I have to admit there were times when I was inclined to give up on Bill Bryson’s The Lost Continent, Travels in Small-Town America. Not because it is a bad book, but because it is thoroughly antithetical to my mind. However, in the interest of Journalistic Integrity, I soldiered on because I did not want to be one of those cretins who don’t actually read what they review.
Bryson is something extremely rare: a commercially-successful travel writer (there are about five of those in the known universe, and that’s after rounding up) although he has since moved on from merely describing the world to describing the entirety of existence. The Lost Continent is one of his early books, written at a time when he was suffering for his art, as evidenced by the fact that it is a story about him driving around the country in a Chevy Chevette he borrowed from his Mom.
Bryson is widely celebrated for his sharp, incisive wit, by which people mean he can be a droll smart-ass. As someone with a deep appreciation of smart-assery, I can confirm his quality and consistency in this field. Of course, if you’re driving great circle around the country in a Chevy Chevette while staying in fleabag motels and eating ungodly slop from roadside diners, your sense of humor becomes as essential to your life as your lungs.
There are really two things that made me want stop mid-book. First, Bryson, though raised in Iowa, left the U.S. as a young adult and settled in England. The inspiration for this book came from family road trips from child, but his gaze at the country is through the eyes of a Brit. Nothing particularly bad about that, except it adds a snide edge to his observations which often seem to be of the "Why do Americans have to do this or that?" variety. It transforms his comments from laughing with to laughing at.
Article comments
1 - DrPat
I enjoyed this book far more, it seems, than you did, David, although I did note in my review that when we travel with Bryson, "we visit the pits as often as the heights."
2 - Pat Cummings
That his passage as representative:
What does this mean? Is there a word missing here?
Please correct it in the edit entries window - thanks!
3 - john
I thought this review was quite poor. Mr Mazzotta appears not to like the book because the guy wasn't nice about his home State. I'll think I'll look for a lesser of mutant critic who says it how it is.
4 - Dan Calvo
Incredible how easily you can notice Mazzotta's weak points. In spite of knowing Bryson's biographic facts, he fools us a bit when he says that he gazes at the country "through the eyes of a Brit". That is not completely true, as what Bryson actually does is watching his own country from the unique vantage point that only someone who has been away from his own country for a long time can have. When Mazzotta recommends to "take a moment to acknowledge the humanity of your opposite", he seems to forget that there is no "opposite". There is no enemy giving his account of events. Just a fellow countryman that is more upset with certain things that are done in the name of development, due to the fact that he hasn't had the opportunity of getting so used to them, as he now lives in England...You could say that Bryson has become a foreigner to his own country, but that is the best way to become unbiased, too.
5 - frank
I could not agree more with Mr. Mazotta's review.
As I read through Mr. Bryson's book, it became quite clear to me that he was trying to ingratiate himself with the "elitist, USA is in decline", liberal crowd.
I will give him this though - he did at least divulge his political bias up front. And, I'm sure this didn't hurt his chances of getting his book published and promoted - so he would never have to drive around in a Chevy Chevette ever again.
Hypocritical? Probably. Practicable? Probably. Worthy of praise? Definitely not.
6 - Murali family
Bill Bryson is an awesome writer. Great sense of humour that is really worth reading and also the huge amout of very good information that completely helps a reader understand the actual scenario.
7 - jaci
I completely agree with Frank and Mazotta. Bryson is pompous and arrogant. I could have written the same book without stepping out my front door. He just further cements the stereotypes of the regions of our country in the readers' minds. So, thanks Mr. Bryson, for telling a boring, predictable tale of traveling.
8 - Dr Dreadful
I could have written the same book without stepping out my front door.
Off you go, then.
9 - Marlee
Mazotta put into words how i feel about Bryson. At first I was laughing, because I have never read something like this before. But then, I just started to get annoyed with Bryson because all he does is complain. I just feel like he judges a place before he gets to know it, and its just not fun to engage in a book, where the author has no idea what he is talking about. For example, when he wrote about his trip to cape cod, he just complained how crowded it was, obviously you dumb-ass, its freaking labor-day weekend, what else do you expect, for it to be empty with people bowing down to you like your the king, no. whatever, all he does is bitch, and its just annoying, like grow up and get over yourself