Clara’s Verdict
Dom Joly is a comedian who made his name ambushing strangers with an absurdly oversized mobile phone. Whether this qualifies him as a travel writer is a question the mixed reviews of Such Miserable Weather have been debating since its 2021 Audible Original release. My own view is that Joly’s voice — sardonic, self-aware, occasionally prickly — is better suited to the form than his critics will allow. He is genuinely funny in places, genuinely curious in others, and the central conceit (treating England as a foreign destination rather than a default backdrop) is more productive than it first appears. The 3.6 rating from five listeners reflects real division, and it would be misleading to pretend otherwise. But the enthusiastic minority have the better of the argument.
About the Audiobook
Joly sets out armed with Carlo Goldoni’s maxim — « a wise traveller never despises his own country » — and proceeds, with admirable honesty, to test it. The England he finds is a combination of the genuinely wonderful and the genuinely baffling: 37.9 million tourists visit annually, drawn by what Joly initially suspects is nothing more than fish and chips, Shakespeare, and the lingering prestige of the monarchy. What he discovers is more complicated and more interesting than that.
The audiobook format suits Joly well because travel writing depends heavily on voice, and Joly’s voice — both literal and figurative — is distinctive. He is equally at home marvelling at a genuinely beautiful bit of coast and deflating a tourist trap that doesn’t deserve its reputation. The book is explicitly not a comprehensive guide; it is a personal account of a comedian trying to make sense of the country he lives in, and it works on those terms.
At six hours and thirty-seven minutes, it is a comfortable listen — long enough to develop genuine engagement with the places visited, short enough to hold easily in a single weekend.
The book’s structure is worth noting. Joly does not proceed systematically, county by county or region by region; he wanders, doubles back, and follows unexpected threads. This is appropriate for the material — England’s appeal to visitors is not systematic either — but it does mean the narrative lacks the momentum of a more conventionally structured travel book. What it offers instead is a quality of genuine discovery, of a writer working something out in real time. Whether that trade-off satisfies depends on what you want from travel writing. Joly is at his best when surprised, and he allows himself to be surprised more often than his sardonic persona might suggest.
The Narration
Joly reads his own book, which is the correct decision. His delivery has the quality of someone performing material they have lived rather than simply researched, and the comedy lands far better in his own voice than it would in a neutral professional narrator’s. He is not a trained voice actor — there are moments where a less personal performance might have been more technically polished — but technical polish is not what this book is selling. It is selling Joly, and Joly delivers Joly. The Audible Original production is clean and appropriately light on post-processing.
What Readers Say
The 5 reviews give a 3.6 rating that conceals significant variation. Two five-star listeners describe it as « highly enjoyable, » praising Joly’s humour and his « sort of love-hate relationship with UK tourist spots. » Two one-and-two star listeners object strenuously to what they see as political bias, dismissing Joly as a « left-wing, privileged luvvie. » The remaining five-star review praises it as « informative and funny as always with many reflections expressed that I share. » This is, in short, a book whose reception depends heavily on whether you share or can tolerate Joly’s perspective on the country he is describing.
- charlie (5.0 stars): « I loved this account of Dom’s life on the road touring some of the UK’s finest and not so finest locations. Fun facts and stories along the way. Highly enjoyable, especially if you have a sense of humour. »
- Amazon Customer (5.0 stars): « Mr Joly’s writing is languid and interspersed frequently with amusing anecdotes and ditties about his travels around England. I found the book a very easy and enjoyable read. »
- Capsule King (2.0 stars): « The disdain the author has for our country is so obvious. You can’t pull the wool over our eyes. »
Who Should Listen?
If you are already a Joly fan, this is a comfortable and often funny few hours in familiar company. If you enjoy travel writing that foregrounds voice and personal response over comprehensive coverage, it will also serve you well. Listeners who want either a neutral travel guide or a patriotically celebratory account of England may find themselves frustrated. This is a book about England by someone who clearly finds his own relationship with the country complicated, and it is most rewarding for listeners who can appreciate that complication as a feature rather than a flaw.
Listen to Such Miserable Weather on Audible UK — a very English kind of travel writing.
