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 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Creator: William Roberts
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  286 reviews
Sales Rank: 1957905
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.7 x 0.4
ISBN: 0754076156
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780754076155
ASIN: 0754076156
Publication Date: September 6, 2004
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| Customer Reviews:
 Good travel reading July 27, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is my first Bill Bryson book, so I can't compare this book to his others. But I can say that I really enjoyed the sarcastic humor at the expense of middle America. Many authors try and fail to bring the same amount of wit to their books as Bill Bryson.
Bryson's journey took place in 1988, which makes the book a little dated. But you have to wonder how much less fun the trip would be with a cell phone, email, GPS and Yelp. It's a little depressing to read about how much had changed in this country in 1988, and realize that was 20 years ago.
 Not the best of Bryson July 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This just doesn't compare to his earlier two books, nor to his recent memoir. I thought Kerry Shale did a poor job of narrating and finding Bryson's pace. Bryson did a wonderful job of narrating his own memoir ("The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid") and should insist upon doing the rest of his stories on CD.
The Lost Bryson June 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Actually, 3.4 stars. I am always up for a good American road trip book and I have very much enjoyed Bill Bryson's other books. What I got was early Bryson before he found his heart and an America that was beginning to go to seed on its own indifferent overindulgences. If you have not read anything else by Bill Bryson, do not start with this. He got much better in a hurry and wrote some unmissable books, which you might not be inspired to go for if all you've read is this and ended up with a mild case of indigestion. And that would be a shame.
Anyway, in the late 1980's, Iowa native Bryson, who had spent his adult life to date living in England, returned stateside after his dad's death to rediscover America in much the same way his childhood vacations always went--a ramble by car through the heartland. He envisioned stopping in those small town motels with neon signs that had pots of flowers outside and a nice courtyard pool. He envisioned dining on decent local cuisine in a corner restaurant and later shambling about town on foot, discovering its pleasantries. He headed southeast from Des Moines on the first half of a figure eight shaped path that would hit 38 of the 48 contiguous states before he was done, in his mother's old Chevette. After a promising start in Pella, Iowa, things mostly don't go perfectly. He is often bored, the food and food service often not good, and he finds Americans mostly fat and leading unexamined lives while their heritage slips through their fingers.
Bryson makes a lot of bratty jokes and it is obvious he is writing more for his audience in England than here (when he describes the size of a place, for instance, he compares it to Shropshire). He reminds me of people who say they are licensed to tell Polish jokes because they are of Polish descent. That said, the reason I did not demote this more stars is that he was not wrong and not overly cruel about our unexamined lives circa 1987-88. Looking at his picture in time, America was an accident ready to happen. Now obesity is an epidemic, as is the wanton development and lack of municipal planning that has emptied our small towns and ringed our national parks and historic sites. It seemed to him then that we had lost an incredible amount of our cultural heritage already but for those of us who had progressively absorbed it daily without really paying attention, it is really hitting home now.
 Read Another Bryson Book... June 6, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Bill Bryson drives aimlessly around America by himself and complains. Not his best work. Anyone who tucks into chicken fried steak every night doesn't get to critique restaurants. If he bothered to study about any culture other than Anglo-American, he might enjoy some of the areas he traveled through. He manages to use racial terms I honestly have not heard in three decades.
funny whining May 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As has been pointed out by everyone else,
Mr. Bryson whines and complains through the
whole book. BUT, it still has a lot of laugh
out loud moments, getting me strange looks from
everyone several places where I happened to be reading it.
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