be more coarse.

'Bull,' could say the pig and horse.

As to the scribe, they'd quote the hen:

'Trust me, he's no La Fontaine.' "


•


Review:

Grim morality-toned book that looks like a kid's book, but isn't.

Falconer's stunning illustrations amplify the effect of Sedaris's short, sharp 'animals with anthromorphized motives' stories, from the bleak "The Crow and the Lamb", "The Vigilant Rabbit" and "The Sick Rat and the Healthy Rat" (with their egregious, manipulative and self-righteous villains) to the comparatively gentle and sublime "The Parenting Storks" and "The Grieving Owl".

This book isn't for the faint of heart, but it should be read by as many people as possible. There's more than a bit of ourselves in these fickle, purblind, judgmental and pernicious animals, more than most of us would probably like to admit.

This is one of my favorite reads of late -- worth owning.

Holidays On Ice, by David Sedaris

(pb; 1997)

From the back cover:

“Holidays On Ice collects six of David Sedaris’s most profound Christmas stories into one slender volume perfect for use as a last-minute coaster or ice scraper. This drinking man’s companion can be enjoyed by the warmth of a raging fire, the glow of a brilliantly decorated tree, or even in the backseat of a van or police car. It should be read with your eyes, felt with your heart, and heard only when spoken to. It should, in short, behave much like a book...”

Overall review:

This slim mini-volume of six stories – spanning 134-pages – should appeal to those whose idea of a perfect Christmas flick is Bad Santa (2005) or The Ref (1994), particularly the stories “SantaLand Diaries,” “Season’s Greetings To Our Friends & Family!!!,” and “Christmas Means Giving.” The writing, generally speaking, is good, but I’d recommend one of Sedaris’s other anthologies (Me Talk Pretty One Day) over this, as this is an uneven literary mix.

Review, story by story:

“SantaLand Diaries”: Sedaris reveals (and revels in, and bitches about) the seedy underside of chain-store Santas and elves, and the idiots, known as the public, that come to see them. Occasionally sad, sometimes horrific, and often hilarious, Sedaris turns SantaLand into a microcosmic commentary of our society. My favorite story in this bunch.

“Season’s Greetings to Our Friends & Family!!!”: A newsletter from a woman (Jocelyn Dunbar) which starts out cheerful, but quickly devolves into a rant, filled with black humor, exclamation points and family dysfunction, all taken to an insane level. I gasped more than I laughed at how nasty – and infinitely ugly – this over-the-top “newsletter” gets. Author Sedaris overplays the shocking humor of the piece here and there, but anybody who reads this won’t forget it anytime soon. Solid, but long.

“Dinah, the Christmas Whore”: Lisa Sedaris, David’s older (and then eighteen-year old) sister, rescues an abused alcoholic prostitute from an abusive boyfriend by bringing her over to the Sedaris household during the holidays. Less over-the-top and funny than the two previous stories, it’s well-written, and like the aforementioned stories, has a worthwhile point to make.

“Front Row Center With Thaddeus Bristol”: Boring, meant-to-be-funny-but-it’s-not skewering of elementary school Christmas plays. It’s mercifully brief (less than ten pages), but it lacks the spark and wit that usually highlights Sedaris’s writing.

“Based Upon A True Story”: A smug, pushy television producer tries to win the support of redneck churchgoers so he can get a woman’s permission to film her life story. This is intermittently funny, but the story fizzles out long before its ending.

“Christmas Means Giving”: Two well-to-do suburban families compete for status among their neighborhood peers. Sedaris takes the story-title sentiment to gory, occasionally shocking lengths, but its gallows humor is largely inspired, even with its predictable ending. Great story.