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 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $1.00
You Save: $13.95 (93%)
New (65) Used (137) Collectible (11) from $1.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  286 reviews
Sales Rank: 6339
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0060920084
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.30492
EAN: 9780060920081
ASIN: 0060920084
Publication Date: September 12, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: used-remainder mark on page edges-pages 155-170 have corner torn off-cover and some pages are creased-back cover and last few pages have large slices from unpacking
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| Customer Reviews:
 Bryson writes great books - even though they make me crazy! May 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I honestly cannot put Bryson's books down. They are good reads - I've just ordered three additional Bryson books and can't wait to recieve them.
This being said - I need to re-read this book and keep a running total of just how many places he starts to go to and doesn't - because of a steep entrance fee, because of traffic, because of a plethora of reasons. I'm guessing the tally on the 'intended to' side might be greater than the tally on the 'actually experienced, as a bona fide ticket holder / road traffic warrior'. Yes, I understand what he's trying to say about Americans being easily parted with their money. However, the 'lesson' becomes annoying, and comes off as an excuse he uses to just not see many important sites first-hand.
Also, try to develop a tough skin before reading this book if you are a resident of the South - or any small town anywhere in the country that could with any stretch of the imagination be considered 'backward'. My conclusion of Bryson's absolute distain for certain places, primarally but not limited to the South, is that it is so much easier to pull comedy out of the negative than the positive. Also, people are, by nature, inclined to notice the bad before the good. Bryson, especially but not limited to this earlier work, goes with the easier cliche slam against whole peoples.
Don't get me started in his bizarre anti-elderly people stance. He goes on rants about Americans not recognizing national treasures. He's referring to architecture and landscape for the most part. And shows complete distain to the elderly. It reflects either a genuine over-zealous dislike, or an attempt at humor gone too far and repeated much too often.
All being said, I'm still gonna read his work. It's entertaining!
 Entertaining but leaves a sour taste April 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having been to many of the places Bryson visited in this book, I find myself wondering how he could possibly have had such an apparently unpleasant time. Bryson's wit in this volume is not just biting, it's acidic, even heartless. This book will make you chuckle, but even most of the laughs leave a bad taste in the mouth. I have greatly enjoyed three other Bryson books, but I can't really recommend this one.
 Making loving fun of America April 6, 2008
Bryson, an American who has lived for many years in England, sets out alone, in a Chevette! (maybe he should have taken a Camry), from his mother's house in Des Moines to re-live the family vacation car trips of his youth and search for the perfect small town. He travels through thirty-something states and finds a lot of nice, dotty people and endearing tackiness. As the Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff is fond of saying, "What a country!" I've spent a lot of time on the same by-ways, and drawn similar conclusions. Always perceptive and entertaining, often offensive, and a lot of good laughs.
Then and now and here and there March 18, 2008
It's an account of a car journey from Des Moines, Iowa, where Bryson was born (in 1951) and raised, around small town (and some big town) America during 1987-88 written from several perspectives that give it a special interest. Bryson looks at things in the United States from the point of view of a long-time British resident. He compares what he sees and likes or (more frequently) dislikes in 1987 with what he saw making similar car trips as a child. He looks at the Deep South, the Wild West, the Rockies, New York City and New England through the eyes of a Midwesterner. An added dimension reading it now is to compare what he saw then with things twenty years later (I was reminded of reading Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways.").
He sometimes seems to be addressing a British reader as he makes his comparisons. In many ways the differences between Britain and America have narrowed, both for better and for worse. London is now a more dangerous city than New York and the English are almost as rich and as fat as the Americans.
He's often misanthropic and grumpy but that adds to the entertainment value. If you want a nice guy saying nice things you buy a guidebook. It's full of great one-liners, even though sometimes he tries too hard to be funny and the jokes get repeated.
Very biting humor March 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a big fan of Bill Bryson and have read nearly all of his books but I didn't realize that this was his first until I read some of the reviews here. Still, I knew this book was different from his other books. As enjoyable as they were, this was the one that really had me laughing and oftentimes wiping away tears of laughter. While Bryson is always funny, he is viciously so in this book and I could see how that would not appeal to some people.
While a good number of Bryson's books are travelogues of a sort, I don't think categorizing them as such really does his works justice. They are not only a man's descriptions of his travels but also windows into his very psyche. He has always poked fun at the people of various cultures he encounters during his travels but he is sometimes downright mean in this book. While I certainly don't advocate being mean to others, the fact of the matter is that Bryson strikes me as a man who is really mild-mannered and rather awkward. What we're reading in his books, and in this one in particular, is what goes on inside his head and what I really admire about this is his candor. There are often things that run through my head that I would never want anyone else to know about and so I frankly can't help but be a bit in awe of someone who actually exposes those thoughts to the light of day. I think if we're all honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that we all share the same pettiness that Bryson sometimes exhibits.
As for his comments about the places to which he travels, it is true that they aren't always kind. I'm a native of Michigan and so I eagerly devoured the section of his book that had to do with Michigan and, frankly, I was surprised that it was as positive as it was. While I do love my home state, I was rather shocked that Bryson didn't comment on the tackiness of the downtown area of Mackinac Island and that he was so mild in his descriptions of the tourist trap that is Mackinaw City. Bear in mind that the island is one of my most favorite places in the world. Even so, I do acknowledge that parts of it are more than deserving of criticism. It can be very painful to hear someone criticize a place that we love but it is also worth listening because there may just be some value to their criticisms. And, if not, it's always possible to laugh with friends later over what a jerk the person doing the criticizing is.
Bryson, though, is a native of the U.S. The fact that he lived in England for so long is relevant only because the changes to his native country are so shocking to him upon his return. Yes, he is critical but he is critical of every country that he visits, including England. This is proven by his book "Notes from a Small Island". Bryson is good at picking out the things about which people are most sensitive and poking at them. This will naturally not endear him to everyone but I don't think that this book singles the U.S. out in any way. Instead, I think he has a very valid point about how sad it is that the U.S. is becoming more and more generic every day--and this book was written long before you could find a Starbucks on every corner. His points bear consideration. What have we sacrificed in our quest for convenience and 24-hour service?
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