Literacy 2025: Book 20: Unruly

Book
Unruly by David Mitchell

Synopsis
The comedian goes through the history of the British monarchy, from the beginnings of post-Roman rule through the reign of Elizabeth I, devoting a chapter to each monarch and a brief description of their rise and rule.

Notes
How much you enjoy this book depends on how much you like David Mitchell. In case that seems obvious: I’d been expecting this to be structured like a history book, covering a subject I knew (or remembered?) very little about, but given a lighter touch to keep it from being so dry. Instead, it’s a bit more like having Mitchell go off on tangents, personal anecdotes, peevish observations about modern life in the UK, and his opinions on the concept of monarchy, while hovering generally around the topic of the monarch in question.

Which isn’t necessarily bad, because he does manage to deliver exactly what’s promised by the book’s premise and cover. And to Mitchell’s credit, while he doesn’t go into much depth about the monarchs — or more accurately, he’s inconsistent in how deep or shallow he goes within each chapter — it’s highly unlikely that I would’ve remembered the details if he had. I’ve already forgotten the names of most of the Anglo-Saxon rulers, and I still can’t remember the difference between the various Henrys, Edwards, and Richards.

I’m not sure who exactly is the target audience, though, besides fans of David Mitchell. Everything seems to be written for audiences in Great Britain, since there are frequent mentions of areas of England, or personalities, politicians, or stores, with the assumption that they don’t need to be given any more context. It also seems to assume that some parts of English history or some monarchs are universally known, to the degree that I wonder whether he’s expecting too much of non-English readers, or if I simply wasn’t paying attention in European history classes. I felt dumb for not knowing that William the Conqueror was the first Norman king of England, and I’m still not sure whether I should feel dumb or just feel American.

However, it did finally give me a high-level understanding of the differences between Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Normans, Plantagenets, and Tudors; as well as an extremely high-level understanding of the overall timeline and where events like the Magna Carta, the Hundred Years War, and the War of the Roses fit in.

Verdict
Does exactly what it says on the cover, and if you’re a fan of David Mitchell, you’ll probably enjoy it a lot. For me, it was slow reading (but excellent for helping me fall asleep!) and even without being bogged down with too many dates or location names, still managed to have a lot of info that I’m sure I won’t retain. What I will retain, probably, is the equivalent of what British children learn in their first couple years of history classes.