Notes from a Small Island

Rating:
Summary: Anglophiles Unite!
Review: I've read every Bill Bryson book I could get my hands on, starting with A Walk in the Woods, probably his best work so far. That being said, I'll admit the others in his repertoire fall a bit short in comparison (how could they not?) - but please don't let that dissuade you from this wonderful writer.

Bryson has made a reputation of his personal, detailed, humorous observances of places foreign. Notes from a Small Island is much like its title - quirky, tongue-in-cheek, and a sort of literary snapshotting. As Bryson prepares to leave Britain, his adopted country of the last 25 years, he takes one last fond look around before shoving off for the Colonies (New Hampshire to be exact - check out I'm a Stranger Here Myself).

Bryson's style won't suit everyone. He's a touch caustic and not a little tempermental. This makes for bitingly funny stuff - very British, in fact. He's wonderfully witty, without being superior, and a nuanced writer. He knows what he thinks/feels and he knows how to express himself eloquently. Also, his background info is studied, smart, and relevant (but his digressions are great). This is not to say that he is erudite or arrogant - actually, he's very accessible and tells his stories like you're sitting with him in a pub with a pint. I could listen to (read) them into the wee hours.

What really marks Bryson from other travelogues is his humor and his sincerity. I almost never get openly excited when reading, but with Bryson, I can't even take his books out in public because I find myself shaking helplessly from laughter. Also, you know you've found a winner, when you feel the urge to stop people and read passages aloud, just because it's so satisfyingly funny and dead-on. You just gotta share this stuff! Another appealing characteristic of Bryson is his honesty. He can be poignant, hilarious, a little mean, even profound at times, but he's always completely genuine even when looking the fool (which he does marvelously).

The reason I can't give this one 5 stars is because I've never been to the UK and can't quite tune into Bryson's frequency here. Still, there is plenty to keep you entertained in fine Bryson style. You won't regret a word.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended!
Review: As an expatriate Brit living in the US I read this with great interest, and echo the thoughts of other ex-pat reviewers' in that it made me feel homesick. Not that this would come as a surprise of course, since I suppose any book about your home country would have this effect, but Bryson's book is unusually insightful. He describes minor points and peculiarities of British life that only someone who has either lived there a long time or has a keen eye would be aware of (he falls into both of these categories). I found myself nodding and smiling in agreement with many of the things he criticises, applauds or ridicules. I think British life has rubbed off on him, he certainly has a very British sense of humour, typified by a fine sense of the ridiculous in everyday life.

I would particularly recommend this book to anyone planning on living in Britain for a while, not least because it will encourage them to travel around a bit - many foreign travellers just visit London and nowhere else, which leaves them with a rather unfair view of the rest of the country (unless of course you like laughably expensive congested cities). Great book for ex-pats too! Funny, easy to read, and a good illustration of how travel becomes a lot more interesting if you look at the people as well as the tourist attractions!

Rating:
Summary: The good and the bad
Review: This is a book I have been meaning to read for quite some time. It was recommended to me by one of my friends who I spent 4 months with in Oxford, England. I don't know what took me so long to finally get to it, but I am glad that I did.

As an American living in England, Bryson is familiar with their culture, their way of life, their idiosyncrasies. His descriptions of English manners and formalities are dead-on. He speaks often of the dry wit and humor that he admires so much in the English people; Bryson himself is a master of this, making me laugh out loud with his summaries and interactions.

This truly is an "affectionate" portrait of Britain, as the book is subtitled. Part travel-narrative, part memoir, "Notes From a Small Island" gives the good along with the bad. As Bryson ruminates between his recent travels along Britian to memories of past trips/his experiences living there, he offers what he loves and loathes about the nation he has come to call home and will miss when he returns to his native land. He speaks with admiration and enthusiasm on the vast number of treasures and historical sites the English have in such a small area, yet many of these have been neglected when they should be revered.

Bryson's final tour around Britian before heading back to America, takes him to some typical tourist destination cities, but he offers an insider's view of places the average tourist may never encounter. As someone who has lived in England, it is usually the places off the beaten track that are the best places to visit. I miss it almost as much as Bryson.

Rating:
Summary: Fallen for Britain
Review: Bill Bryson's: "Notes from a Small Island" are about an American's love of Britain. After having lived and worked (!) in Britain for twenty years and immediately before going back to the US, Bryson embarks on a last trip around the enchanted island. His aim is to search for the true origin of his deep affection. What he finds is a country which most British people themselves have already written off. However, those of us who believe that despite all its potential insufficiencies this Britain, an enchanted and blessed island, must still be alive somewhere, will read Bryson's travel account with tremendous relief. "This Britain is still there", is the message of the book though it is not the Britain of imperial glamour ruling three quarters of the Earth! Bryson does not spare us its unpleasant traits such as the slums in the big cities, decaying seaside resorts, shortages of staple goods on Saturday afternoons and inexplicable railway fares. However, on the other side, it is the Britain of so many pleasant things that make life worth living: cricket matches on Sunday afternoons, village parties in summer, country lanes that "will dance you down to Devon"(Greeba Bridget-Jones in "English Lanes"), to mention only a few examples of why this is still an enchanted island. If most British people really look upon the development of their country in the 20th century as a "chronic failure" as Bryson puts it, then his finds reveal that they are wrong and that their attitude is probably due to a depressive mood resulting from the loss of an empire which they even "dismantled in a generally benign and enlightened way". In considering all the traits of this country whether ugly or pleasant, Bryson proves that his love is genuine. It is a love for better or worse! Therefore, for all of you who like it there too, who "like it more then they can tell", reading the "Notes from a Small Island" is a must and all the others "mustn't grumble!"

Rating:
Summary: Buy it!
Review: So, you've always wanted to visit Britain. You've manfully (or womanfully) ploughed (that's how WE spell it) through many a travel guide and you now know that pubs serve warm beer , the site of every Neolithic pile of stones and that at 4 pm precisely, the entire population stops for a cup of tea. A cup of hot tea at that, with milk if you please. You've gained an insight into the British weather and know to pack clothes to accomodate all four seasons in one day. But what you really need to know is, what makes the people tick?

Enter Bill Bryson and" Notes from a small Island", a must read book for every Britain bound American. With no orderly listing of museum opening times or best ways to get from London to Bath, it's not a travel guide as you know and loath and that is the book's strength. Bryson undertakes a gentle meander around the best and worst of the Island that has become home, interspersing his journey with well observed details of the British character. Its the insight into these characteristics which make the book so funny, so unputdownable and ultimately, so sad as Bryson comes to the end of the journey and his 20 year stay.

Read this book and you will feel that you have already visited Britain and then plan for your own epic journey because that is what you will want to do.

Rating:
Summary: Bill Bryson
Review: WOW!! Bill Bryson did it again. From notes from a small island to notes from a big country. This was amazing. I'm only 11 and usually wouldnt understand this, but it was GREAT. Better than his later book. I'm thinking of getting The lost continent and this book was phenomenal. 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: A fond and funny farewell to a beloved home
Review: --"Notes" discusses Bill Bryson's final trip around Britain, his adopted and beloved homeland of twenty years.
-- On the bright side, the author clearly shows why he regards Britain so highly. As he puts it, few other places have such charming and concentrated excellence, and in many ways it's as good as it gets. The Brits often have an attractive outlook on life which resembles their sense of humor (there's no great sense in being rushed or keeping a self-centered attitude, it's bad form to curse long lines or other annoyances, and what is most obvious can often be appreciated the most dearly). Many observations (such as why driving in Britain seems so evil, why Communism might have flourished there, or how Wigan escaped the dreadfulness of post-War city planning) were superbly funny and well worth the read.
-- On the perhaps not-so-bright side, the author often seems to pass from wry humor into a grating snideness, and his observations often seem so overwhelmingly mood-dependent that they lack the objectivity, cheerfulness, and professional touch that distinguishes other fine humor and travel writing. For example, his chapter on Durham and the artists of Ashington brings us to the heights of joyfulness and contentment, but then he spoils this buoyant chapter by banally concluding that Brits watch too many Cagney and Lacey re-runs. Well, such is life, sometimes.
-- This is, nevertheless, a wonderfully amusing book and I never found myself bored. The author seems at his best when he isn't in a foul mood, and when he thoughtfully interprets his observations.
-- I'd certainly recommend it to anyone wanting an amusing read or a decent perspective on a decent island.

Rating:
Summary: An insight in to the British psyche
Review: Being British I can connect to the things Bryson is talking about but please don't see this as a whining travelogue or a book of constant moaning.
The insights that the author gives are so true I felt myself thinking 'How did he know that?'

The destruction of architecture is a subject local newspapers take up resulting in great support and often a decline in planning applications by big corporate companies. Our country is so small that every town is starting to look like every other.
I live near Durham city, mentioned in the book, and it is regarded as a beautiful place due mainly to the good sense of the city planners in banning plate glass and insisting on traditional shop fronts.

It is perfectly true that all British people talk about the weather, sad I know, but true. And yes we do see two inches of snow as a catastrophe-it makes headline news with strap lines such as 'The Big Freeze', I kid you not!

The daft place names? We have a place called Hell, how daft is that?

I think, rather than moaning, Bryson is picking out the good parts of Britain as well as campaigning for people to do something about the bad aspects.

How many times does he say 'I just love that?' Royal Mail, BBC radio, the people who get up at 4am to catch a train to go shopping ( the Inverness - Glasgow line), the wit of employees who give you free groceries but charge £100s for a plastic bag to put them in. I think he is showing admiration in huge amounts here.

The bits he grunts over are bits we British all moan about - especially the lady who sorts her purse out at the checkout, or Mrs Smegma in the boarding house - believe me these people DO exist.
As for the railways, EVERYONE in Britain agrees that they are rubbish - the government should never have sold them off, they are a complete shambles. I'm starting to rant here but do you know it can take commuters 3 hours to get to London from the Home counties, a distance of around 50 miles.

I agree toilet humour plays a part but not a big part, most of the wit is subtle and very funny. The scene in the Scottish woollen shop had me cracked up but the main humour comes from observational comedy. I found the checkout scene hilarious because it's true, the scene in the restaurant where he leaves a 'minted'coin is having a dig at the pretentiousness of the situation, again side splitting because it's reality and we can recognise the absurdity of it.

Rather than moaning I feel Bryson has given the world, especially the British themselves, a very valuable look into the minds of peole who live on this small island.

Oh and it's absolutely hilarious as well.

Rating:
Summary: Ooh lovely, a cup of tea
Review: Brilliant, observant, hilarious and touching. I laughed out loud and was in tears at the end. His descriptions are so perfect that I was homesick by page 5. All the things we do and take for granted became strangely obscure when seen from a "foreigner's" point of view. It made me yearn for the simple life of long, windy, wet walks and a pint of beer up the pub, not to mention a thermos of tea and a biscuit loyally carried to a remote spot looking over the patchwork landscape. I could see it, I could smell it and I could taste it.

Rating:
Summary: Loses something for those of us on the left side of the pond
Review: As an American, and an avid fan of Bryson's style, I picked up the book eagerly anticipating his usual hijinks and humor. While it was all there, I am afraid that a lot of the quality of the humor falls into the category of "this is really funny if you already know about it". Having only been to England for a short period of time, I am not particularly familiar with the quirks of English living, and while I enjoyed reading about them, this book didn't resonate with me in the way that The Lost Continent did.

Beyond that, Bryson's style is as clever and witty as ever. After I finished this book, I realized that Bryson had written a travel guide of sorts that represented almost an anti-Rick Steeves approach, in that Bryson's backstories are always filled with eccentricity and humor. In planning my next trip to England, I'll certainly use this as a reference book for interesting things that might otherwise go overlooked.

Not being an Englishman myself, I can't comment on how accurate anything that Bryson wrote is, but I can recommend it as a book that will point out just how different our American culture has grown from the Mother Country's. By the same token, you Brits reading this should pick up a copy of The Lost Continent to have a similar experience Bryson-style.