Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris

A guy walks into a bar.

From here, the story could take many turns. A guy walks into a bar and meets the love of his life. A guy walks into a bar and finds no one else is there. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humour and intelligence and leave you deeply moved.

In Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy. The common thread? Sedaris masterfully turns each episode into a love story: how it feels to be in a relationship where one loves and is loved over many years, what it means to be part of a family, and how it's possible, through all of life's absurdities, to accept oneself.

©2013 David Sedaris (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A humorist par excellence, Sedaris can make Woody Allen appear ham-tongued, Oscar Wilde a drag" ( Observer)

"The world's finest comic writer" ( Independent)

"David Sedaris is a man who could capture your heart and lift your spirits while reading out the ingredients of a rice cake" ( Observer)

Very entertaining

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

This was my first Sedaris book and I will definitely read more as a result. Very entertaining.

Great app

Great app, has everything you might need : sleep timer, free trials, und so weiter . Try it soon, try it now.

Not a fan I’m afraid

I was totally unfamiliar with Sedaris’ back catalogue when I started this audiobook. From my subsequent research, it seems the author has a distinctive and predictable style; essentially a series of semi-related, extremely personal, based-on-a-true-story essays strung together like mismatching baubles on an eclectic necklace. And what a bizarre and conflicting little necklace this book turns out to be.

Some of the chapters are true jewels --- preciously hilarious, wonderfully observed and dryly told pieces of satire. This is especially true of the chapters recorded at live book-readings with an audience. But the worst chapters are rotten --- like sodden, red Froot Loops masquerading as rubies.

After the first chapter, I was a “David Sedaris Convert”. I was ready to purchase every book he’d ever written, and I’d already decided Diabetes was clearly going to be a five-star listen. Although he peaked way too early, there were some genuinely funny moments speckled throughout. But there was just too much self-involved, self-righteous, self-pity to keep me interested.

There are definite shades of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” here (a series I adore by the way). While Larry David knows how to flirt perfectly with controversy, I’m afraid I can’t say the same for David Sedaris. Maybe he’s the kind of “character” who grows on you --- in which case I humbly suggest first-timers like me start with some of his earlier works and progress to Diabetes.

Oh, and by the way. I’m Australian and “kookaburra” is pronounced with a “cook” (like the chef), not a “kook” (like the eccentric neighbor). A small thing, but…

I’ll end on one positive note. The narration by the author is fantastic. More than a few times, some very average jokes were elevated beyond their station by Sedaris’ dry and knowing delivery. For fans of the hardcopy version (yes, I do realize many people love this book), the audio version would be a sound investment.