The Land and Its People by David Sedaris Review

I don’t think we’ll ever get a great David Sedaris book again - like Me Talk Pretty, Dress Your Family or Santaland Diaries - because he’s become too rich, famous and comfortable, and those books contained a relatability and desperation that comes from not having those things. And I think he told his best stories in those books and hasn’t got any more.

So it goes with The Land and Its People, Sedaris’ latest essay collection, which is ostensibly about the author’s charmed life of travelling and is in line with many of his recent books which are just ok. It’s not very funny, and quite a few essays are unmemorable, but the majority of them are pleasant to read, well-written, and a couple are even quite brilliant.

My Cousin Melvin is the best essay here. Someone sends him something ChatGPT wrote when they gave it the prompt “write something in David Sedaris’ voice”, and he rewrites it. He superbly shows you how bad the writing that these garbage language learning models spit out - I can always tell when I’m reading something AI-generated because I start to feel dead instead; well, it’s either AI-generated prose or something produced by a Modernist writer - and how much better human writing is. Sedaris’ rewrite shows his inventiveness, skill and comedy writing abilities that a computer can’t come close to emulating.

Say It Like You Mean It is about Sedaris’ DuoLingo obsession, the language learning app that gamifies education (with dubious results). He becomes obsessed with racking up the most points and has fun trolling the game’s AI in increasingly bizarre conversations that surprise even him.

Some essays are just interesting in how unusual his life is now as a famous rich person. He’s summoned to the Vatican, along with many other famous rich comedians, for a brief audience with the Pope. In another, he talks about his trash taste in books but has some pride in being a part of a literary biography of David Foster Wallace because they once met at a dinner. In Portland, Oregon, preparing for a show, he’s bitten by the dog of some meth heads who have come up with an inventive way of smoking meth in public by housing the pipe in a baby carrier.

There are 28 essays here and I won’t go into them all, but most are not bad to read but also not especially engaging either. The overall impression I had from this book is of being in the company of a somewhat amusing older relative telling you stories of varying quality - I never minded the experience but I didn’t love it either (and was mildly relieved that it was over when it was).

After finishing the book and before reviewing it, I flicked through it and was surprised at how many essays I had little or no memory of - and I’d just read it! Like a lot of Sedaris’ essay collections post-Dress Your Family, The Land and Its People isn’t a bad way to spend your reading time but nor is it a great book that’ll make you laugh or stay with you as much as his earlier books do.