This is a collection of essays by A.A. Gill. My wife first brought the author to my attention with a restaurant review from the London Sunday Times. You know, London, where we met ;)
His review was delicious.
This collection revolves around the conceit that the English are noted for their barely controlled rage. He makes a pretty good case. Most of the blurbs take the book as satire/humor and seem to leave it at that.
Perhaps it is my being a stranger in a strange land here in Nicaragua, separated from the aforementioned wife who is not in London but nonetheless distant, but I got a lot more than a couple of good hours in the pages from this.
Not sure if the book imprinted better by my being jolted awake at 3am by the local talent in the adjacent room, but imprint it did. Let me spoil an essay:
Voice -- is an essay that discusses class structure and upward mobility based on accents, with an emphasis on the various English accents. I learned to speak watching TV, and have been known to jibe at my Kansas friends for their pronunciation of words like "cement" -- you know "see-ment", and "lawyer".
Boy, do I feel like a jackass.
This skinny book is replete with behavior altering, cool insights, just like that. From the guy that doesn´t like comedy, I highly recommend it!
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