After living abroad for thirty years, the author of Mantalk returns to her native America for an unforgettable, insightful journey across the country by Greyhound bus.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
As the Greyhound ticket clerk in Memphis quickly discerns about the middle-aged woman with a British accent: "Y'all travelin' fo' the adventure." To which this New Jersey-raised expat of 30 years responds: "I like the bus." And indeed Kurtz does, as amply evidenced by her exuberant, knowing, witty, human-scaled journal of a recent meander through America's heartland. Comprising 65 bus changes and a span of three months, the fall trip took her across the northernmost reaches of the country to Seattle, down the West Coast, east along the Mexican border, then back to her Manhattan starting point. Among her fellow passengers, Kurtz observes "varieties of pathology . . . as well as poverty, madness and exhaustion"; she overhears conversations about "wonky ventricles" and male complaints of women who "know all about the bedroom but not a damn thing about the kitchen." The travel could be rough. One episode lands Kurtz in an isolated, frigid depot waiting for an already two-day-overdue bus to Duluth; another time, impulsively deciding to visit Dinosaur National Park (in Utah), she disembarks on a nighttime roadway only to discover she is alone in the back of beyond. But always she soldiers on, reveling in freedom "with no strings attached," in the pleasure of a journey that has no purpose but itself. The ingratiating Kurtz, who writes the Cosmo "Agony Column," even convinces one that touring America by Greyhound is akin to "doing the Nile on a barge or joining a caravan across the Sahara." Photos not seen by PW .
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Kurtz, an advice columnist for Cosmopolitan magazine and the author of several novels, left New York's Port Authority bus terminal one fall day and returned three months, ten days, and four hours later. In between, she traveled to Los Angeles on big Americruisers, taking a northern route there and a southern route back. Kurtz describes her adventures in serviceable prose, but she emphasizes the people she meets rather than the ground she covers. Her companions are an eccentric bunch, including a Russian grandmother traveling alone and a morose American Indian. This book will interest readers as intrigued by fellow travelers as they are by scenery; recommended for general collections.
- Caroline Mitchell, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Caroline Mitchell, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get on Board for one Helluva Ride,
By binnsie "binnsie" (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Great American Bus Ride: An Intrepid Woman's Cross-Country Adventure (Hardcover)
After 30 years living in England, American Irma Kurtz returns home to explore her native country. Americans she meets feel sure that she is not American whilst Brits are absolutely certain that she is not British. Fellow travel writer Bill Bryson had the same experience. This is an epic travelogue by Kurz who traverses the continent four times in an east west direction, closing the loop along the entire Atlantic coast and half the Pacific coast. Irma is not your average American. As she says "America is a road country. To be without wheels is to be lame. The truth is I am a hussy of low appetites who always yearns shamelessly for rough travel, and I grab the chance whenever I can to arrive at my destination exhausted, knowing I've earned my goal the hard way. Greyhound and I were made for each other." Irma learned to drive late in life, never learned to enjoy it and as her mother so eloquently puts it "Irma is anti cars." Thus begins her huge journey, one of epic proportions. The book colourfully describes the passing scenery, geography, topography, climate and people of the country. Lots of history is thrown in along the way, some of it landmark stuff in over 200 years of American settlement, whilst plenty of it is local, irrelevant in the wider scheme of things but overwhelmingly fascinating. We also learn of the human dynamics of Greyhound Bus travel, the unwritten protocol of who sits where, back, front or mid-section, near the toilet, near the exits, far from the driver or wherever: the protocol of avoiding eye contact with oncoming passengers if discretely trying to preserve the free seat alongside yourself. Then there are the passengers with whom Irma strikes up friendly and promising relationships which come to an end all too soon as one new friend after another finishes their relatively brief journey. Many of her fellow passengers she describes as she observes them from across the aisle or across the waiting hall in the bus terminals. It is such a truism that the key conversation topic with the elderly is their state of health, and if the Greyhound environment can be a factor so much the better. "Last time I went on the bus" one old lady told the other "I got spasms. I hadda go lay across those three seats at the back." "My tooth was calcified to the bone" came the reply. "They hadda drill a hole so the infection could run out." Then there are the young ones she befriends, girls running away from failed love affairs back to the comfort of their home state, or girls traveling forever onwards into the hopefully awaiting arms of their lovers. A young model is traveling from Reno to "Dez Moynees" for her mother's wedding. "I hope she'll be very happy" says Irma. "She'd better be. It's her fourth time" is the response. The story telling style is not dissimilar to that of the previously mentioned Bill Bryson. Her tale links the many places she visits with the people she meets along the way and the anticipation of the sort of establishment in which she will next have a night in bed and not on the bus. Whilst Bryson regularly enjoys a drink or two (or three) in the evenings and happily wanders into bars around the world, Irma is less able to be as adventuresome. However, her hip flask is always at hand and frequently requires refilling as she crosses the continent. "The Great American Bus Ride" is a lively, entertaining, humourous travel book which everyone with a love of life and a sense of adventure will enjoy. If you've never been on a Greyhound Bus in your life, this book may not persuade you to do so, but it will certainly be your next closest experience. Jump on board, grab the appropriate seat, sit back and enjoy the ride.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Journey's the thing!,
By
This review is from: The Great American Bus Ride: An Intrepid Woman's Cross-Country Adventure (Hardcover)
Irma Kurtz takes a few months to ride around the US on a Greyhound bus. She shares her experiences with us in her book. Although generally thought the province of down-and-outers of one type or another, the Greyhound buses can also be a symbol of hope (leaving a bad relationship, looking for a new job), or freedom to travel about the country cheaply, or a learning experience (near the end of the book, Ms. Kurtz muses that everyone should me made to take a similar bus trip upon becoming 18). Of course, it is just plain basic transportation to some (in parts of Ohio, the buses are described as being almost like a local transit system at times. Indeed, some buses in rural Texas were fitted with jury-rigged fareboxes to accommodate those passengers riding for short distances).
Occasionally, one must get off the bus, and Ms. Kurtz does so, perhaps to visit an old friend, or find traces of family history in one corner of the United States or another. But the most interesting experiences are the ones where she gets off the bus in the middle of nowhere, and finds that she must deal with (hey, read the book!)....Her observations of and interactions with, other people on the bus, in the stations, and elsewhere, are also fun to read. Ms. Kurtz does tend to have a bit of disdain for US cities other than New York (Seattle gets poor marks, and she doesn't even bother to leave the station in Los Angeles and New Orleans). She bashes shopping malls pretty regularly too (to be fair, malls tend to be located some distance away from Greyhound bus stops, and have attracted stores away from downtown areas where most bus stations are). And as an occasional Greyhound bus rider myself, it was sometimes necessary to mentally put myself in her position in order to appreciate why she did what she did in a given situation. But even with the Greyhound horror stories that are passed around today, the idea of just hopping on a bus, riding across country, and taking in the sights and sounds of parts of the US that most Americans may never bother to see, is still intriguing to me. Therefore, I recommend this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
after reading this, I was tempted to . . .,
By
This review is from: The Great American Bus Ride: An Intrepid Woman's Cross-Country Adventure (Hardcover)
spend a few months touring America by Greyhound myself. This book was witty and charming and fun to read. I have ridden Greyhound a lot, but never for more than 6 or 7 hours at a time, so my experience cannot compare to hers. Only quibbles: she tends to run into more strange and unlikable people than I do, perhaps because she sought them out more than I do, perhaps because such people are more interesting to write about.
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