Rating: 
Summary: Funny and harsh
Review: Bill Bryson is rather un-patriotic, which is real fun and a real pain to those who think that the States are the most beautiful, exciting and grandiose country in the world. Well, they aren't. They can be downright boring and ridiculous and tacky; as tacky as it can get. Bryson is a sarcastic travel writer, enriched by his European experience that few Americans can grasp. A very entertaining book, harsh on the American Way of Life small-town version.
Rating: 
Summary: Are you really from here??
Review: Bill Bryson could be a fine writer if he wasnt so enamored with himself. While going on a 36 state trip for most people would be exciting and fun, Bryson makes it out to be the most boring and inane trip of all time. If he had spent a little more time telling us about the wonderful places he visited instead of the many way he can find them unappealing, he would have a fine book. I think he lived in the UK far too long.
Not only was this book a waste of time, it was a waste of his.
Rating:
Summary: A big Disappointment
Review: "The Lost Continent" is a huge disappointment of a book. Bryson is mean spirited, disrespectful, cynical, redundant, and seldom funny. I have not traveled to most of the states in this book, so it's not as if I was personally insulted by his comments. The only other Bryson Book I have read is a "Walk in the Woods", so this book is a bit of a surprise. I doubt that I will waste my time reading any of his other books.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful travelogue.
Review: This book focus' on Byson's trip through small town Amercia looking for the perfect small town. Part autobiographical (stories about growing up in rural Iowa and his family vacations), and part travel commentary, this book is laugh out loud funny. Bryson has some sharp comments on US race relations, and doesn't think much of the South, but his commentary is largely dead on.A thoroughly enjoyable read, covering raods most of us will never travel. Very well done.
Rating:
Summary: You will see all your friends here!
Review: I laughed so many times reading this book, it hurt my belly. I recognized many people just like the ones I grew up with back home.
This look at the foibles of small town America will have you rolling on the floor.... and sharing with your friends the devastating slices of life he so ably portrays.
Get this book for no other reason than to lend it to your best (open-minded) friends.
Rating: 
Summary: More down-to-earth but just as critical as Paul Theroux.
Review: Hit the road with Bryson and you can never be at a loss for things to complain about, to make fun of, and sometimes to take seriously. Here I am reading this in 2003 and I find many things a little outdated but informative and entertaining nonetheless. For example, Bryson travels to Yellowstone National Park less than a year before it was hit by its most ferocious fire in recent history (1988). He tunes in to Jimmy Swaggart feeling remorse for his transgressions with tears endlessly rolling down his cheeks. Bryson can get a little annoying at times when you think he is most probably just making up names of people and places. Making fun of people's accents can be tiresome at times. Just to keep his reader engrossed, he imbues his narrative with digressions about his family, his relatives, and his fantasies, which is another way of emphasizing how tedious driving across large swaths of land in some parts of the country can be. The change of attitude from detesting his home state to finding it as the best place it can be at the end of his road trip was comforting. As a traveler, Bryson is hard to categorize. He is definitely not a typical tourist as he detests tourist traps, theme parks, and overpriced historical and quasi-historical landmarks. He does not seem to be an "outdoorsy" person, for even if he makes diversions to national parks, as opposed to passing by and not stopping, there is hardly any mention of day hikes. This, however, can be explained by the off-season timing of his trips to most of the national parks, especially in the West. He revels in taking side roads and byways to check out both natural and historical destinations, and does not mind pushing more miles (40-70 miles) just to find a reasonable place to stay, to dine, or to have a big breakfast. His sense of place is strong, perhaps owing to what he referred to as the Midwesterner's bent for knowing their geographical directions given the topographical monotony of their region. A map of the 48 states, or a composite showing his fall trip to the eastern half and his spring trip to the western half of the country would have been helpful in guiding people through his personal road trip. I am partial to the western part of the United States in terms of desirable travel destinations, and I did look forward to the beginning of his western journey starting with Colorado and New Mexico. I was therefore offended by his remark on the profusion of Spanish place names, where an attitude smacked of ugly Americanism, a trait that did not seem to have been diluted after two decades of living in Britain. Here's an excerpt from page 272: "...so that every place in the Southwest is called San this or Santa that. Driving across the Southwest is like an 800-mile religious procession. The worst name on the whole continent is the Sangre de Cristo Mountains...have you ever heard of a more inane name for any geographical feature?" I guess it takes an upbringing in a Spanish-infused culture to gain an appreciation for Spanish nomenclature. If anything, the names are melodious, it not vividly descriptive. What to say of "Sierra Nevada" (snowy mountains)? Or "La Sal Mountains" (salt mountains) in southeastern Utah? Bryson would have thought that ridiculous, when the Spanish explorers, in the middle of red-rock desert, thought they were seeing salt instead of snow on the mountain crests! "Sangre de Cristo" (blood of Christ) is a powerful description for the color of the mountains at dusk. Is the inaneness, according to our dear author, because of the morbid nature of the description??? These Spanish names are beautiful, and they testify to the permanent hold Spanish exploration has on this huge geographical area of the country. The names given by the Spanish, in my opinion, are more imaginative and descriptive than some of the English names such as "Collegiate Peaks" (Colorado), "Green Mountains" (Vermont), "White Mountains" (New Hampshire, California, and Arizona), "Blue Ridge" and "Smoky Mountains".
Rating:
Summary: 20% funny, 80% whining
Review: This book gets off to a roaring start. I found it hilarious, though many would find it offensive. Unfortunately, Bill quickly tires of his journey, and the last 80% of the book is non-stop whining. He complains about EVERYTHING.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much critical humor
Review: I quit about halfway through this book. Making fun of people does not hold my interest and is not humorous.
Rating:
Summary: Lost Continent, Great book
Review: The Lost Continent, by Bill Bryson is a hilarious book. It talks about his trip across the country and back.
Bryson is from Iowa, and some of the book is spent making fun of his own people.
Bill starts his trip in Des Moines, where he has lived for his whole life, retracking the trips that his father had taken the family on. His father's death is what initiated his whole trip.
Bryson is a great writer especially if you like funny stories. I can't remember laughing out loud at a book before I read this. He is also very descriptive when he writes. I could visualize every aspect of the book. I have no trouble relating to this book either; it really seems like he is a "normal", (if you will), type of guy.
The setting may be the most important part of the book because Bryson is contsantly describing where he is and what it is like. I feel like I am "there" when he describes the towns, roads, and people.
It is easy to make a plot like this quite boaring, but with the comedy and descriptiveness, Bill Bryson does a wonderful job of keeping your attention. Enjoy Bill's trip through America. This is really a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I understand that Bill wrote this book from an English point of view, even though he was born in Iowa. And although I have to agree that we have a country full of fat people, strip malls, bad food, sleazy advertisements and in-your-face cheap touristy places, there are some beautiful regions in this country that Bill completely overlooked. He not once talked personally to a bartender, waitress, other tourist about why they were where they were. (What brought someone to live in Why Not, Mississsippi, for instance). He never spoke to a native American, to a Black Southerner, etc. He never gave a reason for any place to exist. This book may have some funny moments, but it lacks an intimate, personal aspect. Everything Bill writes about is fat, boring, cheap or tasteless. Maybe all the cheap beer he drank every night ended up influencing his attitude? I have travelled to many of the same places he has seen and loved them all for the diversity. How can South Carolina be boring? Or even New Hampshire? Surely this book is a hit in Europe right now, though, but here in the US this book ranks the worst of Bill's writings. I am glad I borrowed this book from the county library; it's a waste of money.
|
