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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
It gets better if you can make it through the first 2 or so chapters.
Learned quite a bit about English culture that I did not know. However, at times the tone became witlessly strident and the journalism lazy.
I liked the first half of this book, partly because my sister-in-law is British and she and my brother live in England. Then I got bored. I would love to get my sister-in-law's opinion on this book, though. The author does not present the British in a very flattering light at all.
Meh. Listening to it on audio and I can't tell if the author or the narrator is the smug one. There is no fondness with which the author describes the foibles of the British, and she is especially tough on the men, who are all either gay or utter misogynists.
Hahhaha English people. hahahaha! Basically this book is going: "English people do this (insert cliche) American people do this (insert cliche)" but actually very funny and informative though I think I've forgotten everything I have been informed about. I think there may have been a chapter on teeth and how they are actually as bad as we think. But I'm from southern california so maybe our perfect teeth are uncanny and freaky. I'm going to give this to Camille; it sounds like the stuff she (understandly!) moans about England.
I was disappointed by this book. A few parts were funny, but over all it was very disjointed and unappealing.
YIKES - no wonder I found this at the give-away box. Been meaning to read for a few years - then I saw the audio at the library so I thought it was time...
True, I did laugh at some snark but this did not age well
True, I did laugh at some snark but this did not age well
I really enjoyed it, although I skimmed over a few chapters. (Honestly, I didn't need to learn anything more about cricket.)
Also, I must disagree with the author regarding the amount of sex education pupils get in Britain versus the U.S. Maybe she is referring to the older generation, but from conversations with my boyfriend, who is British, I've learned that he got much more sex education at school than I ever got.
Particularly enjoyed the chapter on English summer picnics, and on the House of Commons, though the sexism was very disturbing.
Also, I must disagree with the author regarding the amount of sex education pupils get in Britain versus the U.S. Maybe she is referring to the older generation, but from conversations with my boyfriend, who is British, I've learned that he got much more sex education at school than I ever got.
Particularly enjoyed the chapter on English summer picnics, and on the House of Commons, though the sexism was very disturbing.
An ex-pat American who married a Brit, her perspective of British culture is witty, ruefully sympathetic and insightful and, at times, inciteful.
She addresses the British fascination with bottoms and genuinely ambiguous sexuality (when it comes to public school graduates); their rowdy politics in the House of Commons and bizarre ones in the House of Lords; their reverence for genuine eccentricity; the love of hedgehogs and cricket held by many; their stoic and at times unhealthily repressed attitudes and false modesties. She even devotes a chapter to dentistry.
I'd love to read what her husband would say about Americans, but not the same since he did not try to live in the U.S. Must find such a book by someone else.
She addresses the British fascination with bottoms and genuinely ambiguous sexuality (when it comes to public school graduates); their rowdy politics in the House of Commons and bizarre ones in the House of Lords; their reverence for genuine eccentricity; the love of hedgehogs and cricket held by many; their stoic and at times unhealthily repressed attitudes and false modesties. She even devotes a chapter to dentistry.
I'd love to read what her husband would say about Americans, but not the same since he did not try to live in the U.S. Must find such a book by someone else.