The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 28 February 2001
by Bill Bryson
There are many books out there whose jackets tell you they're laugh-out-loud funny. Rarely, really, is that true. This time, though, you can be sure that for each piece in this collection you'll get at least one good snort. Bill Bryson, an American citizen, lived in Britain for twenty years and was recently returned to live in Hanover, New Hampshire. He proceeded to write these hilarious essays for a publication back in Britain. He is an outsider with an insider's point of view. These great little essays touch on many aspects of American life, usually the frustrating ones, like taxes, malls, movies, our sense of leisure and our absurd abundance. After twenty years away, American life looks strange and wonderful to him, and that comes through in his vibrant affectionate writing. The essays are funny, often personal, vaguely political, and ring with familiar American experience. While he appreciates the experience of the expatriate, he sees America through the eyes of his English wife and children. There is great love of life in the book, and a raucous and absurd sensibility that will, indeed, have you laughing out loud.