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erboe501's review against another edition
5.0
Game for a few weeks of European mishaps, Bill Bryson leaves the comforts of home to retrace the steps of his youthful trek through 1970s Europe. From the Northern Lights to the Bosphorus Sea, Bryson manages to meet some bizarrely friendly, hostile, and apathetic characters. There are the waiters who patently ignore Bryson when he eats, the hotel workers who overcharge him, the tourist office workers who pretend they don’t speak English. Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that these people and situations actually occurred. Part of the beauty of Bryson’s writing is that the frustratingly mundane–waiting in one line after another for a bus ticket–turn hilarious under Bryson’s pen. Even if you haven’t traveled abroad, everyone has experienced the circuitous bureaucracy of state-run facilities and bad hotels. You sweat and labor right along with Bryson as he catches a train here and a bus there.
Many of the places Bryson returns to in the 1990s have changed significantly in his twenty year absence, thanks in a large part to the increase in tourism. I’d imagine that, if Bryson took a third trip around Europe today, another twenty years later, the landscape would appear even more altered. Bryson, a successful white American male, manages to be both irreverant and diplomatic in situations that might call for cultural sensitivity. He says it like it is: Naples is a filthy city; Austria is still pretty anti-Semitic. But he never assumes a superior, greater-than-thou tone, which makes his commentary feel authentic. He’s a foreigner in these countries, and his writing evokes this ‘fish out of water’ impression.
By candidly showing the beautiful and ugly aspects of travel, Bryson makes a strong case for the rewards of travel. You adapt to cultural challenges and experience other ways of life. And in the end, you become more grateful for your own bed back home.
Many of the places Bryson returns to in the 1990s have changed significantly in his twenty year absence, thanks in a large part to the increase in tourism. I’d imagine that, if Bryson took a third trip around Europe today, another twenty years later, the landscape would appear even more altered. Bryson, a successful white American male, manages to be both irreverant and diplomatic in situations that might call for cultural sensitivity. He says it like it is: Naples is a filthy city; Austria is still pretty anti-Semitic. But he never assumes a superior, greater-than-thou tone, which makes his commentary feel authentic. He’s a foreigner in these countries, and his writing evokes this ‘fish out of water’ impression.
By candidly showing the beautiful and ugly aspects of travel, Bryson makes a strong case for the rewards of travel. You adapt to cultural challenges and experience other ways of life. And in the end, you become more grateful for your own bed back home.
rld1727's review against another edition
4.75
Made me laugh out loud more times than it made me cringe (but I did cringe a fair few times).
phb8's review against another edition
1.0
DNF- some bits were okay, some bits were awful. In the end the awful bits were so awful I gave up.
ashtalksbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.75
cwebb's review against another edition
4.0
Good fun. Obviously a bestseller for a reason, good phrasing, nice stories with just that bit of exaggeration.
jenniferdinsmore's review against another edition
1.0
Summary: Bill arrives in place, reminisces what it was like in the '70s, rants about how boutique is now McDonald's, complain about food, complain about dirty city, complain about tourists, comment on women's ass, drink beer, decides he hates/kinda likes country, leaves. Repeat.