Book Review Series
Uneasy Humor
By Yasmeen Shubber
If you were hoping for a novel with a plot, Calypso by David Sedaris won’t give you what you’re looking for. This biographical collection of short stories offer the author’s thoughts and unique perspective on the mundane aspects of daily life. Each chapter is like a journal entry, centered around his relationship with his family and their gatherings in his North Carolina beach home — “The Sea Section”, a name telling enough of the crude humour in the book. Sedaris covers touchy topics like aging, death, and alcoholism through his dark point of view. All removed from emotions, with a hint of selfishness.
Family
“..for though I’ve often lost faith in myself, I’ve never lost faith in my family, in my certainty that we are fundamentally better than everyone else.” — Calypso, David Sedaris
Relationships and family are the central themes of this book, especially how complicated they can be once siblings come into adulthood, and eventually, old age. Many of the memories Sedaris recalls are about his family and the conversations they have. Though speaks fondly of them, there is an undertone of difficulty and tension. He writes about how he was never able to have a conversation with his father, even now that he’s in his fifties. We also find out about his mother’s alcoholism in a subtle way, the way you would when you don’t want to admit that the person you love is struggling. Through all these memories, Sedaris’s inner dialogue serves as a child-like annotation.
In fact, Sedaris is unafraid of appearing childish or self-centered. He writes, “I told myself one day that I would buy a beach house and that it would be everyone’s, as long as they followed my draconian rules and never stopped thanking me for it”. Whether Sedaris is purposely exposing these thoughts, or cannot see beyond his own flawed viewpoint, we will never know. He goes on to admit, “I’d wonder if I hadn’t bought the house as a way of saying, see, it’s just that easy.” As if he was trying to get back at his father for not buying a beach house when they were younger. He shows us that there are things that stick with you all the way to adulthood, no matter how illogical or trite.
Now that he’s in his fifties, he is nostalgic, valuing every minute. He’s fond of pointless conversation, revering it as a lost art. He finds humour and depth in the moments of conversation when people are totally relaxed and say what’s on their mind, perfect in a beach setting.
Death
The main death in Calypso is that of Sedaris’s youngest sister Tiffany, who committed suicide. Sedaris writes, “A person expects his parents to die. But a sibling?”. There is an unnaturalness to it, making you question your own mortality. But rather than discuss the pain, Sedaris takes trips down memory lane, reminiscing about family vacations on Emerald Isle, off the coast of North Carolina, and how he and his siblings used to fight over who would get which room. On the surface, the narrative appears cold and distant, but slowly, Sedaris guides us through his relationship with Tiffany, and his grief comes through.
Although not stated explicitly, there is an assumption that Tiffany struggled with mental health issues. When taking Sedaris’ generation into consideration, mental health was not a mainstream discussion. “Why can’t a grown woman hold a job? we wondered,” admitting that the family had not known about her illness and questioned her erratic behaviour. There is a grim reality of dealing with a mentally unstable person. The pain, the grief, and all the unhealed wounds that come with it. Sedaris is almost angry that Tiffany had ended her life — going as far as saying “how could anyone purposefully leave us — us, of all people?,”as if blaming Tiffany can somehow ease the pain of her death and answer the the harrowing question of whether there was something more he could have done to help. As he states so astutely, “when you’re in the state my sister was in, and that most people are in when they take their own lives, you’re not thinking of anything beyond your own pain.”
Discomfort
This book is uncomfortable. The topics, the humour, the author’s inner dialogue, the situations. There is an unease in the human condition that Sedaris enjoys. He picks at the everyday details, the things that run through your mind unconsciously. The time he had a tumor, the time he got food poisoning while on book tour, and his obsession with his Fitbit. There is never a resolution to it all; it’s just life.
There is a dryness to the way Sedaris writes, one that comes from being inside your head for too long. He observes people without judgment, but also without relating to them entirely. The comedy is dark and cerebral. Although it seems he is far removed from feeling, the book is deeply emotional, in the way emotions in life are nuanced and unpredictable. Sedaris reveals it all. The flaws and pain, his shameless acceptance of them. And in that process, he reveals something about all of us within our inner world, whether we care to see it, accept it, or not.
Yasmeen Shubber is always curious and ever seeking truth. Her personal interests vary from visual arts, dance, neuroscience, embodied cognition, to cooking. Yasmeen loves traveling and learning about cultures and languages. Professionally, Yasmeen focuses on people-centered strategies in business and the community.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Sabaya Book Club’s editorial stance.
