| Product: |
The Lost Continent - Bill Bryson |
| Date: |
04/07/00 (64 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Its a Bill Bryson book
Disadvantages: 262 pages short (h/back)
As far as I am aware, this 1989 title was the first Bryson travel book, and although I have put somewhere else on this site that I don't like to rank Bill Bryson books in terms of preference this probably is the one I enjoyed most.
The Lost Continent was written when Bill had been based in Britain for 10 years. His father had passed away, and added together these things made him nostalgic for the places in which he had spent childhood vacations. As he reveals early on in the book, his family would drive from their Des Moines home and after driving for hours and hours, and getting lost, they would book into the cheapest ramshackle motel they could find.
So, confronting this nostalgic mood, Bryson returned to his homeland and set off on his own to rediscover his past and to see new places in America.
The result is the warmest, funniest book in his catalogue. For all the outsider looking in regard he has displayed for us Brits in other works, it is clear from this book, as he mourns the loss of Burma Shave road signs and relocated football teams that he is an American boy at heart.
The journey is in two parts - East first then (can you guess what the second part is?) West, taking in small towns, a few big cities, several National Parks, some historic monuments (for instance Mark Twains home) - including Grand Canyon - and a hell of a lot of open road.
The comedy comes courtesy of Bills frequent encounters with locals wherever he lands, but also from his many anecdotes, recounted in his peculiarly idiosyncratic.
The spirit of his youth is always there to cast a tangible sense of poignancy to affair but rather than temper the humour, the elements combine to make a wonderful whole.
A great starting point for the uninitiated and essential for those with a bit of Bryson in 'em already
Summary:
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Deutschland 
España 
Italia 
France - 
