This book was a short read. It was meant to be a fun, tongue in cheek read while giving the reader information about London.

Unfortunately the humor was forced in most of the chapters. So forced that it stopped being funny very fast.

The tongue in cheek humor failed miserably.

The information factor of the book came up very short. I had hoped that by putting up with all the failed attempts at humor I would come away with solid information. I was disappointed. ( )

While I liked the concept of a humorous, light-hearted travelogue, that was not what this is. Several problems stand out to me immediately.

First, it is incredibly repetitive. Chapters repeat information in the same words. The paragraph on accompaniments to fish and chips was included twice in a row with slightly different wording, making me think an alternate edit was left in by accident. Next, it includes a few factual errors: at one point, mushy peas were referred to as having been fried. Things that aren't actually particular to the British, such as the inclusion of macaroni and cheese in the list of foods epitomizing London, or the concept of retail therapy. The cover was cute; however, it would have been nice to see some humorous illustrations on the interior. It was very generic. There wasn't any real depth of information.

While it is a short book, I expected more from it. And to top it all off, it's not actually that funny either. It's less tongue in cheek and more simply unpleasant. The last chapter (2 pages long) attempts to bring it all back together with a positive review of the city, but it's too little, too late for me. Not my cup of tea.

Copy received through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ( )

This was a quick and easy read, and if the author intended to keep us from visiting London, he failed. I've been to London and smiled at some of the places and things he bad-mouths.

This book won't be everyone's cup of tea - the author is sarcastic, snarky, and downright rude at times.

And like other reviewers have mentioned, read the last chapter. ( )

This was a cute, quick read. I have no intent to actually visit London, but it was interesting to read a bit about the city. It would have been nice to know on what authority the author was speaking. Do they live there? Have they visited a lot? Why do they have such a negative view of London and its tourists? There were parts that were very repetitive and parts that were quite cliché, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. If you choose this book. be warned it is extremely sarcastic (as you may guess from the title) and that it will not give you any insider secrets about London.

Does _exactly_ what it says on the tin, so I don't know that I've got a right exactly to be disappointed, it was nobody's fault but my own coming to this pamphlet with the (unfounded) expectation to maybe carry away some obscure insider tips. However, I did not quite count on reading such a repetitive, sarcastic-bordering-on-bitter, rant, which was, too, strangely generalized, the author did not even convey the impression of relating his own experiences, but seems to have lifted his topics wholesale from wikitravel or wherever.
Was fed up and accordingly hat to bail out at 45%, so it may be a pity I missed the last chapter, which, according to other reviews, ends on a more conciliatory note. However, then again, maybe not. ( )