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The Land and its People
- Author
- David Sedaris
- Narrator
- David Sedaris
- Publisher
- Little, Brown Book Group
- Publish Date
- 2 July 2026
- Run Time
- 7 hours 26 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
'Very little makes me laugh. I would say the one exception is anything by David Sedaris' GRAHAM NORTON
'Sedaris is the God of the comic essay... Sedaris' only rule: be funny or perish' LENA DUNHAM
In The Land and Its People, David Sedaris investigates what it means to be a traveller, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role of carer after his boyfriend Hugh's hip-replacement surgery, he both succeeds and fails. He covers ground with his friend Dawn and challenges her to eat a truck tire. An ambivalent Duolingo bot becomes his unlikely confidante as he attempts to describe his family in a foreign language. Ever adding to his list of 'Countries I Have Been To,' he rides a horse named Tequila in Guatemala, buys a bespoke priest's cassock in Vatican City, and goes on safari in Kenya without taking a single photo.
Time takes its toll: Scrolling through his address book, he counts those he couldn't bear to outline and realizes how many are already gone. He is bitten by a dog and insulted by a wee train passenger. A woman on the street late at night either sexually harasses him or doesn't. It's easy to agree with the lady waving a sign that reads, 'Enough is Enough.' And yet, life holds much to delight in: the massive testicles of a ram, a trip abroad with his sisters, a really excellent reptile video, a pair of well-made cotton underpants.
Throughout these essays - at once acerbic and tender, playful and profound - Sedaris shows how much there is to marvel at when you keep your head up and your eyes open, observing with warmth and curiosity our fascinating human species and the lands we inhabit.
'Sedaris is the premier observer of our world and its weirdness' ADAM KAY
'Wonderful' IAN McKELLEN
'Unquestionably the king of comic writing' HADLEY FREEMAN
'The funniest writer alive today' JONATHAN ROSS
Critics Review
-
Most of the 28 essays in this collection are new, so clear your calendar and devote at least a day, if not a weekend, to savoring the inimitable Sedaris as he reflects on his long relationship with his partner Hugh, his indulgences (both monetary and cerebral) and the frailties of his beloved family members. Those who have followed along with the author's oeuvre (14 books, now) will appreciate the grace tempering his ever-sharp wit
Los Angeles Times
-
Sedaris takes on the indignities and freedoms of aging - from competitive infirmity to care taking to underpants - with his characteristic élan. You'll find familiar faces and Sedaris's trademark off-kilter humor, as well as a poignant tenderness
New York Times Book Review
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His latest collection is replete with the wry wit, cringey awkwardness and earnest - but flawed - stabs at self-improvement
NPR
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A funny and heartfelt essay collection on friendship, family, and aging....Sedaris's wit and keen awareness of life's absurdities are on full display. These essays are among the best of his career
Publishers Weekly, starred review
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
With his laconic delivery, Sedaris lures the reader into believing that the topic under discussion might be unremarkable, a you-and-me-in-this-together moment. But then, given Sedaris' worldview and world weariness, eventually a knotty twist or spicy dash is delivered with the realization that Sedaris' land is unparalleled, and its people are peerless. Sedaris fans will be queuing for this, craving new expressions of his signature wit and frankness
Booklist
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It's classic Sedaris: sharp, shameless, and strangely tender
Oprah Daily
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In his 14th collection, our premier comic essayist does what he does best...a welcome return to form for the much-awarded and much-loved humorist... These essays find the author back to thinking about his signature material... all in his signature key of delightfully petty and wonderfully peevish... Sedaris remains a national treasure
Kirkus, starred review
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A new David Sedaris collection is a publishing event
Literary Hub
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Sedaris' first collection of essays in four years is up to the American's usual splendid, caustic and witty standards... hugely entertaining, perfectly designed to consume in bite-sized chunks
Independent
-
Sedaris observes and records with a laser-sharp wit and deceptive lightness
Esquire
-
Filled with his trademark wit and warmth
Prima
-
Sedaris remains a hilarious chronicler of the world around him
The i
-
Accomplished, amusing, self-revealing and self-knowing
TLS
-
A straight-up joy of a summer read
London Standard
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Delicious, acerbic essays from the man that you'd most like to sit next to at a dinner party... he excavates the absurd and the gloriously petty aspects of modern life and serves it up in razor sharp form
Grazia
-
I'll read anything by satirist David Sedaris. No one makes me laugh as hard... His essays are full of sharp, witty observations about family, friends, travel and everyday encounters, often with eccentric people, but there's warmth behind the humour, too
Sainsbury's Magazine
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His insights are as razor sharp as ever... It feels like a sardonic gay uncle sitting around the dinner table regaling the rest of the family with stories of his life and travels. Honest and unflinching
Daily Mirror
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Heartbreaking and hilarious
The Observer
-
Ring out the bells, sound out trumpets and keep a firm hold onto your sides to stop them splitting - David Sedaris is back with a new collection of essays
Daily Mail
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Put funny first and the wisdom and warmth can follow. However much his imitators crib from him, that's the insight that makes Sedaris the best in the game
The Times
-
He has complete command over his audience - well, he's a huge comic talent
The Times
-
A reason why so many people gravitate towards Sedaris ... is that they can hear his unmistakable voice on every page
Financial Times
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It's so effortlessly funny. I admire no one more in the world than someone who can really tell a proper joke... and he is amazingly good at that
The Rest Is Entertainment
-
The best book I've read in the past year ... He's hilarious and thoughtful and (his writing) is all character-driven - and I love his characters
Sam Taylor-Johnson
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- David Sedaris
- Narrator
- David Sedaris
- Duration
- 7 hours 26 minutes
- Release Date
- 2 July 2026
- ISBN
- 9781405549578
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Little, Brown Book Group
- Genre
- Humour, Essays, Autobiography: general, Autobiography: writers
Synopsis
In this new collection, recorded live, on-location from Massachusetts to California, David Sedaris reflects on what it means to be a foreigner, a brother, a lifelong friend, in essays that are "among the best of his career" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).'Very little makes me laugh. I would say the one exception is anything by David Sedaris' GRAHAM NORTON'Sedaris is the God of the comic essay... Sedaris' only rule: be funny or perish' LENA DUNHAMIn The Land and Its People, David Sedaris investigates what it means to be a traveller, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role of carer after his boyfriend Hugh's hip-replacement surgery, he both succeeds and fails. He covers ground with his friend Dawn and challenges her to eat a truck tire. An ambivalent Duolingo bot becomes his unlikely confidante as he attempts to describe his family in a foreign language. Ever adding to his list of 'Countries I Have Been To,' he rides a horse named Tequila in Guatemala, buys a bespoke priest's cassock in Vatican City, and goes on safari in Kenya without taking a single photo. Time takes its toll: Scrolling through his address book, he counts those he couldn't bear to outline and realizes how many are already gone. He is bitten by a dog and insulted by a wee train passenger. A woman on the street late at night either sexually harasses him or doesn't. It's easy to agree with the lady waving a sign that reads, 'Enough is Enough.' And yet, life holds much to delight in: the massive testicles of a ram, a trip abroad with his sisters, a really excellent reptile video, a pair of well-made cotton underpants.Throughout these essays - at once acerbic and tender, playful and profound - Sedaris shows how much there is to marvel at when you keep your head up and your eyes open, observing with warmth and curiosity our fascinating human species and the lands we inhabit.'Sedaris is the premier observer of our world and its weirdness' ADAM KAY'Wonderful' IAN McKELLEN'Unquestionably the king of comic writing' HADLEY FREEMAN'The funniest writer alive today' JONATHAN ROSS
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