The Kingdom of Sand

A Novel

By: Andrew Holleran

Narrated by: David Pittu

2022 Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2022 Los Angeles Times Holiday Books Guide, Long-listed

This program is read by award-winning actor and two-time Tony Award-nominee David Pittu.

Andrew Holleran’s unique literary voice is on full display in this poignant story of lust, dread, and desire—the first novel in thirteen years from one of the most acclaimed gay authors of our time.

The Kingdom of Sand features a nameless narrator who has survived the death of his friends to AIDS and the loss of his parents to old age and tragedy. Now he must witness the slow demise of a friend just a shade older than he is. Semi-anonymous sexual encounters, gallows humor, and classic films are his tools for staving off the dying of the light. In prose that’s in turn mordantly funny and hauntingly elegiac, Andrew Holleran takes the listener from a video porn shop off Route 301 to the memory of parties in Washington, DC, filled with handsome young men, to the lonely facades of rural Florida.

Holleran’s groundbreaking first novel, Dancer from the Dance, is widely regarded as a classic work of gay literature. His following works have established him as one of the great writers of our time. The Kingdom of Sand is an audiobook that will burnish his considerable reputation: a reverie to sex but also a stunningly honest exploration of loneliness and the endless need for human connection, especially as we count down our days.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2022 Andrew Holleran (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Sorrow and Happiness in Tiny Moments

Community, or rather the lack of it, is ever present in this heart felt novel which keeps a compassionate distance from grief and joy. At once entertaining and reflective, The book tells a story that I have not heard before and found remarkable and compelling.

Bold, hilarious & profound

Having just listened for the second time to Holleran's memoir-ish novel I've ordered several more of his books from the library. His story of a 60-something gay man living alone in the North Florida home of his deceased parents is so specific, droll & poignant that I was swept along. The story is a quiet one but Holleran's voice is compelling, profound & often hilarious.

Classic Holleran...if you're into his writing

Hardly any author writes about old, gay men as principal characters so, bravo and thank you, Mr. Holleran. I have read most of Holleran's novels and this is classic Holleran in that the reader (or listener, in this case) becomes a voyeur into the narrator's and characters' interiority, their deepest, most personal thoughts and opinions. I have enjoyed being taken on such a journey and valued the author's wisdom and incisive take on human behavior. Others may find it difficult to keep up with a story in which not much action is happening. I disagree with reviews that characterize this novel as sad. There is plenty of sardonic wit that made me laugh out loud. Holleran has a preference for long sentences, each one packed with sensory details. I found this inspiring when I was young but now, not so much. And I am the generation of old, gay men that this novel is about. I'm afraid I found myself losing patience for these stylistic flourishes. Narrating Holleran's novels can't be easy for this reason and David Pittu's narration has a certain drone that I don't think served this novel well.

Old man rambling

This story felt like a long rambling of an old man about his thoughts on death, aging, and old people he knows. There’s no direction nor sense of time. I would have liked to know the narrator’s story more. It’s a quite depressing book but it can be interesting if you’re interested in the philosophy surrounding aging and dying.

Compelling and true to life

Andrew Holleran has brilliantly articulated life of aging in our gay world. Living alone after the deaths of family in a rural community with few resources can be immensely challenging One can empathize with a life of sacrifice to the care of dying parents.. This tragedy is one that many of us face, particularly for those who have left a community of gay supportive friends. David Pittu’s reading is beautifully performed.I felt as if the author was speaking to me directly. Great performance!

Late in Life

I loved this book for its capacity to describe life for older gay men and people in general. I relate to the narrator and his experiences very much. The book isn't perfect. The story wanders a bit and the ending felt abrupt. But it was an experience worth having.

Holleran’s long, self written obituary

As I listened I felt that having found someone’s diary i was secretly, vicariously, eavesdropping on a surprisingly dull life. Holleran notes that most Americans are alike when he notices that their garages are filled with the products collected and then discarded, a sort of memoir in itself. And that a memoir, like a biography is just a long obituary.
A long, sad lament about his anxiety of aging and death.