As an undergraduate, Lipsky published his story "Three Thousand Dollars" in The New Yorker.[5] It was selected by Raymond Carver as one of the Best American Short Stories of 1986. Carver was surprised by the author's youth, noting in his introduction,
I confess to not having read David Lipsky before this. Have I been asleep and missed some stories of his, or maybe even a novel or two? I don't know. I do know I intend to pay attention from now on.[6]
As a graduate student, Lipsky wrote the stories that would become his first book, Three Thousand Dollars (1989). The novelist John Gregory Brown explained, "It was kind of apparent that Lipsky might have the brightest future of anyone [here]."[7] The book was well received upon publication, with the trade publication Booklist summarizing, "Critics loved Lipsky's short story collection";[8] the author was seen to possess "unlimited depth and range of vision,"[9] and the stories were compared to the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald.[10] The Los Angeles Times, while noting the book's "astonishing insights into the New York art world," concluded, "Lipsky has given his contemporaries a general autobiography, one that will fit the majority with only minor adjustments."
His novel The Art Fair (1996), a bildungsroman composed of a number of autobiographical elements, tells the story of Richard and Joan Freely—a New York artist and her precocious son. The novel won rave reviews and was named a Time Best Book of the Year. The work earned Lipsky comparisons to writers Michael Chabon and Harold Brodkey.[11]The New York Times called the novel "riveting,"[12]The New Yorker described it "a darkly comic love story,"[13]People noted, "Lipsky's portrayal of the art world is unblinking, his portrayal of the ties between parent and child deeply affecting";[14] the critic Francine Prose called the book's "Darwinian" milieu a "testament to Lipsky's skill"[15] and James Atlas wrote "the novel perfectly captures artists and dealers, the tiny gestures of cruelty that confirm or withhold status."[2] The trade publication Library Journal summarized, "The praise has poured as thick as impasto."[16]
Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself and Absolutely American
Lipsky's non-fiction book Absolutely American (2003) was written after the author spent four years living at West Point. The book's genesis was a piece Lipsky wrote for Rolling Stone—the longest article published in that magazine since Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. As Newsweek noted, composition of the book required "14,000 pages of interview transcripts, 60 notebooks and four pairs of boots";[17] the magazine called the book "addictive," and Lev Grossman in Time wrote that it was "fascinating, funny, and tremendously well-written. Take a good look: this is the face America turns to most of the world, and until now it's one that most of us have never seen."[18] In The New York Times Book Review, David Brooks called the book "wonderfully told," praising it as both "a superb description of modern military culture, and one of the most gripping accounts of university life I have read."[1] Within a few weeks of publication, the work had sold out of most American distributors. As Sara Nelson reported in the New York Observer,
It's every author's dream: You write a book that everybody loves. It gets fabulous reviews—one of them on the front page of The New York Times Book Review. You appear on the Today show and on C-Span and you tape Charlie Rose. There's even interest from Hollywood—and you fly out to take some meetings. There's only one problem: There are precious few copies of your book to be found in the bookstores—and if someone wants one, they're going to have to wait, sometimes as long as three weeks. That's exactly the situation author David Lipsky found himself in last week.[19]
In April 2010, Lipsky published Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, about a five-day road trip with the writer David Foster Wallace. In Time Magazine, Lev Grossman wrote, "The transcript of their brilliant conversations reads like a two-man Tom Stoppard play or a four-handed duet scored for typewriter."[25]The Atlantic Monthly called the work, "far-reaching, insightful, very funny, profound, surprising, and awfully human";[26] at National Public Radio, Michael Schaub described the book as "a startlingly sad yet deeply funny postscript to the career of one of the most interesting American writers of all time."[27]Newsweek noted, "For readers unfamiliar with the sometimes intimidating Wallace oeuvre, Lipsky has provided a conversational entry point into the writer's thought process. It's odd to think that a book about Wallace could serve both the newbies and the hard-cores, but here it is."[28]Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, described the book as "rollicking" and "compellingly real,"[29]The Wall Street Journal as "lovely,"[30] and Laura Miller in Salon called it "exhilarating."[31] The book was a New York Times best-seller and an NPR Best Book of the Year.[32]
A feature film adaptation of Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, The End of the Tour, was released in July 2015, with Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg portraying Lipsky and Jason Segel portraying Wallace. In his review for The New York Times, critic A.O. Scott wrote, "I love it," adding, "You hang on its every word and revel in its rough, vernacular beauty . . . There will always be films about writers and writing, and this one is just about as good as it gets."[33]
The film received a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 8.02/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Brilliantly performed and smartly unconventional, The End of the Tour pays fitting tribute to a singular talent while offering profoundly poignant observations on the human condition."[34] The film also holds a score of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 35 reviews.[35] At Rogerebert.com, critic Brian Tallerico called the film a "joy," and "stunning . . .a gift of highly intellectual discussion between two brilliant people at turning points in their lives," while also praising Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg.[36]
The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday gave the film four out of four stars and called it, "A five-day conversation you won't want to end ... Part love story, part road trip, part elegy to a bygone, pre-9/11 age, 'The End of the Tour' brims with compassion and sharply honed insight" about "what it means to be human."[37] In his review for Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson called it a "wise, humbly sublime film ... a profound, and profoundly affecting, movie, one that had me blubbering with happy-sad tears. What a pleasure to spend two hours in its company."[38]
In his review for the New York Daily News, Joe Neumaier awarded the film five out of five stars, calling it "one of the best movies of the year . . . Director James Ponsoldt's smart, incisive and extraordinary drama is the kind of film that burrows into your head and leaves you illuminated about life and how to live it."[39] In her review for The Los Angeles Times, Sheri Linden wrote "James Ponsoldt's magnificent The End of the Tour gives us two guys talking, and the effect is breathtaking ... They're played with a wrought and wary chemistry, synapses blazing, by Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg."[40]
In his review for Cut Print Film, Josh Oakley awarded the film a perfect "10/10", calling it "one of the best films of the year", and stating "The End of the Tour presents, with ample evidence, Wallace as a figure who could never fill the holes of loneliness with the spackle of acclaim."[41] In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper awarded the film four out of four stars, calling it "brilliant. . .this is one of the best movies of the year."[42] In his review for the Minnesota Star Tribune Colin Covert gave the film four out of four stars, writing, "Simply put, it is a masterwork."[43]
In 2023 Norton published Lipsky's The Parrot and the Igloo—a narrative history of climate and the science denial movement. In a starred pre-publication review, Kirkus called the work "simultaneously captivating and disturbing . . . An important book that will leave your head shaking."[55]Booklist wrote, "with the amount of research that went into the book, this can be considered the historical record to date."[56] In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called the work "revelatory . . . With dry wit and novelistic flair, National Magazine Award winner Lipsky chronicles how harnessing electricity changed the world. Buoyed by thorough historical research, this is a first-rate entry," adding "Humor accompanies horrific truths in this vital look at the rise of climate change denial."[57]USA Today explained,
"Lipsky offers a history of climate science―and with it, climate denial―starring a large cast of swindlers, zealots, politicians and hucksters to get to the heart of virulent anti-science ideologies in America."[58]
