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India Press Store - The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $4.00
Your Save: $ 10.95 ( 73% )
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Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.30492
EAN: 9780060920081
ISBN: 0060920084
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 1990-09-12
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: 1990-08-03
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not so nice look at small-town America
Comment: Notice how many one and two star ratings this book has. That alone should warn you of how bad this book is. You can read the other one star ratings, my review would be similar to most of them, so I'll keep mine short.
I bought this because I like Bill Bryson's other books and I figured I couldn't go wrong with small town journeys by a writer I enjoy. Boy, was I wrong, I did not enjoy Bryson in this book at all. I find small towns to be rather endearing and love their charm and individuality, Bryson didn't pick up on the charm that I see in them and instead had mean things to say about mostly every place he went. I found this book to be as boring as he found the towns to be, but it's all a matter of opinion, isn't it?
Customer Rating:
Summary: mean spirited & P. C.
Comment: This book was not my first read by Bill Bryson and I will move on to other authors after this read. As I was reading this book I wondered why I had read as much of this author as I have.
Bryson tends to look down his nose at people and things that do not meet his obviously cultured standards. His anger whether displayed or passive aggressive has gotten old.
An example of my disappointment in this book is the author's report of New York City. Bryson couldn't find anything interesting within the 5 boroughs of the city.
His politically correct self contentment is no longer of interest to me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good travel reading
Comment: This is my first Bill Bryson book, so I can't compare this book to his others. But I can say that I really enjoyed the sarcastic humor at the expense of middle America. Many authors try and fail to bring the same amount of wit to their books as Bill Bryson.
Bryson's journey took place in 1988, which makes the book a little dated. But you have to wonder how much less fun the trip would be with a cell phone, email, GPS and Yelp. It's a little depressing to read about how much had changed in this country in 1988, and realize that was 20 years ago.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not the best of Bryson
Comment: This just doesn't compare to his earlier two books, nor to his recent memoir. I thought Kerry Shale did a poor job of narrating and finding Bryson's pace. Bryson did a wonderful job of narrating his own memoir ("The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid") and should insist upon doing the rest of his stories on CD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Lost Bryson
Comment: Actually, 3.4 stars. I am always up for a good American road trip book and I have very much enjoyed Bill Bryson's other books. What I got was early Bryson before he found his heart and an America that was beginning to go to seed on its own indifferent overindulgences. If you have not read anything else by Bill Bryson, do not start with this. He got much better in a hurry and wrote some unmissable books, which you might not be inspired to go for if all you've read is this and ended up with a mild case of indigestion. And that would be a shame.
Anyway, in the late 1980's, Iowa native Bryson, who had spent his adult life to date living in England, returned stateside after his dad's death to rediscover America in much the same way his childhood vacations always went--a ramble by car through the heartland. He envisioned stopping in those small town motels with neon signs that had pots of flowers outside and a nice courtyard pool. He envisioned dining on decent local cuisine in a corner restaurant and later shambling about town on foot, discovering its pleasantries. He headed southeast from Des Moines on the first half of a figure eight shaped path that would hit 38 of the 48 contiguous states before he was done, in his mother's old Chevette. After a promising start in Pella, Iowa, things mostly don't go perfectly. He is often bored, the food and food service often not good, and he finds Americans mostly fat and leading unexamined lives while their heritage slips through their fingers.
Bryson makes a lot of bratty jokes and it is obvious he is writing more for his audience in England than here (when he describes the size of a place, for instance, he compares it to Shropshire). He reminds me of people who say they are licensed to tell Polish jokes because they are of Polish descent. That said, the reason I did not demote this more stars is that he was not wrong and not overly cruel about our unexamined lives circa 1987-88. Looking at his picture in time, America was an accident ready to happen. Now obesity is an epidemic, as is the wanton development and lack of municipal planning that has emptied our small towns and ringed our national parks and historic sites. It seemed to him then that we had lost an incredible amount of our cultural heritage already but for those of us who had progressively absorbed it daily without really paying attention, it is really hitting home now.
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Editorial Reviews:
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An unsparing and hilarious account of one man's rediscovery of America and his search for the perfect small town.
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