Sarah Lyall

As someone who has spent several years living in England and still visits frequently, I was very intrigued by The Anglo Files. Sarah Lyall does a great job of demystifying some of the peculiarities of British culture, from politics to class to journalism. Lyall is an American married to a Brit and living in London, and she has seen the cultural differences at close hand. Her descriptions of attitudes about sex had me laughing aloud, and throughout the book I frequently called my husband over show more to read a particularly amusing sentence to him. Though the book has a light, humorous touch, it tackles fairly complex elements of British society. I now understand the basic legislative structure of the UK, something that has mystified me for years. show less

As an Anglophile, I was really looking forward to reading this. It did not disappoint. Written in a friendly, engaging style, it was easy to read and not at all dry. Great insights into British culture - and I have to admit that, while I still absolutely cannot wait to visit England, I no longer think I'd want to live there. :)

I requested this book from the library so long ago that I had forgotten about it; it ended up being a pleasant surprise. The author is an American who married a British man and relocates to England; her book reflects an American's culture shock at various British peculiarities and is arranged in chapters loosely focused on a number of subjects: sex, food, class, the House of Commons, the House of Lords, weather, the British penchant for putting oneself down, terrible customer service, show more cricket, etc. Actual Brits could probably find much to quibble with, just as an American could object to any number of a series of stereotypes a foreigner might note about us, but the book is quite humorous.

Lyall arrived in England in the 1990s, which she identifies as a time when many English institutions and cultural norms were undergoing changes. The House of Commons was "welcoming" increasing numbers of women, the House of Lords was under attack by reformers who questioned its purpose in the modern era, economic growth was bringing new attitudes about consumption and money, and even the rules of cricket were changing in order to attract younger, hipper fans. Since I'm not familiar with British social history in the 20th century, I'm not really in a position to judge whether Lyall's history is accurate here - one could probably argue that she's overstating the extent of these changes. I did wonder at her characterization of pre-1990s London as basically a provincial town. But I think the focus on changing culture helped the book to be more than just a series of eternal stereotypes about the nature of the British.

I particularly loved the sections relating to public transportation issues in Britain - the author catalogs some of the more ridiculous official reasons she's heard as to why trains are delayed or simply cancelled, including "dew on the rails" and "a leaf on the rails". These stories are certainly not unique to British public transportation & can be appreciated by anyone who's ever had to deal with a subway on a daily basis.

Also great were the oddities of the House of Lords & the number of Lords who appear to have had a serious obsession with UFOs & other related phenomena. In arguing for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster and others, one of the Lords makes an analogy to cookie baking, saying that just as mothers set aside dough for their children to make odd shaped bits of their own, perhaps God gave the angels a bit of the essence of life to play with & the angels in turn created goofy little monsters like Bigfoot and yetis. I love it! I now believe in Bigfoot because this explanation is just so cute! show less

New York Times correspondent Sarah Lyall fell in love with an Englishman in the early 1990s and has been living and working in London ever since. But despite her decade and-a-half there, she still finds herself fascinated by the remarkable differences, minor and major, that exist between the U.S. and the U.K. despite the language and history shared by the two countries.

"The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British" is Lyall’s generally lighthearted report of what it is like for an show more American, Anglophile or not, to live and work in the U.K. As someone who did exactly that for a number of years, I can honestly say that most of the oddities and quirks of life in Britain Lyall notes in her book are ones that early on caught my own attention.

Some of what Lyall has to say is offered in the way of legitimate criticism and some of it simply explores the differences between U.S. and British points-of-view and ways of everyday life. But, for the most part, what the book has to say is cloaked in the type of good natured humor that makes it all go down pretty easily. Along the way, the book’s fourteen chapters explore subjects such as the British attitude toward sex, class, Parliament’s structure and its members, the game of cricket, British understatement, British eccentrics and the eagerness of Brits to practically freeze to death on the country’s public beaches.

By far the most serious subject approached by Lyall is the British near-obsession with alcohol and binge drinking, a tendency the extent of which surprised and shocked me during my own years in the U.K. As Lyall puts it, “For the British, alcohol is a relaxant, an emollient, a crutch, a relief, an excuse.” At the same time that per capita drinking in most of Europe is on the decrease, the opposite is true in the U.K. where people are drinking more, starting at a younger age, than in the past. Excessive drinking at sporting events, football and rugby, in particular, is so out of control that the notion of the British “soccer lout” has become almost stereotypical. But most ominous, is the way that town centers across the country, so many nights a week, become danger zones best avoided by the sober in late evening. While the Brits tend to forgive this kind of behavior and treat it with a degree of humor, Lyall herself wisely makes her case without treating the problem as a joke.

"The Anglo Files" is a witty look at the differences, perceived and real, between America and Britain. As such, it offers useful insights into those differences and will help prepare first-time visitors to the U.K. for what they will encounter upon leaving Heathrow or Gatwick to immerse themselves in Britain, be it for two weeks or for two decades. Those looking for a serious analysis of what makes the U.K. so special to Americans will probably be somewhat disappointed. Those looking to understand why they still feel like such outsiders after having spent years living in Britain will, on the other hand, enjoy her humorous approach and will see themselves in her experiences.

Rated at: 4.0 show less