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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Hard-going but very funny and informative.
funny
informative
medium-paced
If I hadn't been reading this for a bookgroup challenge I wouldn't have finished it.
I work alongside a lot of english people and I don't recognise the characteristics that she claims are typically english. I'm not going to tell you my name and won't tell you anything personal. I know more personal stuff about some of the english people I work with than I do some of my family. The constant digs at americans were really annoying.
The basic theory seemed to be okay as english people we are socially awkward, hypocrites and liars but at least we're not americans.
I work alongside a lot of english people and I don't recognise the characteristics that she claims are typically english. I'm not going to tell you my name and won't tell you anything personal. I know more personal stuff about some of the english people I work with than I do some of my family. The constant digs at americans were really annoying.
The basic theory seemed to be okay as english people we are socially awkward, hypocrites and liars but at least we're not americans.
It was amusing in the beginning and I did learn a few things (in vain as I have nothing to do with English people now but maybe I'll work with them again, who knows) but then it got annoying. Quite extraordinary how the writer could draw the same conclusions out of everything. It got me quite ill disposed by the end and I started disliking the English. I think that's mainly because I started drawing my own ill favoured conclusions to counterbalance hers.
medium-paced
medium-paced
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2962509.html
Fox wittily dissects the behaviour of the English in 400 pages of anthropology, concluding that it all comes down to social dis-ease, with reflexes of humour, moderation, and hypocrisy, an outlook based on empiricism, Eeyorishness and class-consciousness, and values including fair play, courtesy and modesty. She enlarges on her concept of social dis-ease:
"It is our lack of ease, discomfort and incompetence in the field (minefield) of social interaction; our embarrassment, insularity, awkwardness, perverse obliqueness, emotional constipation, fear of intimacy and general inability to engage in a normal and straightforward fashion with other human beings."
Since the author herself is English, the book falls firmly into the acceptable discourse of being self-deprecatingly funny. The most enjoyable chapters are perhaps those on pets and hobbies - I now begin to understand DIY. She is even self-deprecating about her own discipline: "social science can sometimes almost be as insightful as good stand-up comedy."
Of course, I am not English myself, but I am not unfamiliar with them (having married one), and as a close observer for several decades, I think Fox has nailed a number of characteristic behaviours beautifully.
Fox wittily dissects the behaviour of the English in 400 pages of anthropology, concluding that it all comes down to social dis-ease, with reflexes of humour, moderation, and hypocrisy, an outlook based on empiricism, Eeyorishness and class-consciousness, and values including fair play, courtesy and modesty. She enlarges on her concept of social dis-ease:
"It is our lack of ease, discomfort and incompetence in the field (minefield) of social interaction; our embarrassment, insularity, awkwardness, perverse obliqueness, emotional constipation, fear of intimacy and general inability to engage in a normal and straightforward fashion with other human beings."
Since the author herself is English, the book falls firmly into the acceptable discourse of being self-deprecatingly funny. The most enjoyable chapters are perhaps those on pets and hobbies - I now begin to understand DIY. She is even self-deprecating about her own discipline: "social science can sometimes almost be as insightful as good stand-up comedy."
Of course, I am not English myself, but I am not unfamiliar with them (having married one), and as a close observer for several decades, I think Fox has nailed a number of characteristic behaviours beautifully.
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Watching the English walks the line between popular science and a more academic text, and often falls on the wrong side of that line. The sheer amount of information collected from direct observation is incredibly insightful, but reading it all at once is a bit difficult. I had to take a break about half way through because I was having trouble tracking in this lengthy and comprehensive study.
Some high points include the sections on queueing and other English cultural practices, but as I mentioned before the detail sometimes weights the text down. Without the detail though, it would appear to be an English woman making generalizations about her culture, so it is necessary but not very well incorporated into the overall narrative.
Some high points include the sections on queueing and other English cultural practices, but as I mentioned before the detail sometimes weights the text down. Without the detail though, it would appear to be an English woman making generalizations about her culture, so it is necessary but not very well incorporated into the overall narrative.
There's a lot of interesting and amusing stuff about English culture and behaviour in this book, and I mostly enjoyed it, but the way it's written is frequently irritating. For one thing, the author's use of language is very, very repetitive, and she uses some words and phrases that I found quite irritating, such as "Eeyoreishness", "oh, come off it", "social dis-ease" repeatedly throughout.
There's also the false pretense that the author is just some idiot with no special knowledge and that she's coming upon this information in the same order the reader is and formulating her conclusions as she goes, and obviously that's not the case; Fox is an accomplished anthropologist and books aren't written like that. She collected the information first and put it together in a specific and intentional order, and pretending that that's not the case seems pointless and dumb.
There's also the false pretense that the author is just some idiot with no special knowledge and that she's coming upon this information in the same order the reader is and formulating her conclusions as she goes, and obviously that's not the case; Fox is an accomplished anthropologist and books aren't written like that. She collected the information first and put it together in a specific and intentional order, and pretending that that's not the case seems pointless and dumb.