I wanted to love this. I wanted to be cool and adore Bryson like the rest of the world. But in this book, at least, I found him to be snobbish and snarky and small minded and in a few cases downright mean. Didn't like this at all. ( )

Fun to read.

I had a hard time getting through this book. Maybe I was disappointed after the blurb on the cover told me it was the book Steinbeck would have written if he'd travelled with Letterman instead of Charley. Puh-leese. Bryson seems to mostly loathe his native land, and I'm not sure why he bothered to take this heartless journey. A big disappointment. ( )

"I mused for a few moments on the question of which was worse, to lead a life so boring that you are easily enchanted, or a life so full of stimulus that you are easily bored."

In September of 1987, shortly after the death of his father and having lived in England for ten years with his wife and children, Bill Bryson got into the small red Chevette borrowed from his mother and set out on a road trip to re-discover America, echoing the epic holiday road trips of his childhood. Bryson wrote up his impressions in a journal and this opinionated travelogue is the result.

13,978 miles through thirty-eight states over two separate trips, one in the autumn and one in the spring, make up the sum of his excursions. Small towns are the focus, as Bryson searches for the fantasy backdrop of the Hollywood movies of his childhood. He is rather predictably regularly disappointed, and vents his chagrin freely. There are plenty of good experiences, too, but these rather pale into insignificance when seen alongside his constant complaints. The book does however, end on an positive note because although Bryson fails to find his utopia he does admit that there are indeed places in America where life is good.

I found this an interesting book, it reveals as much about about the author as it does his native land, a few parts made me smile but in the end these failed to outweigh his constant carping and ultimately the book failed to really grip me. ( )

Another Bill Bryson classic! ( )