Number of days in Amsterdam – 254
Number of days without a bike theft – 250
Days since it last rained – 0
A friend loaned me a copy of The Undutchables: an observation of the netherlands, its culture and its inhabitants.
Supposedly a consummate compilation of Dutch culture for the outsider looking in, I thought it would be a fun book, and the perfect time for me to read it. I’ve been here just long enough to start to feel like I have my feet on the ground and a grasp of what’s going on around here, but I’m still enough of a foreigner that I could get a good amount of insight from this book.
Honestly? I saw it through to the end, but I wasn’t a fan.
It really comes across as a mean-spirited jab at the Dutch as a whole.
Calling the Dutch “cloggies”, authors Colin White and Laurie Boucke attempt to paint a quirky picture of the Dutch, their traditions and intricacies, and rather than it being in the “funny because it’s true” vein that writers like Bill Bryson accomplish while observing other cultures, really all I get is that they really don’t like them all that much.
It often feels mean-spirited, like when the authors suggest that the Dutch have cornered the market on raising spoiled children:
As early as the 17th century, visitors to the land were both surprised and disconcerted by the over-indulgence that the Dutch displayed toward their young. They spoiled them then and have been refining the art ever since.
Even more times its straight up malicious, such as making comments like that the Dutch can send their children to a Christian school because it allows parents to segregate their children from Muslim children without appearing racist.
Granted, some sections did make me smile, because they were remarkably true, such as the authors’ description of Dutch stairs:
Indeed, you must climb the stairs in the same way you climb a ladder, clinging precariously to the upper steps with your hands or to the bannister (if there is one), with one dangerous difference: There is no room for your foot to extend over the steps for balance, as with a ladder.
OK, so those true depictions are choice, but they seem few and far between, dispersed between comments that seem more altogether bitchy than cute, and stereotypically so rather than truly observational.
This might be a good book for a first-time traveler to the ‘Dam to read after he has returned home, to bring some context to certain things, but in general I felt like the book does more harm than good, and its depiction of the Dutch isn’t very congruous to most of the people I’ve met so far here. It always feel like the author is trying to create a sense of smug superiority over the Dutch, and it just feels altogether mean. I’m not sure how the Dutch feel about this book – they may find it hilarious – but I also can’t feel like I have the right to be entertained. It’s the same way I feel when people who aren’t from Detroit make disparaging remarks – they’re not allowed, because they don’t have the right.
And that is my book report.
Thank you.
I´m glad you think this book is meanspirited too, Ryan. I loathe it. It has been around for, oh, twenty years now? I’ve read it, or large parts of it, when it first came out, because I’m Dutch and we Dutch like to laugh at ourselves. We tend to think of ourselves as small and silly. Most Dutch would blink in amazement when told about the role we played and still play in global affairs and would laugh if some tv programme would describe our glorious past (as if! There’s a sad lack of history programmes in general and even if some would be made it would be about how *horrible* we were to the inhabitants of our colonies and how big a role we played in the slave trade or somesuch). Indeed, our whole *language* is geared towards making ourselves smaller, with our -je and -tje endearment suffixes.
So yes, we don’t mind very much when called upon our follies and like to laugh at our silly little habits, and I, personally, always enjoy reading what people from another culture thinks about mine (it’s why I read your blog after all; apart from being amusing in its own right it gives me an insight in my own culture which I enjoy), but when I read ‘The Undutchables’ for the first time I *hated* it. Hated, hated, *hated* it!
We Dutch enjoy gentle ribbing but this was just *mean*. Nastiness disguised as humor by a prime pair of *bullies*! The literary equivalent of schoolyard name-calling by the so-called ‘popular crowd’ (they wish!). Ugh!
I know that other Dutch will give foreign (English-speaking) friends this book, but I wonder if any of them ever *read* the horrid thing? (or maybe it has something to do with being trained, as the youngest child with two bullying siblings to ‘ignore and laugh at bullies, to be the ‘bigger person’ – I’m still, after all these years, allergic to ‘humorous bullies’)
Quite another thing… You and Nicole are foodies, right? Well, if you’re even thinking of trying your hand at some Dutch cooking & baking, here’s a good Dutch Food & Recipe blog (in English, of course):
http://www.thedutchtable.com/
I am also not a fan – I’ve lived in various countries (and 20+ yrs here) and all have pros and cons – like you and Marion said this was really written by someone with a gripe about the Dutch & Holland. Pretty much everything different to their home culture is negatively portrayed. Not a book I would recommend to anyone.
Glad you can see through the negative spin!
When I first read this book when it was new some 20 years ago I was amazed by the ignorance it displays. I thought it would be hilarious because we Dutch can laugh about our own quirky habits. But -apart from some nice bits- it is malicious and plain stupid. So many things the authors say and ‘hate’ about the Dutch can be said about many European countries or indeed any country apart from the US. This book has long contributed to the prejudice I already had about the US and its people. Which has only gone away when I visited the US (5x now) and a whole new world opened up to me. Which may be the bottom line here: if you truely want to get to know a country and its people you have to visit it and try to look beyond your own frame of reference and prejudice. This book is not helpful in any way.
This brings us neatly back to last week’s hot topic – Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre!
I’ve never read the Undutchables but when I first moved here a lot of people referred to it. From what I can gather, it doesn’t help people to assimilate to their surroundings and new culture, but rather highlights the differences, which isn’t very helpful when you’re living the new life.
I completely agree with you about the name “cloggies”. It sounds disrespectful and dismissive, regardless of it’s aim. I know what Ewoud would think of it…;)
On another note, Marion, thanks for your Dutch food blog recommendation! In terms of cooking, I’d like to make more traditional Dutch meals etc for my hubby and daughter but was stuck at andijvie stamppot…this looks great!