Customer Reviews

Notes from a Big Country

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Bryson, one of the funniest 'blokes' around, has collected a series of articles he was commissioned to write for a London newspaper. After living for twenty years in English he has moved his family back to the States to the lovely Hanover, NH to set up life anew. To preface these very funny pieces he explains that although he spent his youth in the sticky summers of Iowa (and retains a deep love for the game of baseball) he spent his adulthood in the UK where he learned to deal with grown-up issues (mortgages, taxes, putting in screens, getting the lawn mowed whilst on holiday, etc..). This is the perfect preface because, of course, he now finds that he is confronted with the country of his birth and is acutely aware of all of the ridiculous things he can now view as an outsider. He speaks to us about the pleasures of living in a small town where they (he is amazed) don't have to lock the doors and he can go to an honest-to-God diner for the slop they serve there as well as the absurdities found in every aisle of the typical American supermarket (the piece about the trip to the market and his insistence on buying a cart full of junk food that Mrs. B tells him he can only get if he will really eat it is a riot) and his discovery of 'breakfast pizza'. You don't have to have lived overseas to understand what can be frustrating about returning 'home' into culture shock once you read Bryson's simple and frankly logical, descriptions of what he sees after his absence. And any American who HAS dealt with the bureaucracies in other countries will weep with laughter and feel the pain as Bryson tries to get his wife (of 20+ years) a green card and to get the US government, sometime later, to divulge her social security number. Very, very funny stuff.

If you read "I'm a Stranger Here Myself", dodn't but this book.

I believe "I'm a Stranger...." is the American release of "Notes....Big Country"

Regardless, they're both an excellent collection of short essays. Typical funny, witty, smart-alec Bryson.

In spite of all the xenophobic rants from our "love it or leave it" reviewers, Bryson is not out to bring down the good ole U.S. of A., but only to give to British readers glimpses of America that they don't normally see on reruns of "Law and Order", "The O.C.", or the myriad other American TV imports that are slowly taking over British television. If some of his subjects might upset some of these readers, they need to get over it. The columns, and the book in which the columns were compiled, were NOT meant for them in the first place. The columns that make up this book were written between October 1996 and May 1998 and published in the Mail on Sunday's Night and Day magazine for a primarily British audience. The selling point for this run of articles was that Bryson would be returning to the States after some twenty years in Britain and that the America he would be describing would be seen by the eyes of an American, but an American that had absorbed enough of Britannia to become something of a hybrid. The resulting columns would naturally be informative, witty, and penetrating.

Unfortunately, this goal was only partially successful. Bryson can be a very insightful observer, and his writing style is infectious enough, but now and then it seems that he is neither interested in the subject of which he writes nor is he able to bring the full talent of his art to the task. Both of these weaknesses are apparent in this collection of articles. The subject of his notes run the gamut from the obesity and ignorance of a goodly portion of the American population to the wonders and brilliance of the American landscape. And since these writings were intended for "light" reading there is an attempt to make them humorous. Bryson can be VERY funny when he is not TRYING to be funny; alas, most of the humor in this book is of the contrived type: Bryson acting the dunce for a few cheap laughs. Equally annoying is his way of ending each of his notes, where the reader is to believe that Bryson is bringing his weekly musings to a close because of some outside event like eating dinner, decorating the Christmas tree, or playing catch with his kids, rather than the fact that his word quota has been met.

And since I'm being finicky here, it must be mentioned that ole Bill is triple dipping. First, he writes these 70 odd notes for a weekly periodical; he then incorportes them into this book; and then he incorporates THIS book (minus those Briticisms and British spellings so anathema to the "love it or leave it" crowd) into another book, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, which is intended for an American audience. Not a bad return for some random musings originally intended for British readers passing a lazy weekend.

Bill Bryson knows America, he was born here, He knows England , he lived there for many years, and Bill Bryson knows how to write satirical sendups on eveything our wonderful (?) culture has to offer. His "Drowning in red tape" offering is so funny it could probably make the Immigration authorities laugh, and that's pretty funny. If you want a good chuckle at the foibles of America, get this book, you'll love it.

Bill Bryson's book is one of the most funniest books I ever read. I read it on flights from Europe to America and in american restaurants and the poeple looked at my when I was laughing and I wiped the tears from my eyes. All these funny stories writen with some black british humor about the american way of live from a man born in Iowa, living as an adult for 20 years in Britain and returning back to NH are true in the eyes of an european. When I came first to the USA, aged 45, I was full of prejudice. When I left, I knew everything was true and it's documented in this book. This is the way for aliens to learn how to love the american citizens and the american everyday live.

Bill Bryson is hilarious! I read this book on the train to work and many a times i had to resist myself from laughing out loud !!
In this book, Bill Bryson has complied a collection of short essays which he wrote when he returned to the States. The essays are both informative and hilarious!
Don't read this book in one sitting. Safe it for days when you are feeling down and in need of a good laugh!

When I first read this book I was commuting two hours each way between my home and my college in Sydney AUS. So I had plenty of time for reading everyday. I was reading this coming home late one evening and embarrassing myself every few minutes with snorts of laughter. I drew so much attention to myself that an off-duty rail worker asked me to please keep the noise down as other passengers were trying to sleep, then asked to see what I was reading as he said it "sounded" so good, he was going to buy it! This book is my favourite Bill Bryson book and is a brilliant read, and keeps very well (I think I'm onto my 5th re-reading!). I can't wait to get back to Australia so I can read African Diary and A Brief History of Nearly Everything.

Bill Bryson's book is an honest laugh-out-loud joy. The original intended audience were readers of Bill's column in a British paper, but the anecdotes are equally applicable to Canadians in the US (including most of the spellings!).

The author, originally from the States but returning after 20 years in England, comments on the events of his "new found" life in New England. Warts and all, he covers life in his "new" surroundings and the culture shock he encounters. I read the entire book on a plane from Nova Scotia to Minnesota, putting it down only to stop laughing and wipe the tears from my eyes!

Thoroughly recommended.

I'm an American living in Canada and completely identified with a passage from the beginning of Bryson's book which said that you never feel as American in America as you do when you're living in another country. Upon returning to the States after decades in England, Bryson writes about nearly every aspect of life in America, good and bad, and pretty effectively explains the mostly-love, sometimes-hate relationship some Americans have with their native country. Much of it is laugh-out-loud funny and Bryson manages to capture some of the nationalistic sentiment without being jingoistic or overly precious. It's an extremely fast read because it was originally published as a series of columns in England. Highly recommended!

I purchased the paperback before a flight. I read the first few essays and could not contain my chuckles. The passenger sitting next to me promptly relocated.

The essays are extremely humourous and great fun to read. I found many of the analogies to the American way of life correlated with my South African upbringing, i.e. driving from your door 50 metres to a store.

Read 'Notes from a Big Country' for a light-hearted comical look at yourself and life.