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A review of Notes from a Small Island

by Bill Bryson

Travel tales from the author of The lost continent.

Reviewed by: Alan McClymont
About Alan McClymont

Notes from a Small Island Bill Bryson, famous American travel writer, has lived in Britain for twenty years. His children have spent their early lives there and he has made himself a good home. Eventually, however, he feels that it is time to move back to the U.S. for a while in order to allow his kids to experience an American lifestyle and his wife to shop 24-hours a day. Add to this the fact that he had recently read in a survey that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens and he quickly decided that his country needed him.

Before he goes though, he feels the need to see the country which he has called home for the past two decades. He begins his journey, entering by sea from France as he first arrived, on the south coast of England and aims to travel all around in just a few weeks. This time limit (which seems like more than enough in the beginning) seems like so little once he actually begins. Everything is of interest to him and he can't quite find the time to fit everything in. From Wales to London and even into the Highlands of Scotland he finds that every little town, museum, gift shop and housing estate are full of appeal.

As usual Bryson's main appeal is his attention to detail. The little things amuse and interest him and the way that he describes them amuse me. None of the places which he visited hold any real appeal to me but he made places like Blackpool or Wigan sound like real nice towns to visit and almost made me want to go there myself. The way in which he pokes fun at himself and his childish interest in everything is wonderful and it really feels like he his giving you as much of himself as he is of the places which he visits.

Bryson always seems to describe his travels in so many different ways and this is no different. On one level he is simply traveling around a small, rather dull country and describing it as he goes. On another level, however, he is telling you how things were twenty years ago and describing how everything has changed. Still another subtext would be the way which he uncovers some wonderful English language and tries to show the rich differences between American and British English. Have you ever heard of a 'counterpane' or used a 'loo' or had 'a swift shag against the cooker'. Well Bryson had no idea what any of these terms meant and it is with great amusement (for both him and us) that he describes many of the situations which this ignorance gave rise to.

However many different points of view you could read this book on, the main one should always be to take you on a journey and make you laugh along the way. On this note it is right on the mark and well worth a read. I have to say that when I sat down to write this review it took me forever because I ended up actually reading half of the book again. What more do I need to say?

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Notes from a Small Island

Copyright © by Alan McClymont, 2003

Reviewed by Alan McClymont :
-- Dead Famous - by Ben Elton
-- Neither here nor there - by Bill Bryson
-- Lucky Jim - by Kingsley Amis
-- Round Ireland with a fridge - by Tony Hawks
-- The River at the Center of the World - by Simon Winchester
-- The Rape of Nanking - by Iris Chang
-- Timeline - by Michael Crichton
-- How to Be Good - by Nick Hornby
-- Notes from a Small Island - by Bill Bryson
-- Player Piano - by Kurt Vonnegut
-- Wilt - by Tom Sharpe
-- Number9dream - by David Mitchell









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