Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe
by Bill Bryson
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Book Reviews of Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe
Book Review: Reader beware
Summary: 1 Stars
After the author began bragging about his lack of foreign language knowledge, I recognized a familiar type of traveller - opinionated, not interested in learning other peoples culture, ready for derision. That exactly what this book is about: derision and labeling of peoples and cities. Too bad, a city cannot sue for libel! That's Bill Bryson's characteristic of a wonderful German city of Cologne bustling with life, very comfortable to live, with beautiful scenery, lots of public spaces, museums, a famous opera, etc.: "Cologne is a dismal place, with its Cathedral occupying a huge ugly square similar to an empty parking lot". (something like that - I listened to an audio version). Bill Bryson is so sensitive - he left Cologne in disgust after a night stay since he happened to find a pornographic shop at the train station! How ironic - considering that his book is a fine example of pornographic writing - sexual remarks in bad taste on each page. He described a bad travel companion who annoyed him by categorizing his farts - I can describe his book instead as a collection of verbal farts. Who is it written for? I can imagine someone who hates travelling (especially because of all those foreign languages), so he enjoys Bill Brysons book, and thinks: "How wonderful this guy saved me the trouble of seeng all those disgusting European places, with all those French and Germans who want me to obey their stupid rules!". But someone who is open minded and curious please don't trust this bunch of lies and distastful jokes. Go and see by yourself, or read Mark Twain if you want a funny travel book.Book Review: Neither brilliant nor dismal
Summary: 4 Stars
Bill Bryson's "Neither Here Nor There" is another great travelogue from one of the funniest travel writers out there. The book chronicles Bryson's solo journey through Europe in 1990. He spends most of his time in Western Europe, but also ventures east for brief visits to Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. The chapters are compact. Like most backpackers, Bryson gets footloose after staying in one place for more than a few days, and quickly packs his pen for his next exciting destination.
Many reviewers fault Bryson for being too negative about the people he meets and the places he goes. I don't hold that against him. He's a satirist, who's in his element when exaggerating the foibles of what he discovers. In fact, the funniest vignettes in the book involve his awkward and uncomfortable encounters with all of those smelly, noisy, oh-so-clueless locals. My only complaint is that I wish he had taken it a bit further. I think Bryson was sensitive to being criticized for being too critical. To address that, he throws in far too many "it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen" and "it was the most delicious meal I had ever eaten" to keep the overall tone more or less balanced. Splashes of Rick Steves isn't what I wanted to read.
Perhaps the problem is that Bryson traveled alone. Without his trusty foil, the pseudonymous Stephen Katz, the stories lack that zesty punch that make "A Walk in the Woods" so memorable. But this isn't a major blemish. When it comes to humorous travel writing, there are few who can keep pace with Bryson.
Book Review: Almost unbearably funny
Summary: 5 Stars
Someone once said that you can fake intelligence, but you can't fake wit.
Maybe that's why there are so many books...but so few funny ones.
I for one think the world needs a lot more funny books.
I sometimes get sick of reading analytical nonfiction, sick of reading serious descriptive prose, sick of the things I read always demanding something from me, whether its my earnest attention or my logic and reasoning.
Sometimes, I just want to read something that will make me laugh.
That's when I'm grateful for Bill Bryson.
This guy is hilarious.
Forget how cranky and irritable his writing makes him seem, forget his biases, forget that the subjects of his books sometimes seem like little more than loose structures built solely to be ornamented by jokes, forget that his book jackets always mention that he's one of Newsweek's celebrated "boomers," forget all that.
Instead, just read his work, and take careful note at the number of times you have trouble breathing due to how hard you're laughing, at the number of times someone asks you if you're okay because they're not quite sure if you--you with the book over there--are laughing or sobbing, at the number of times you almost wake up the sleeping person next to you with your uncontrollable guffawing.
This book has little more going in the way of plot than the loose story of Bill Bryson traveling aimlessly around Europe, but it is funny. Hilarious.
If you have any sense of humor at all, you will laugh at it, I can almost guarantee it.
Book Review: The Gospel of Bill...
Summary: 5 Stars
Last fall, as a 21 year-old college student in his final year, I started pondering what to do with that ludicrous accumulation of wealth that all university students find upon graduation. Lies, actually: I scraped together the best I could and bought a ticket for London. A pair of "Let's Go" guides accompanied me for practical reasons, but Neither Here Nor There was my travel bible, my Psalms, as it were. I read it that Fall of '07 and it inspired me to take the trip in ways that no other source had. It revealed to me that even travel hardships can result in the most absurdly funny, cherished stories.
His ascerbic wit goes gangbusters on the little quirks of the Continental, from country to hilarious country. I partially molded my trip to make sure I checked out some of his destinations--they were that well-described.
Interestingly enough, I found him to be dead-on in some countries/cities, and WAY off the mark in others. One of his most memorable anecdotes comes out of backwoods Austria. I happened to find the same people to be the kindest, most hospitable of my whole 14-country trip. But the laughs I had over that chapter, and the inspiration to camp out under the Tyrolean night sky, paid dividends. So what if his descriptions aren't cookie-cutter and unfailing? No two travel experiences are the same, and God forbid they ever will be.
Read this book. You'll shoot (insert beverage here) through your nose laughing and develop an ache to see Europe. Prost, Bill.
Book Review: A funny way to improve your cultural knowledge
Summary: 4 Stars
In his book "Neither here nor there" Bill Bryson writes about the experiences he made when he was travelling through nearly the whole of Europe, fluent in only one language (which is English). He starts in Hammerfest, Norway (as far north as you can get in the world by public means of transport, he says), goes to Paris, Brussels, Belgium, Aachen and Cologne in Germany, then on to Amsterdam, Hamburg in Germany again, Copenhagen in Denmark, then onto Sweden (Gothenburg and Stockholm), then down to Rome, then to southern Italy (Naples, Capri and Sorrento), up to the top (Milan, Como), through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Yugoslavia, Sofia in Bulgaria, and finally Istanbul.
As you can see, by reading this book you'll learn a lot about European countries with their different languages, customs, habits and ways of life. But this isn't one of those boring highbrow books, that you can't read without falling asleep - no! - once you start reading you can't stop. Bryson has a unique brand of humour that I personally like very much. He is able to crack jokes about any situation, no matter how hopelessly and unpleasing they might have been.
Especially as an European citizen you'll have a lot of fun because you recognize all the stereotypes that you know either from telling or personal experience. And be prepared for some nasty jokes about your compatriots!
All in all I can highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to get to know European countries in an amusing and interesting way.