mepitts's review
3.0
Ok, I’d start by saying I enjoyed the first half of this book—lots funny new insights, confirmation of some of my own observations,etc.
About halfway through, though, three things began to wear on me:
1. It seemed to me more and more uneven editorially—pulled together from a pile of newspaper articles, a few personal interviews and personal experiences—some short and some—the article on cricket, like cricket itself, going on forever.
2. The tone of the book seemed snarky rather than affectionate. No country is perfect (and her observations about the decorum of the US Congress are seriously out of date!). If a Brit were writing about America, I’d hope the observations were based n a balance of admiration and bemusement, but this author seemed tipped toward aggravation.
3. I listened to this as an audiobook and as others have said, the narrator’s attempts at British accents were embarrassing. Just a side note: why is it that Commonwealth people can do astonishing, pitch perfect American accents and Americans can so seldom do the reverse.?
Anyway—this might be good for skimming on a plane trip, but I’d only give it a qualified recommendation.
About halfway through, though, three things began to wear on me:
1. It seemed to me more and more uneven editorially—pulled together from a pile of newspaper articles, a few personal interviews and personal experiences—some short and some—the article on cricket, like cricket itself, going on forever.
2. The tone of the book seemed snarky rather than affectionate. No country is perfect (and her observations about the decorum of the US Congress are seriously out of date!). If a Brit were writing about America, I’d hope the observations were based n a balance of admiration and bemusement, but this author seemed tipped toward aggravation.
3. I listened to this as an audiobook and as others have said, the narrator’s attempts at British accents were embarrassing. Just a side note: why is it that Commonwealth people can do astonishing, pitch perfect American accents and Americans can so seldom do the reverse.?
Anyway—this might be good for skimming on a plane trip, but I’d only give it a qualified recommendation.
kaylynn's review
2.0
I'm an anglophile, so I was excited to read this book, but I felt like she went on too long about each topic. A whole chapter on hedgehogs just seemed excessive. There were a lot of fun examples, but the author wasn't able to instil in me her same level of interest. About 130 pages in, I decided it wasn't worth my full attention and skimmed the rest of the book.
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