The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America | Bill Bryson

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America | Bill Bryson | Then and now and here and there

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The Lost Continent...

	The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America Bill Bryson Harper Perennial, 1990 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 288 reviews view larger image
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Very biting humor

I am a big fan of Bill Bryson and have read nearly all of his books but I didn't realize that this was his first until I read some of the reviews here. Still, I knew this book was different from his other books. As enjoyable as they were, this was the one that really had me laughing and oftentimes wiping away tears of laughter. While Bryson is always funny, he is viciously so in this book and I could see how that would not appeal to some people.

While a good number of Bryson's books are travelogues of a sort, I don't think categorizing them as such really does his works justice. They are not only a man's descriptions of his travels but also windows into his very psyche. He has always poked fun at the people of various cultures he encounters during his travels but he is sometimes downright mean in this book. While I certainly don't advocate being mean to others, the fact of the matter is that Bryson strikes me as a man who is really mild-mannered and rather awkward. What we're reading in his books, and in this one in particular, is what goes on inside his head and what I really admire about this is his candor. There are often things that run through my head that I would never want anyone else to know about and so I frankly can't help but be a bit in awe of someone who actually exposes those thoughts to the light of day. I think if we're all honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that we all share the same pettiness that Bryson sometimes exhibits.

As for his comments about the places to which he travels, it is true that they aren't always kind. I'm a native of Michigan and so I eagerly devoured the section of his book that had to do with Michigan and, frankly, I was surprised that it was as positive as it was. While I do love my home state, I was rather shocked that Bryson didn't comment on the tackiness of the downtown area of Mackinac Island and that he was so mild in his descriptions of the tourist trap that is Mackinaw City. Bear in mind that the island is one of my most favorite places in the world. Even so, I do acknowledge that parts of it are more than deserving of criticism. It can be very painful to hear someone criticize a place that we love but it is also worth listening because there may just be some value to their criticisms. And, if not, it's always possible to laugh with friends later over what a jerk the person doing the criticizing is.

Bryson, though, is a native of the U.S. The fact that he lived in England for so long is relevant only because the changes to his native country are so shocking to him upon his return. Yes, he is critical but he is critical of every country that he visits, including England. This is proven by his book "Notes from a Small Island". Bryson is good at picking out the things about which people are most sensitive and poking at them. This will naturally not endear him to everyone but I don't think that this book singles the U.S. out in any way. Instead, I think he has a very valid point about how sad it is that the U.S. is becoming more and more generic every day--and this book was written long before you could find a Starbucks on every corner. His points bear consideration. What have we sacrificed in our quest for convenience and 24-hour service?

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Then and now and here and there

It's an account of a car journey from Des Moines, Iowa, where Bryson was born (in 1951) and raised, around small town (and some big town) America during 1987-88 written from several perspectives that give it a special interest. Bryson looks at things in the United States from the point of view of a long-time British resident. He compares what he sees and likes or (more frequently) dislikes in 1987 with what he saw making similar car trips as a child. He looks at the Deep South, the Wild West, the Rockies, New York City and New England through the eyes of a Midwesterner. An added dimension reading it now is to compare what he saw then with things twenty years later (I was reminded of reading Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways.").
He sometimes seems to be addressing a British reader as he makes his comparisons. In many ways the differences between Britain and America have narrowed, both for better and for worse. London is now a more dangerous city than New York and the English are almost as rich and as fat as the Americans.
He's often misanthropic and grumpy but that adds to the entertainment value. If you want a nice guy saying nice things you buy a guidebook. It's full of great one-liners, even though sometimes he tries too hard to be funny and the jokes get repeated.

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Delightfully funny with a dark side...

The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson is a delightful and funny book about his 38-state road trip throughout the United States. In many respects, Bryson reminds me of Tony Horowitz (Confederates in the Attic, Baghdad without a Map), although with more of a dark side.

Bryson grew up in Iowa, but then moved to England after graduating from college. Twenty years later, "I became quietly seized with the nostalgia that overcomes you when you have reached the middle of your life and your father has recently died and it dawns on you that when he went he took some of you with him. I wanted to go back to the magic places of my youth." Having lost my own dad two months ago, I can certainly identify with this sentiment. The other purpose of his trip was to discover the perfect small town. He was looking for "a place of harmony and industry, a place without shopping malls and oceanic parking lots, without factories and drive-in churches." Borrowing his mother's Chevette, he sets out across America.

Bryson visits cities and small towns, national parks and local curiosities. Throughout his travels, he regales us with his observations and witticisms. He gets sidetracked from some intended destinations due to the weather, road closures, etc. He decides to skip the Biltmore Estate when he discovers that the entrance fee is $17.50 (and this is in 1990). He bails out on Beaufort, SC when he comes upon a sign prohibiting just about everything--"I don't know what sort of mini-Stalins they have running the council in Beaufort." He is disappointed in a number of towns including Holcomb, Kansas (site of the famous Clutter murders from In Cold Blood) and Mark Twain's hometown, Hannibal, Missouri. Some places are a pleasant surprise including Philadelphia, although "No other city in American pursues the twin ideals of corruption and incompetence with quite the same enthusiasm." And then there are the places that he finds just awesome. The mansions in Newport, RI are "a cross between a wedding cake and a state capital building" and as for the Grand Canyon, "no matter how many times you read about it or see it pictured, it still takes you breath away."

Bryson's road trip also provides him with a chance to reminisce about his family vacations. I had tears rolling down my cheeks reading about the "bombs" he and his siblings lobbed out the window made up of Ohio Blue Tip matches stuck into apples and oranges. He also reflects on all the changes since he grew up in the US, including billboards and RVs. "RVs are like life-support on wheels. Astronauts go to the moon with less backup."

My only complaint is that Bryson didn't always get his facts quite right. Lucy Mercer was not FDR's secretary, but Eleanor's social secretary and it's doubtful that they did any "rustic bonking" at Warm Springs, GA. But overall, I truly enjoyed The Lost Continent and will definitely be reading more of Bryson in the future.

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