Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris

Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Humor, 2014

From the unique perspective of David Sedaris comes a new collection of essays taking his listeners on a bizarre and stimulating world tour. From the perils of French dentistry to the eating habits of the Australian kookaburra, from the squat-style toilets of Beijing to the particular wilderness of a North Carolina Costco, we learn about the absurdity and delight of a curious traveler's experiences. Whether railing against the habits of litterers in the English countryside or marveling over a disembodied human arm in a taxidermist's shop, Sedaris takes us on side-splitting adventures that are not to be forgotten.

©2013 David Sedaris (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Sedaris is the preeminent humorist of his generation." ( Entertainment Weekly)

Great listen!

Currently working my way through all of David Sedaris's books. This one is a little more serious and dry in tone than some of the others I've listened to, but I still enjoyed it and found myself laughing out loud in some places. His writing is witty and entertaining as usual and contain the emotion and honesty one comes to expect from Sedaris.

love!

I always enjoy David, this was no different. Even when it's uncomfortable, it's the best stuff.

I love David Sedaris

I enjoyed every minute of this book. Sedaris captures a millisecond of a moment in time and expands it into all the funny, crazy thoughts we all have and dont and or cant, quite put into words. I was laughing out loud numerous times. I love his sense of humor and the way he connects his stories. And, I don't know how I could have missed knowing of him and his work. New fan for sure!

Sedaris is a genius

What made the experience of listening to Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls the most enjoyable?

David Sedaris is brilliant. His outlook on everyday life is hilarious. I am sad that I missed his lecture in my city last year.

Too funny!

If you could sum up Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls in three words, what would they be?

So amazingly good

What did you like best about this story?

David Sedaris is able to take the everyday and wring every little bit of humor out of it.

What does David Sedaris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

David's tone and attitude add a multitude of layers to the stories.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Oh What A Life

Any additional comments?

Love, love, love David Sedaris. You cannot go wrong with this book.

Time well spent

As with most of David Sedaris' books the essays are entertaining, poignant and usually autobiographical, interjected with a bit of fantastic-whimsy from childhood fantasies.
Owls continues a tradition, with fresh content and the insights that come from a bit more wisdom and life experience. Owls is a stand-alone collection of stories told by a seasoned satirist who shares his quirky paradigm of the highs and lows that afflict us all.
The narration done by the author offers both depth and accent to the stories, and is an exceptional aspect of the program.

Sad

Most people first heard of Sedaris on NPR. His Santa Land Diaries was read every year around Christmas for a while. It is by far his funniest yet. After that I liked Dress Your Family in Corduroy. When you are Engulfed in Flames got a little too gay sex in bed descriptive for me and my wife. She turned it off and said no more. I listened to the rest of it by myself. Some very funny moments, but I was not liking the gay sex.

You want to know about this book. This one totally bummed me out. It is in sections and there is one section which is a live performance and it was LOL. The rest of the book is extremely sad. He really did not get along well with his parents and that comes out big time. I now know why Audible, put this down as Bio and not Comedy. If you are looking for a sad bio, this is for you. If you are looking for laughs, try some of his other works.

Having said that, Sedaris, just seems like a good friend and I feel guilty not giving him a great review. You will feel bad for him as he goes through this.

The narrator is Sedaris and no one narrates their own work better then he does, including Carlin, of whom I am a big fan.

Not his Best

I am a fan of David Sedaris but thought this book was definitely not one of his best. The stories early in the book were OK with some humorous moments. The stories at the the book were horrible. Unlike earlier stories they were not based on reality and consisted of "bashing" some people's priorities and life style (particularly women). Not one bit funny,I found them offensive!

Prescription for The Blues

I read this book after a day of thwarted effort, and it was a perfect escape, a pleasurable dive into David Sedaris's quirky, sharply observed, and often hilarious world.

Audiobooks offer a more intimate, warmer reading experience than the printed page, and Mr. Sedaris's work is a perfect fit for Audible. He performs well, and possesses the gift of mimicry, and hearing him read his own writing heightens the reading experience for the listener, makes it more immediate and alive.

I also like the musical stings that set up each essay reading in the audiobook, but the sound capture on some of the live performance segments wasn't very good. Not a show-stopper but I don't need to hear a audience clapping or laughing to find a given segment funny.

The audio may enhance the work, but the content is what really draws you in and holds you. Mr. Sedaris takes the humdrum and turns it into an opportunity to learn, to observe an unfolding cultural narrative. The simple act of standing in line to board a plane becomes a broad comedy of social manners; his interaction with a telemarketer from a far-away place launches him into an unexpected and poignant story about white privilege in the American south.

Mr. Sedaris writes about personal stuff, but never self-indulgently. Coming of age, his troubles with addiction, his personal obsessions, all are inputs into his essays. But his writing makes them so much more than personal family anecdotes: they have the ring of familiarity, of a universal cultural experience, especially for baby boomers.

Many of us recognize The Father who can only criticize and challenge and sometimes beat the son, and, more broadly, the struggle to communicate that exists in families. He also explores the enormous power that families have to define us, to give meaning to our lives.

Mr. Sedaris comments about his lifelong daily diarizing habit as recording life rather than living it. But his voice is that of someone watching in puzzlement and appreciation, not judgment or a sense of aggrievement.

My favourite essays in the book involve his everyday experience as an American abroad, where ordinary errands become adventures in cultural and social exploration.

At times, the humour is laced with empathy. At other times, the author employs more edgy satire. This is especially apparent in the essays at the end, where he skewers the politics of hatred and bigotry, taking the idea to absurd extremes. I found these stories less interesting because I think they are pure imagination, rather than grounded in observation and experience. Similarly, his dog poems, like the title itself, seemed contrived to me, and this is why I gave this wonderful book a rating of 4 instead of 5.

Since I buy David Sedaris's books not for their titles, but for his unique voice, his wonderful storytelling, comic timing, and brilliant turns of phrase--and I'm still laughing about his description of Australia as "Canada in a thong"--I'd highly recommend "Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls".

Hilarious and poignant but obsessed with sex

What did you love best about Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls?

I enjoy Sedaris' descriptive phrases, his offbeat sense of humor, and his unexpected candor about his own shortcomings as a human.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The only way and the best way this collection of essays could have been more enjoyable would be to excise the obsessive sexual references. They're not funny, clever, or quirky. They're just token and out of place, as if put there to show he's still virile - as if any of us need to be reminded that all men, whether they are straight, gay, bi, young or old, are usually thinking about sex - or perhaps to sell the book to the masses who care nothing for his prose or his velvety-smooth delivery in this audio book.

Have you listened to any of David Sedaris’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I did not spew coffee on my Mac this time, even when he spoke of Amy's gift of the crocheted owl mask. But it is comparable in pithiness and humor to Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Children etc.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Some Owls and Turtles, But Mostly Sex

Any additional comments?

Had to stop listening at the sixth story because the multiple sexual references became so tiresome his prose wasn't worth the slog through the sex.