In a Sunburned Country
by Bill Bryson
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Book Reviews of In a Sunburned Country
Book Review: Entertaining, but Bryson is mellowing a little
Summary: 4 Stars
Bryson made his name with "The Lost Continent", possibly the funniest grouchy travel book ever written. All his books since then have been worth reading, though they vary in quality: "A Walk in the Woods" was unusually thoughtful (and very good), but by and large he became famous as the champion of the cutting remark and the unkind anecdote."In a Sunburned Country" shows him mellowing a little. He still has a penchant for visiting odd things and places, and bumping into strange people -- giant earthworms, a town called Tittybong, and the proprietor of the Lambing Flat museum all come to mind -- but he's nice about them. It's an odd thing to say if you're used to reading Bryson, but this book is a traditional travelogue.
It's still entertaining. Bryson is a good writer, and there is so much in Australia to write about -- aborigines, myxomatosis, Ayers Rock, the Great Barrier Reef, and a huge array of lethal wildlife, some of which he comes a little too close to for comfort. He does a good job of summing up history and adding a dollop of what's going on today, and he conveys a good sense of place. Occasionally the old caustic note comes through again, when he recounts the story of a self-important early Australian administrator, or has a hard time finding decent food in Canberra, but it's no longer the dominant note in the book.
I can still recommend this as a fine travel book. Classic Bryson it isn't, though; so if you're a Bryson fan you may be a little disappointed.
Book Review: A fascinating, and often humorous, look at Australia
Summary: 4 Stars
Although Bill Bryson is fond of detailing the myriad ways the Australian wild can maim or kill, the overall effect of his excellent travelogue is to increase his readers' affection for the country and its people. This book is well-written, loaded with interesting facts, and often incredibly funny.
While the author's travels include the major coastal cities, much of his time is spent crisscrossing the vast, empty tracts of land that make up most of the continent. He visits remote outback settlements and obscure museums rarely frequented by other tourists. As interesting as Sydney is, small towns such as White Cliffs, where the dwellings are dug into the hills, are Australia's true gems.
Among the most rewarding aspects of the book is the rich historical context provided by Bryson. Australia's unique and colorful past includes its days as a penal colony, a veritable plague of rabbits, and more than a few ill-fated exploring expeditions. When the narrator visits Canberra he not only describes his experiences in the modern metropolis, but also how and why the nation's capital ended up, literally, in the middle of nowhere. The additional information sheds a great deal of light on modern day Australia.
In a Sunburned Country is a very enjoyable read regardless of whether or not you plan to visit the land down under. While it won't replace a guide from Fodor's or Lonely Planet, it is immensely more entertaining and leaves you far better acquainted with this fascinating place.
Book Review: Too Rushed
Summary: 4 Stars
Once again Bryson has produced a frothy, lightweight, amusing, and eminently readable travelogue-albeit one that feels a bit rushed (perhaps in order to get out in time for the Sydney Olympics?). Having now read four of his books, I find that Bryson is at his best when he's on a fixed agenda, such as in A Walk In the Woods or Neither Here Nor There, rather than grand tours such as this and Notes From A Small Island. Bryson's approach to Australia is to go arrive with a pile of books and combine a route which allows him to hit all the major attractions for a day with a schedule that allows him few digressions. He's a big fan (as am I) of walking around to get a sense of a place, frequenting pubs, museums, and used bookstores. Armed with smidgens of history and awfully interesting biology factoids, his constant sense of wonder at Australia is bound to send oodles of tourists there in the coming years. What's lacking is any sense of the Australian people, other than general impressions, since he rarely interacts with them except in service situations. And while he gives a synopsis of the mistreatment of Aborigines, and concludes that they've been hard done by, they never show up as people in his travels. This is rather like the entire book actually, brief impressions that often exhibit genuine insight (often combined with affection and amusement) despite fleeting contact, but no real depth. Still, there are plenty of great discoveries within its pages (I especially liked the 12-foot long earthworms).Book Review: Bryson's A Great Guide
Summary: 5 Stars
Bryson delivers the world's biggest, best kept secret in IN A SUNBURNED COUNTRY. Australia is a truly miraculous place. This is a country where a prime minister impetuously dives into the water while strolling on the beach with colleagues, never to be seen again, where the world's most lethal and otherwise poisonous species are concentrated in mind boggling numbers above and beyond the rest of the planet, where the ecosystem is the most diverse of any, where the ores and minerals have yet to be tapped for anything near their full potential, where the features of the landscape vary dramatically, with no look-alikes anywhere else. The world's largest living organism is there-the Great Barrier Reef; also, the world's oldest living organisms, stromatolites. It is the last continent to be colonized by Europeans, and then it was used as a penal colony at first, and as a nation it is barely a century old. It was been the scene of wretched racism and maltreatment of natives; more recently, it has chosen to throw the doors open to all nationalities. And does any of this make it to American news media? Noooo. There's lots to learn from this country and Bryson is an informative guide. In the manner honed in his earlier travel books, he imparts an amazing amount of information thoughtfully, in graceful, witty prose that evokes all the eccentricities and ironies of this mysterious, ancient place. Bryson is happy to tell the jokes, but in the end, he is much happier imparting the wonder.Book Review: Read this book on my way to Australia
Summary: 5 Stars
I was on a cruise from San Francisco to Australia and received a Kindle for Christmas from my daughter. I thought I should know something about the country so I typed in Australia on Amazon's website and found a few gems. Best of all was Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country." It was enjoyable from the moment I began and quite informative. We were going to some of the places Bryson visited: Sydney, Adelaide, Alice Springs and Uluru (via the Ghan) and Cairns. Having read about his experiences made me want to see the places he mentioned and also made me wary of spider webs, lizards, jellyfish in the waters off the reef etc. I was constantly reading aloud many humorous passages to my traveling companion. The parts of Australia that we visited were magnificent, and his book gave me a greater appreciation and background for them. I want to go back and see the places we missed.
We seem to gravitate to Australians when we travel. On a visit to Europe the year before we met an Australian couple and spent our first weekend after the cruise with them at their home south of Sydney. We had a great time and they were fantastic hosts. We truly enjoyed all the Australians we met on our trip, especially on the Ghan (train) where you really have time to sit and chat (23 hours). I love their friendliness and lay-back attitudes. I got the feeling that Australians like Americans and the feeling is definitely mutual on our part.
Read Bryson's book and visit Australia.