by Bill Bryson
Travel tales from the author of The
lost continent.
Reviewed by: Alan McClymont
About Alan McClymont
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 :
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