In a Sunburned Country
by Bill Bryson
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Book Reviews of In a Sunburned Country
Book Review: The Best Travel Book Ever
Summary: 5 Stars
To start this book, Bill Bryson is landing in Sydney, Australia. He remembers how much he loves Australia, and can't wait to start his journey. For most of the first third of the book he visits the major populated areas. Throughout this portion and the rest of the book, he peppers the text with little facts here and there to keep you attentive. He elaborates on some of these facts and tells stories in some parts. While in the populated areas of Australia, he mentions a lot of great things to do that aren't always common knowledge among tourists. For example, he visits the most filmed and photographed bar in Australia. It is in Cook. A town named after Australia's equivalent to Christopher Columbus. Also he visits a large casino to discover Australia is the world's largest gambler. "Australia has less than 1 percent of the world's population, but more than 20 percent of its slot machines."
After he is through with the populated areas, he moves on to the less populated and lesser known areas. These are actually where the most interesting things are. He drives everywhere except for a short spat on The India Pacific train. The places he visits are few and far between so to fill the boring time while he is driving, he tells many stories about Australia and its rich and entertaining history. A quick example is how one of the Prime ministers of Australia just disappeared one day after he was caught by the undertow while walking the beach and dragged out to sea. The two most interesting parts of the trip occur in the unpopulated "bush" as the outback is known. They are when he visits Ayers Rock, a historic megalith worshipped by the Aborigines, and a living culture of Stromatolites. Stromatolites are the most primitive living things on earth.
What I love about this book is how Bill Bryson is just so average. He seems like a regular guy. I can relate to him. He is just hilarious. He isn't afraid to make fun of anything, not even the National Anthem of Australia. Plus he gives a great insight into what Australia has to offer. Think of what I've already mentioned and that isn't even including what he had to say about the Great Barrier Reef.
The only thing I didn't like, was that despite his wit and humor, it got slow at some spots. It was just slightly boring when he elaborated too much on something I didn't care much about. But that only happened rarely, and didn't take away from the book.
Overall, I love this book. I'm going to Australia this summer and hope to see some of the things that I read about. I would recommend this book to anyone. To be honest though it probably isn't for younger kids, due to some adult language. I must say this is the best travel book I have ever read. It is also a great book to read even if you aren't planning on going to Australia.
Book Review: Bryson at his best and worst
Summary: 3 Stars
As a fellow author---though I'd never be arrogant enough to include that in my user name---I have a love/hate relationship with Bill Bryson. I love reading about travel, and overall, though he is an angry hippie, he does write about interesting places, mixing in history, which is what I want to read about when perusing travel.
In this work, Bryson disucsses a lot about the Aussie history. That was pleasant to learn. Australia, a land of mostly good folks who understand their role in the world and, thanks to the great prime minister now fighting for re-election, recognize good and evil, unlike Eurabia and many other place. Bryson notes a lot of this and paints a stellar picture of the nation/island.
But....as usual, Bill runs into two problems:
1. Despite what some other reviewers say, the book is too long. I'm all for depth, but you lose your readers by penning a book of nearly 300 pages when it could be 200-250 like your others, Bill. Wordiness is okay, but some of the chapters could be half as long.
2. I know I am one of the few travel readers/writers, who is not a self-loathing, white guilt-laden leftist, but I don't need Bill to whine about the Aborigines. Surely they deserve mention, and the first few pages of Chapter 13's historical background is fine, but I didn't need the usual Bryson social commentary whereupon he bemoans past imperialism/colonialism and tries to act as a spokesperson for people he really could care less about. Then he spends page after page whining about the lack of coverage of the Myall Creek Massacre, even going so far as to bemoan a Memorial to the Two World Wars (tens of millions died in these wars to save humanity after all), instead of Myall Creek...where 28 aborigines were sadly murdered. More folks are murdered in a month in Detroit, Bill, you apologist. Thankfully, Bill found some lunatic reporter to talk with. 28 people no civilization has ever admired dying is clearly more important to him than real battles for freedom in Eurabia. (For the record, a google search in our white guilt, PC world of 2007, turns up hundreds of articles about the Myall Creek Massacre.)
Let's be honest though; this is what lefties, profs, etc do best. We can find enough of that in hippie books and college classrooms. in Bill's world and theirs, it's all about white guilt tripping over past racial injustice. Dark skinned individuals are presumed victims of Western imperialism. They have essentially a blank check to do anything they wish. The West is evil. We are allegedly the scum of the Earth.
That's what will always irk me about Bryson. Aussies deserve better.
Book Review: Excellent! Get this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Speaking as an American who moved to Australia a year ago to live and work, I was instantly curious about this book after a friend recommended it to me. I thought it might be interesting to read another American's perspective on what it's like to experience this far away country that I've decided to call home.First off, let me say that this book is an extremely easy and entertaining read from cover to cover and I never wanted to put it down. Bryson has a great writing style and he has a way of making you feel as if you're right there along side him as he travels the country, exploring the countryside and it's people. He travels far beyond the traditional tourists spots that most visiting Americans stick to when coming to Australia on vacation - namely Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Gold Coast, although his passages on these places are just insightful and funny as anything else in the book.
Bryson obviously did his research when he gets into the history behind these far flung places that dot the landscape of this vast country. He never bores you, and he has written a book that seemlessly blends historical fact with observational humor and brutally honest storytelling. I found myself nodding and laughing out loud at so many of his observations about the people, having experienced so many of the same things firsthand when I first arrived here.
I feel the Bryson hits the nail right on the head when he speaks of Australia as being a place where interesting things happen all the time.I agree wholeheartedly with him that it's unfortunate that this country 'down under' seems to go largely unnoticed by the rest of the world.
This book will give you more insight into Australia then any garden variety travel book. This book has heart, humor, and brutal honesty (the latter being what most standard travel books lack. They want to make you think that every single place in a country is worth your time).
If you've ever been curious about Australia I highly recommend this book. If you plan on visiting Australia in the future this book is definitely a must have. It will make you wish you were in Australia that much more. It truly is a special place and Bryson's book conveys this brilliantly.
To quote an excerpt:
"Australia is mostly empty and a long way away. It's population is small and it's role in the world consequently peripheral. It doesn't have coups, recklessly overfish, arm disagreeable despots, grow coca in provocative quantities or throw it's weight around in a brash and unseemly manner. It is stable and peaceful and good. It doesn't need watching, and so we don't. But I will tell you this. The loss is entirely ours."
Book Review: Land Down Under
Summary: 4 Stars
Bill Bryson has one of the most enjoyable voices in travel writing specifically and non-fiction writing overall. He takes his research seriously but presents his experiences in a light-hearted, self-effacing manner, which bothers some people. I know, for instance, several friends of mine who are avid hikers thoroughly detested Bryson's A Walk In The Woods because he didn't approach hiking the Appalachian Trail with the proper seriousness. But I think that's the point of Bryson's travel writing -- he is NOT the expert, he's the average guy who goes out there, experiences something, falls in love with it or not.
Here, he gets the point across that Australia is endlessly fascinating, endlessly dangerous, endlessly friendly, and endlessly ignored, with chapters dedicated to each region of the continent as he explores them on several different trips. He weaves the history of Australia the continent, and Australia the nation, into each section rather than lumping it all at the beginning; he does likewise with the nature segments. Bryson doesn't pretend to be either a natural scientist or a mathematician, although he brings those subjects into his work. His love for Australia shines through most of the book, even when he is painfully admitting he has no idea how to solve the problem of the still large separation between the white population and the Aborigines.
Of course it wouldn't be a Bryson book without some travel mishaps, although here they are largely of the "took a wrong road, forgot to book a hotel room" type and nothing really life threatening.
The edition I read had been updated with Bryson's reports from the Sydney Olympics, more fun reading as he picks apart American journalists' obvious lack of understanding about Australia, and how easily even veteran writers latch onto the classic Aussie stereotypes. Then again, Bryson indulges in at least one stereotype of his own: the always happy, always accommodating Australian. Almost anyone Bryson mentions in the book as having a negative personality end up being foreigners like himself; I can only think of one instance where he talks about negative or rude Australians, and they all seem to work at one particular hotel and reside in one particular city. I find that to be a bit of a stretch.
But again, Bryson's voice and obvious love for his subject make the book fun to read and fairly informative considering it is one man's travelogue rather than a history text.
Book Review: Delightfully presented and truly informative - quite funny!
Summary: 5 Stars
First and foremost, this is a fun book to read. It is funny, informative, insightful, and yet sincere enough that you can forgive him longing for a sunset over the Pacific which is, of course, impossible in New South Wales; ah well ...
I knew nothing about Bill Bryson until a friend of mine loaned me this book. My friend assures me that all of Bryson's writing is of this caliber and just as much fun. It seems likely that this is true.
From 1973-75 I was fortunate enough to live in Queensland and this book resonates well with my experiences from so long ago, if nicely updated. Australians (Aussies - pronounced Auzzies - NOT! with an s sound) are simply wonderful people. I am glad the Bryson points out their openness and friendly exuberance. He was fortunate enough to travel throughout the continent while I lived in a few towns up and down the coast of a really delightful place.
Queenslanders are usually and falsely cast as backward or "mad as cut snakes" (as they are here). Queensland itself is often referred to in a patronizing way, for example, being given the nickname "Cinderella state". But my experience of it was not like that at all. Yes, the more rural places lacked the infrastructure of urban places (as do all rural spaces - it is sort of the definition isn't it?) and in 1973 Brisbane was still a smallish city and felt it. But when I was able to travel there in 1995 on business, Brisbane had become a gleaming and very modern city. And in New South Wales, Sydney is utterly beautiful with delights all around you.
Anyway, Bryson gives you the flavor of many places in this vast continent (it is bigger than the 48 states of the US). He specializes in the out of the way, but manages to find things that really do tie into the history and fabric of the place. Bryson has a real talent for this and makes it all seem easy and light, but it is hard work to write like that.
I recommend this book highly to everyone who is thinking of visiting this wonderful place and to everyone who wishes they could get there. Heck, even to those who know nothing of the place and think they might like to learn something more than kangaroos and koalas!
It is a breezy read that you can get through rather quickly while learning more than you suspect. Beware, you might have to learn to turn pages while wiping tears of laughter from your eyes.