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Notes from a Small Island (平装)
by Bill Bryson
| Category:
Travel, Travel writing, Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 158.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Beautifully and intelligently written and thoroughly enjoyable, this book is a typical Bryson read and a must for Britain bound. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 11 items |
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Ottawa Citizen (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
The funniest book I read this year – winded by its humor, tears on the cheeks. |
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Winnipeg Free Press (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Bryson is first and foremost a storyteller – and a supremely comic and original one at that. |
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Kirkus Reviews (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
After two decades as a resident of England, Brysonbids a very fond farewell to that sceptered isle, to that promontory of clotted cream. Before returning to his native America, Bryson launched himself on a seven-week peregrination through the hills and dells, the High Streets and hedgerows of England, Wales, and Scotland. As always, he found most of the towns and the hummocks very much to his liking, indeed. And who wouldn't smile broadly wandering through the environs of Horton in Ribblesdale or Giggleswick or journeying to Milton Keynes (which is, be assured, a place, not an economist)? The main trick to successful hiking, the author knows, is to take a bus or train or rent a car frequently between the beds and breakfasts - the latter being full English and full cholesterol. Of course, not all he encountered was wonderful. "Bradford's role in life,'' he notes, "is to make every place else look better in comparison, and it does this very well.'' "Blackpool's Illuminations,'' he says, "are nothing if not splendid, and they are not splendid.'' British Rail and the ubiquitous Marks & Spencer are not favorites, either. Bryson also has an eye, unsurpassed by that of Prince Charles himself, for nasty architecture, especially shopping centers. Despite those dark, satanic malls, England delights him. He asks, "can there anywhere on earth be, in such a modest span, a landscape more packed with centuries of busy, productive attainment?'' The spelling is American, the writing is English (fat folk are seen to "Hoover up'' their comestibles), and the wit is genuine. A diverting travel journal, for Anglophiles especially. A short glossary (translating such terms as "knickers,'' "loo,'' and "George Formby'') is provided. A map of the journey (not included) would have been nice, luv. But all in all, a tasty crumpet. |
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Thomas Kehoe (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Bryson's best book is Notes From a Small Island, about traveling in Great Britain. It's one of the funniest books I've read. The British are funny, and Bryson knows them well after living in Britain for 20+ years.
His book about Australia, In a Sunburned Country, is also entertaining. He studied Australian history, met many interesting locals, etc. After reading it, I feel like an expert on Australia and its people.
His book about Europe, Neither Here Nor There, isn't so good. The problem is that he speaks no languages other than English. He didn't talk to anyone on this trip. Without any characters (other than Bryson) the book isn't engaging. The book has only one joke, which he repeats: "The waiter/hotel clerk/taxi driver didn't speak English so I tried to make him understand that I needed..." Some of these moments are quite funny, but they don't constitute a book. Bryson didn't study the places he visits. Unlike the Australian book, you learn almost nothing about the countries he visited.
Bryson's book about America, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, failed to make me laugh. It reads like a series of Erma Bombeck columns. Bryson comments about various aspects of his life in a small town in New England. Not other people's lives, which might have been interesting, but only about his domestic life.
I got only a few chapters into his book about the Appalachian Trail, A Walk in the Woods. I wasn't amused that two people with no backpacking experience would attempt a six-month hike. After several chapters of Bryson repeating one joke - "I know nothing about any of this!" - I stopped reading.
This suggests that the old advice "write about what you know" is worth following. It also made me realize that traveling is only enjoyable if you do two things: meet interesting people, preferably by speaking their language; and studying the area you're visiting. |
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A British reader (MSL quote), UK
<2007-01-04 00:00>
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 100 pennies 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 humor plays a part but not a big part, most of the wit is subtle and very funny. The scene in the Scottish woolen shop had me cracked up but the main humor 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 recognize 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 people who live on this small island. |
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Ian Stewart (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
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 criticizes, applauds or ridicules. I think British life has rubbed off on him, he certainly has a very British sense of humor, 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 travelers 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.
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Jerry Philips (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Travel books can never make every reader happy. The author who undertakes this genre must know (or should know) that, despite all the literary powers possible, he has only an equal chance of satisfying those readers who might have shared his experience. The lovely day the author might have spent in, say Wolver-hamptom, might have been pure and unadulterated hell for the reader. In other words, the personal experience of the author comes face to face with the personal experience of the reader and often are at loggerheads. When an American author with a sincere love of Britain attempts to describe the mannerisms and the scenery of his adopted island divergent opinions (some quite emotional) are sure to surface; it appears that this is especially so with this book.
To be fair to Bryson, this was never anticipated as a travel guide - just a personal self guided farewell tour of the country that he had made his home for over twenty years. Because it is a personal tour, if his remarks tend to be self-centered, a bit querulous, and over critical of British city planners, so be it. Personally, I think that Bryson artfully walks the thin line between too much praise and too much scorn and gives a well balanced account of his subject. Bryson is a fine writer who researches his subject well, possesses a nice concise style and a wonderful sense of humor. Paradoxically, it is this humor which is the greatest strength as well as the greatest weakness of the book. When Bryson is NOT trying to be funny he is hilarious. For example, in the brief little essay on British place names he muses that on his first trip to the island he always wanted to go to Newquay to stock up on postcards because he thought the town was called Nookie. However, when describing his ineptitude with cars he quotes a "question" from an imaginary avid car lover: "[Does your car] have twin overhead cams or double-barreled alternator-cum-carburetor with a full pike and a double-twist dismount?" Pretty lame.
I particularly enjoyed his descriptions and reminiscences of London (especially the Times strike) and his judicious remarks about the Midlands, an area of the island that rarely gets even a hundred words in such books. Also his train trip through North Wales brought back fond memories of the year I was lucky enough to have spent in Harlech. But I was a bit miffed that Bryson spent several chapters describing his walk along the Dorset coast, the same space that he devotes to all of the country north of Manchester - and all that attention to Oxford and just a passing mention of Cambridge! Like I said, a travel writer can't please all his readers.
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J. Bell (MSL quote), UK
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Having discovered Bill Bryson through The Mother Tongue, I was delighted to find that he lived in the UK and had written this book. I read it through in just over 1 day and have seldom enjoyed any book as much. As an immigrant to the UK myself, I found a great deal to enjoy and recognize in his observations if the country and its people. This is the sort of book that will make you laugh out loud and feel compelled to read sections out to your friends and family, so be prepared (and prepare them)! I thoroughly recommend it to anyone intending to travel to the UK, although much of it is out of date and it is not a travelogue, it is beautifully and intelligently written and you will get more out of your trip for reading it. For citizens of the UK, read it - it is first rate and you will find much to enjoy. You will finish the book with a warm and happy feeling in your heart about your country. |
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Joanna Daneman (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Bill Bryson is usually known for books that provoke an uncontrollable urge to laugh out loud while reading them. That's certainly true of A Walk in the Woods where Bryson and a bibulous friend try manfully to hike the Appalachian Trail. It's not so true in Notes from a Small Island.
Bryson doesn't have his hapless friend Katz along on this jaunt, a walking trip through Great Britain. But his sense of humor is intact and his eye sharp for local foibles. My favorite observation was actually his description of the boundless joy the British express when presented with a steaming hot cup of tea. "Ah, lovely..." At the fifth repetition of this, you begin to appreciate Bryson's description of the British people and their funny rules, such as one that applies to public paths (you can cut right through anything that lies on a public way, and Bryson struts through some remarkable places exercising this right.) He takes the predictable potshots at British Rail and the propensity for tearing down quaint buildings and putting up steel and concrete monstrosities, a trait that Americans seem to share with their British progenitors; I myself felt strangely at home in Birmingham - it could have been any American city except for driving on the wrong side of the road.
While this book was not as scream-with-laughter funny as Walk in the Woods, it had its moments. If you are a Bryson fan you might be a bit disappointed as this books is a bit subdued compared to his others. And Katz is nowhere to be found. But if you don't require to be entertained every single page, you probably will find this an amusing book. I did.
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Richard Stoehr (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
This book is a good example of why most people can't write travelogues to save their lives - everything they usually get wrong, Bill Bryson gets it right. In "Notes from a Small Island," he captures the experience of Great Britain, his own unique journey through it, and his own personality equally well. He doesn't infuse the book with so much of himself that it becomes annoying, but just enough to give it character and an honest-to-goodness perspective.
Bryson writes with a sharp wit that is seldom absent, and it's hard to read this book without wanting to laugh out loud and annoy those around you by reading short passages of it to them. He points out some of the absurdities of Great Britain and its people, but is equally unafraid to turn that razor wit against himself and point out that he is no less absurd at times. It's Bryson's sense of humor that makes this book so eminently entertaining, the sort of wit that most writers wish they could attain.
Even so, Bryson has his serious moments too, and he uses them to showcase the Britain he knows and loves in all its understated glory. He's got an admirable eye for detail and an obvious love for the history of the British Isles, and these things exude from every chapter of the book. In his travels across the United Kingdom, Bryson seems to prefer the small places, the places nobody goes much or talks about, places like Weston-super-Mare and Durham and John o'Groats and Bournemouth, and he gives we the readers a delightful look into some of the nooks and crannies in each of these places. To be sure, he visits some of the big cities as well, like Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London of course... but his affections clearly lie in the out-of-the-way places, the ones that maintain a sense of their history and their character.
It seems to me that Notes from a Small Island is an ideal book for both those who have lived in Great Britain and those who have never even been there. For the former, Bryson provides a unique perspective and a clear love for the country, which any resident should be able to appreciate. For the latter, his salient and funny points will help steer you in surprising directions, one which your average tour book wouldn't be able to recommend.
I myself purchased this book while in London, on a two-week holiday in Great Britain with my family. I waited a while after I got back to read it, and when I finally did pick it up I found that it made me yearn to go back even more than I already was. Bryson's descriptions of the land and the people, all the idiosyncrasies that makes Great Britain what it is, and his sense of humor throughout the book, made me miss that place mightily.
It makes me want to go back and see it all again... but this time, like he did. |
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