The Land and Its People by David Sedaris
I’ve read and written about David Sedaris quite a few times. He’s a favorite of mine. The first time I heard him was years ago in what is often called his breakthrough to fame, The Christmas Elf story. I’ve heard him speak several times, too. He has a very distinct voice. When I read his work, I hear his voice. And he cracks me (and many others) up.
The Land and Its People is, like many others of his books, a collection of essays. He seems to base most, if not all, of his essays on the journal he keeps. They are stories of his life and the people in it. He is cynical and sometimes rather mean, but he has a hilarious way of telling stories, and strange things seem to happen to him.
I like the way he phrases things when he quotes what someone says (or he imagines them saying) like this:
If his parents could afford to stay at the Four Seasons, surely they could have afforded to fix his car, though maybe they were tired of being hit up for money. “Go find some hotel guest and get the eighty dollars from him,” they’d maybe said. —page 44
David is gay and writes a lot about his husband Hugh. Here’s what he wrote when he was asked to appear before the Pope along with a bunch of comedians. He noted that Pope Francis had said, when asked about same-sex marriages, “If they accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge them?” But:
Then, yes, he said faggortry, but he apoligized for it. Both times. I don’t think that he’s a homophobe so much as an eighty-seven-year-old. (“I said what again? Really?”) —page 86
About his mom:
Other things weren’t rules, rather, they were simply understood. You didn’t take Mom’s cigarettes, for example. “Buy your own,” she’d say. “That’s what your allowance is for.” —page 115
In this book, David writes quite a bit about the time Hugh had hip surgery. According to David, Hugh became quite testy and blamed David for pretty much everything.
“Are you sure you can drive that long?” I asked Hugh, who has sciatica — also completely my fault because I control all the nerves in his legs. —page 127
Highly recommend.