Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings: A Miserable Yank Discovers the Secret of Happiness in Britain - Couverture souple

Gutfeld, Greg

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1847370667 ISBN 13 : 9781847370662

Editeur : Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2008

Synopsis

Greg Gutfeld was a high-achieving, slim but anxious New Yorker in therapy when he was posted to the UK to take up the position of editor of Maxim magazine. Once settled in London he had something of a cultural epiphany. Service and transport were poor and slow, food was soggy and came in tiny portions and the beer was warm. The British, he decided, viewed the world through a prism of dreariness but, despite this, they seemed to be more cheerful than his fellow countrymen, who expected to be happy on demand. After two years in the UK, Gutfeld was12 kilos heavier but a lot more content. The key to his new-found contentment lay in adopting the British attitude to life: he too had learned that having diminished expectations reaps its own rewards. His hilarious observations on British culture, rituals and peculiarities at all levels of society are an illuminating insight into the land of pubs and curry, where everyone is called 'mate' and people with pimples, wrinkles and greasy hair can get on primetime TV.

A propos du livre

Quatrième de couverture

Battered sausages. Warm beer. Windbreakers on the beach. Morris dancers. Mobile disco DJs. Pub dogs. Car boot sales.
To UK residents, these humble icons of low-tech British-ness are part of our island's cultural furniture. To Greg Gutfeld they offer much more than that - to him, they are part of a powerful prescription for contentment. Well-paid, fit, not a complete failure with women, a New York resident, American Gutfeld seemed to have it all but, in fact, he was miserable. In the US he was surrounded by people who were obsessed with the pursuit of happiness, a race everyone was running but few were winning.
Posted to the UK as a magazine editor, he soon realised the British tendency to view life through a prism of dreariness has its own rewards - what he calls the joy of 'diminished expectations': you can't help but be pleasantly surprised if you expect everything to be a bit crap.
He gives up the exercise regime, starts hanging out with work mates, going to the football and eating kebabs. There are things he doesn't understand (mushy peas), things he celebrates (the pub crawl and curry) and things he fears (pork scratchings).
Greg's chronicle of his life in the UK celebrates a country aware that any attempt to attain happiness only breeds misery, and that embracing the poignancy of a wet Bank Holiday weekend can bring true joy. His ultimate conclusion, however, is that what makes Great Britain great is that you can be not so great . . . and that's great.

Revue de presse

‘He builds up a strangely beguiling portrait of this unusual nation, where he seems to have felt more at home than anyone else. It’s a nice, surprising, almost self-effacing book. Perhaps we still have more to teach people than we thought’
Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail 11/1
‘A Bill Bryson for the noughties’
4 stars, Daily Mirror 18/1
‘The funniest book we’ve read in ages’
Book of the Month, 5 stars, Maxim, March 08
‘Imagine joining Hogarth, Jeremy Clarkson and George Best on a tour of 18th-century London and you’ll have a rough idea of the tone’
Sunday Times 27/1
‘Sometimes you feel blessed to be a Brit and reading Greg Gutfeld’s account of life in the UK is enough to make any man proud’
Sunday Express 3/2
‘Gutfeld is a witty, likeable companion, with an eye for telling idiosyncrasies’
The londonpaper 29/1
‘The funniest book we’ve read in ages’
Book of the Month, 5 stars, Maxim, March 08
'Nails life in England better than anything I've
read' Mick Jones, The Clash, Carbon/Silicon
‘I think it’s one of those clever books that crosses the gender divide, appealing to both sexes equally’
TheBookbag.co.uk 05/01

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2008
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1847370667
• ISBN 13: 9781847370662
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 224
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible