Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe | Bill Bryson

Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe | Bill Bryson | with dry/goofball/neurotic humor, this democratically makes fun of all cultures

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Neither Here nor T...

	Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe Bill Bryson Harper Perennial, 1999 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 169 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Almost unbearably funny

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.

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with dry/goofball/neurotic humor, this democratically makes fun of all cultures

While Bryson does offer some historical context for the places he travels (especially in relation to WW II), whether you like this book or not depends far more on your sense of humor. There's very little dialogue and almost no social interaction outside of Bryson dealing with travel logistics- getting bus tickets, checking into hotels, ordering dinner. Personally, though, his dry/goofball/neurotic sense of humor made me laugh out loud time after time, and I found myself more surprised during short passages where he was relatively serious than the relentless humor. Only if you're obsessed with political correctness, he may offend you, but he is democratic in his targets, and even pokes fun at himself (for example, describing his temper tantrum in Sweden after having to pay for a failed phone call).

Some specific examples include him describing the cow as the perfect pet, a slapstick scene involving the meatballs rolling out of his sandwich ("like sailors abandoning a burning ship"), a woman on the train who "looked as if she hadn't smiled since 1937 and who spent the entire journey watching me as if she had seen my face on a wanted poster", and another train ride when he was "spreading out the map on my knees in its full crinkly glory, to the undisguised irritation of the old lady next to me, who hoomphed her bosom and made exasperated noises every time a corner of paper waggled in her direction."

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Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe

Having been in a few places in Europe, I can relate to what Bill Bryson is talking about. But if I had never been, I still could relate. His humour, the way he has of connecting past musings with his present surroundings is skillful and funny. I sit by myself and giggle at the way he takes a thought and stretches it like PlaDoh into a ridiculous mental play with him playing the star fool. He does not spare himself and he does not disappoint. We are entirely there with him. A wonderful read.

The perenially likeable Bryson does it again

An account of the author's rambles across Europe. Bryson is always entertaining, and his writing alternates from downright hilarious to the point of absurdity to dealing with some very sobering statistics. This is a wonderful mix and he's a very gifted writer whose works sound like a really great story you once heard from a friend.

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