The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British

by Sarah Lyall

book data

289 ratings, 3.38 average rating, 116 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		10%
4		35%
3		38%
2		11%
1		3%

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published

August 18th 2008 by W. W. Norton

binding

Hardcover, 256 pages

isbn

0393058468 (isbn13: 9780393058468)

description

Dispatches from the new Britain: a slyly funny and compulsively readable portrait of a nation finally refurbished for the twenty-first century.

Sarah L...more

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01/05/09

Michelle rated it:

Well, it seemed good. It was okay. It was boring in parts and a laundry list in others. I guess I thought it would be better, since she is married to a Brit and lives in England. I felt, though, that the book was mostly about male Englishmen over 40. She didn't go too much into English women, except as they relate to the mens' topics she discussed. And she didn't much discuss the under-30 generation, male or female. Which is a shame because from what I've seen of their culture, that group is ver...more

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08/22/08

Rufusgermanicus Meelberg rated it:

An excellent book, I read it in the space of a day, and wished I hadn't finished so quickly. It's a great look into modern British life, the aspects of which can be bizarre. Particularly brilliant are the chapters dealing with the nobility, the government, and the rather dubious "press". One of my favorite (or should it be favourite?) quotes: "Oops," said one noble giving me a tour of his home,"This window has unfortunately fallen out onto the lawn."

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11/30/08

Danika rated it:

Read in December, 2008

I actually found this book VERY funny. Not terribly unique, but if you're at all interested in British culture, you'll enjoy it. Loved the chapter on bad British teeth. Here's a crazy statistic: in 1979 TWENTY EIGHT PERCENT of all Britons had NO TEETH! Yikes! Also, she examines, British relationship with alcohol, weather and 'the stiff upper lip'. A bit slow going, but overall very enjoyable.

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01/06/09

Wendy rated it:

(review of isbn 1400108357)

bookshelves: audio

Read in January, 2009

Note that while this book claims to be a "field guide to the British", it's mostly about the English, and, I suspect, largely about middle and upper class types from the South of England at that. I suppose that's okay - that is what most Americans think of when they think of the English, and really exhaustively cataloguing the British would require a much longer book.

I think that any American who is already interested in British culture will find this book a mix of genuine...more

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12/31/08

Laura rated it:

bookshelves: travel

Read in February, 2009

If you want to read an affectionately humorous account by an American immersed in English culture, try Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island. Much of this book, on the other hand, consists of anecdotes involving the author’s visits to Harley Street doctors and her children’s exclusive private school or hobnobbing with English friends, most of whom seem to be Old Etonians and/or from the titled classes. Many of the literary references used to highlight the English character come from Evel...more

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02/12/09

Rebecca rated it:

Read in February, 2009

Sarah Lyall is a very talented writer. I chuckled out loud multiple times per chapter. Granted, she has good material, much of which did the work for her. An American living in London and married to a Brit, she keenly observes the quirks of the British character and British culture. So we learn about boarding schools that terrorize their otherwise privileged students; the hilarious House of Commons, in which, supposedly, it doesn't matter if you're drunk, as long as you show up; British jour...more

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01/04/09

baggyparagraphs rated it:

Read in December, 2008

I've always enjoyed knowing Brits, learning from them in school, and working with them. Their style, verbal concision, decisive leadership, and encyclopedic approach to whole categories of knowledge is always impressive. And I've never laughed as hard as when a Brit starts up with derisive remarks and self-deprecation.

But after reading Sarah Lyall's "The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British," it is now clear why I've had little desire to travel in Britain or adopt much...more I've always enjoyed knowing Brits, learning from them in school, and working with them. Their style, verbal concision, decisive leadership, and encyclopedic approach to whole categories of knowledge is always impressive. And I've never laughed as hard as when a Brit starts up with derisive remarks and self-deprecation.

But after reading Sarah Lyall's "The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British," it is now clear why I've had little desire to travel in Britain or adopt much of the culture. I must have sensed something. Why volunteer for the misery? A Danish friend once spent a term there as a student, and I wonder how she did it; I'm seeing her soon and will ask. Lyall, a London Bureau reporter for the New York Times since the mid-1990s, observes how confused and repressed the British are. What an impossible bunch! She actually proves Lewis Carroll was a realist.

The problem seems to start with the education of the privileged. Lyall shows that practices at boarding school set the pace for all of society, whether you're talking about unheated dorms and cold morning baths and sadistic beatings, or the friendly attentions of the upperclassman in the nearby bunk. Binge-drinking is a popular outlet, and eccentricity is another. The plight of hedgehogs in the Outer Hebrides might evoke a greater emotional response than a humanitarian cause. National institutions such as Parliament are almost completely absurd. Postwar consumer culture was long marked by mediocre goods and services and awful food, but people expected privation.

And then there's the weather. Lyall describes her hike "across Crib Goch—a knife-edged ridge leading to the summit of Mount Snowdon, in Wales—on a day when it rained, hailed, and snowed, practically all at once. Crib Goch is known for being challenging and sometimes fatal. Although I cried several times, and although I crept so slowly that my friends and I were passed repeatedly by hordes of hill walkers…I made it to the end, frozen hair and all." Approximately the same result was achieved when she tried to picnic in a London park with her two daughters on a June day.

Lyall's funny take on all this is a delight. (The chapter on the deplorable dentition of the British reaches into the macabre.) Her story moves along nicely when she shows how Brits have embraced contemporary standards of customer service, quality food, and even "therapy culture" that we Americans have taken for granted. (Princess Di's victimology, David Beckham's boo-hoo-hooing, and even Prince Charles's autobiographical confessions have encouraged the latter.) The one subject I wish Lyall had addressed is how English rock music fits into all this, if it does; it's the obvious antithesis to the stoicism that she so well documents.

I also couldn't help wondering what she would write if she were to bring her penetrating powers to bear on a couple of other places that are of interest to me, namely, Stockholm and Salt Lake City. The results would surely be fascinating.
(less)

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12/09/08

Lindsay rated it:

This was an interesting read. The first couple pages threw me: it was a laundry list of "Brits do this, Brits don't do that," and I hoped this wasn't going to be the book's entire approach. I also wondered how you could get that many pages out of that approach.

But it wasn't. Each section has a topic of something weird (to Americans) about Brits, and then an exposition of how it fits into the culture. It covers British insistence on using euphemisms for genitalia and ref...more

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04/10/09

Jody rated it:

Read in April, 2009

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 ...more

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12/04/08

Sandy rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Immensely enjoyable non-fiction survey of British foibles, from sex education and (and "public" - which actually means private) schools - and the two are creepily linked - to British journalism (the author is a journalist married to a Brit), houses, teeth, politics, the House of Lords, social class, homosexuality, the aristocracy, hedgehogs, cultural beliefs (stiff upper lips), and more.

My only criticism is that it ended a bit abruptly, though with some nice personal memoir...more

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12/04/08

Songbird rated it:

I originally heard an interview with Sarah Lyall on NPR in which she read parts of this book. I thought it sounded interesting and funny and decided to read it since I was leaving for London soon. I did finish it, but I was disappointed. You know how with some movie previews they look really funny/interesting and then you see the movie in theatres and realize the parts in the preview were the ONLY funny/interesting parts in the whole thing? Yeah. That's sort of how I felt about this book. ...more

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01/06/09

Renee rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Very interesting book from American born NYTimes writer who has lived and traveled in England for well over a decade. The Anglo Files is, as it states, a guide to British government, culture, food, bad teeth and all things England. What I found amazing, is how "behind" England has been (ie, lack of heat even at 4 star hotels, lack of hospitality etc) until the last 15 years approximately, and how fast they not only caught up, but in a sense, changed who they are, going from a county of...more

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11/25/08

Susan rated it:

This is a spicy, enjoyable account, filled with recent day examples, of ways that the British differ from others, notably those from the States. Differences (in both attitude and behavior) about sex, politics and media comprise the beginning chapters, followed by others about dental care, eccentrics, and animals. It's a fun read, and quite salacious! It wore a little thin for me at some point, due to the repetitive way in which the author structures the book (I could visualize an outline.) An...more

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02/06/09

Sarah rated it:

bookshelves: cultural-studies

Read in February, 2009

Although many parts of this book were interesting and a few were laugh-out-loud funny, I don't think it's as good as other works on the same topic.

The author spends much of the book name dropping her well-to-do friends, and though she says she's become so Anglicized that discussion of people's salaries embarrasses her, she goes to great lengths to tell the reader all about the posh schools her children go to, etc. I just didn't feel that her life, glamorous as it might be, was very...more

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02/23/09

Evalyn rated it:

Read in March, 2009

A couple of the chapters early in the book were disappointing and seemed to stress negative, risque elements (possibly to sell the book) but I kept on and found most of the chapters centered on the unique eccentricities of the English, qualities like their overwhelming dislike of boasting and their strength of character sometimes characterized as a stiff-upper-lip that comes out even today. Name dropping worked well too as the author mentions people known to all of us, celebrities, writers, and ...more

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11/06/08

Kris rated it:

bookshelves: anthropology

Read in November, 2008

Most Americans like to think they know the British, but few actually do. When we hear of trips to ol' Blighty, inevitably, we think of plummy accents, educated conversation, stately music, tea, polite society, bad food, wonky teeth, and the Queen. Not to say there aren't elements of truth here, but it's almost as simple to encapsulate talk about trips to America (by which we imperially mean the US) into similarly neat categories like: ignorant philistines, country music, bad coffee, crass cowboy...more Most Americans like to think they know the British, but few actually do. When we hear of trips to ol' Blighty, inevitably, we think of plummy accents, educated conversation, stately music, tea, polite society, bad food, wonky teeth, and the Queen. Not to say there aren't elements of truth here, but it's almost as simple to encapsulate talk about trips to America (by which we imperially mean the US) into similarly neat categories like: ignorant philistines, country music, bad coffee, crass cowboys, super-size-me meals, perfect teeth, and pitiful Presidents.

And just as some enlightened Britons are surprised when these tidy classifications fail, there are those Americans who witness Britain first hand and realize any and all simple assumptions should be immediately thrown away (or, as they say it, binned).

Sarah Lyall, a Brooklyn-raised New York Times reporter, has lived in London now for quite some time. Having married a Brit, she willingly (or, was it reluctantly?) caved to her husband's request to live life amongst the ruins of the old empire, and, fortunately for us, she's documented some of the quirky delights and, eh ... uhm, challenges, let's say, she's met abroad.

And, with obvious pun intended, she begins with a bang, titling the first chapter, "Naughty Boys and Rumpy-Pumpy." She goes on to explain the British preference to use euphemisms for sex or sexual organs, born out of primitive sexual education and upbringing. Words like "willies" are used in place of penis, and "front to bottom" for vagina, "dangly bits" or "batteries" for testicles. "Not even serious people seem comfortable with using real words for real sex, known popularly as 'shagging,' 'bonking,' or 'having it off.' Private Eye magazine calls it 'discussing Ugandan affairs,' a reference to a woman journalist who, when caught in flagrante with a Ugandan politician, claimed they were just talking about Uganda." And, so it goes.

Story after story, hilarity ensues. From sex to politics to false modesty, Lyall leaves Britons utterly exposed.

The Anglo Files is a joy to read, and amongst the cats and dogs, she's truly found the best of the day.(less)

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03/27/09

Grace rated it:

Read in March, 2009

I thought after reading so many books set in England, both past and sometimes present, I should find out how an American viewed living in Britain. I learned that we may speak the same language (mostly), but we are definitely not the same. Since I read this soon after reading The Guernsey Literary, etc. which showed how hard it was in England after WWII, it was interesting to see how long the effects of this war lasted. Well, it was just all interesting and made me glad I'm American. Again.

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12/08/08

Lauren rated it:

Having lived in England, I appreciated Lyall's dissection of the British people. I felt there wasn't enough discussion of what makes a Brit different from a Scot, an Englishman/woman, or someone from Wales... but that is really just splitting hairs. Lyall delights in the bizarre names of aristocratic Brits, derides (of course) the rainy weather, and tries to sort out how an American gets along in a country that seems as though it should be more similar to the States but just isn't.

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06/07/09

Cassandra rated it:

Read in May, 2009

Definitely interesing and helps explain how we share a language but are totally different countries. The thing I missed was some answers to the eternal questions, so will I really get a warm beer over there? if I want a guy to be protected what do I need to tell him to put on and not have him come back wearing an eraser? why is an 'r' prounounced in words that don't have r's in them, like India and nova???????????????? So many mysteries left to uncover.

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12/04/08

Lazygal rated it:

bookshelves: old-reads

Read in December, 2008

Another series of essays on the British, this time far less angry than those in A.A. Gill's The Angry Island. Lyall's tone, while claiming to be an American voice explaining the British to those of us on the Western side of "the Pond" sounds more like Madonna's accent than an authentic American voice.

Other than that, it's a good, funny read. The index is sparse, but that's not a major detraction (why an index is needed is another question, one beyond my area of expertis...more

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