A review by linds_a_latte
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox

informative medium-paced

3.5

Overall this book was informative and contained some interesting insights I wasn't fully aware of, but it did lack some contextual nuance and is fairly outdated. Despite Fox being a professional observer and attempting to cover ways in which various classes express themselves, she seems to become trapped in her own middle class echo chamber more often than not. Though anxiety is a key feature of the middle class, this book leaves the reader with the impression that members of it have fairly severe diagnosable anxiety disorders -- the real truth lies somewhere in the middle (ironically). It would have been great to have featured more viewpoints from across the class spectrum. 

I feel that it would also have been useful to distinguish how most of the rules around interactions she describes are between acquaintances/strangers, not close friends/family. If the English were always as guarded and anxiety-ridden as she depicts even in close friendships/relationships, people would actually go insane. Yes, at its core, the book is largely accurate and insightful, but people reading it thinking it's a guide for closer relationships with English people will be sorely mislead. 

The outdated references in the book are a bit cringey and should just be glossed over since they're almost entirely irrelevant to how people actually behave today (i.e., any time culture around "the internet" or "mobile phones" is mentioned). It was also somewhat off-putting how Fox also felt the need to call out "weird, icky wacky tribal cultures" (I am paraphrasing) multiple times throughout the book. I realise she more than likely meant for these descriptors to be tongue-in-cheek, but it comes off strangely immature and disrespectful.