Notes From A Small Island

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It's a hit!

Much like "In a Sunburned Country," this book is a wholly pleasant read. "Pleasant" repeatedly ends up being the word I use to describe Bryson's wr... (show more)

Much like "In a Sunburned Country," this book is a wholly pleasant read. "Pleasant" repeatedly ends up being the word I use to describe Bryson's writing. He has a delightful way with language that regularly leaves me smiling. I did not find "Notes from a Small Island" to be laughably funny like "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid," but Bryson did a nice job prompting fond memories from my time in England and Scotland.

There are two components of this book that I find particularly enjoyable. First, I appreciate Bryson's ability to capture the polite civility of the culture. His description seems very much in line with my experiences, and it is always gratifying to have your own memories affirmed. Second, Bryson does a very nice job portraying the rich history that permeates throughout Great Britain. There is something startling to drive through London and find a structure built by the Romans in 190. Numbers like that look silly, but Great Britain’s history certainly has incredible depth that Bryson describes with pleasure.

My only criticism is that the book became a bit repetitive by the end. I think that would be more problematic for someone who has not yet visited Great Britain, but I had my own memories to supplement the text. “Notes from a Small Island” is a simply an agreeable and worthwhile read. (show less)

 

 

by Nathan Eberline

No, it's a flop!

By no means Bryson's best effort (nowhere near as interesting, for instance, as "Neither Here Nor There"). A quick read, but devoid of any original... (show more)

By no means Bryson's best effort (nowhere near as interesting, for instance, as "Neither Here Nor There"). A quick read, but devoid of any original thinking on the Enlglish and English culture. It seems that after about 20 years of living in England, Bryson felt he had to write SOMETHING about the experience...perhaps it was too soon; maybe he needed some time, some distance. The narrative is plodding, dull, and full of "I went here on the train...and then went there...and eventually slept here...and then I ate there, etc." Simply doesn't measure up to his usual wit. His obvious appreciation of all things British (he also visits Wales and Scotland) seems genuine, and at times, even touching. But beyond that, the book falls flat. He devotes too much time to a banal description of his immediate surroundings, and not enough to reflectiing on and sharing why this culture matters to him. Susan Allen Toth's travel writing on England is much more insightful, more thoughtful. Bryson is a fine travel writer, but this is a sub-par effort. (show less)

 

 

by John Novick

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  It took me a really long time to read this book, because it is sort of boring. The good parts are the usual funny Bryson stuff, the rest is just sort of there. He obviously likes Great Britain quite a bit, but only the parts he lives in. Also, way too much bitching about modern architecture. I get it, Bryson doesn't like it when modern stuff screws up the aesthetics of olde England. But seriously does he have to mention it in every single freaking chapter? That said I look forward to reading ... (show more)

  It took me a really long time to read this book, because it is sort of boring. The good parts are the usual funny Bryson stuff, the rest is just sort of there. He obviously likes Great Britain quite a bit, but only the parts he lives in. Also, way too much bitching about modern architecture. I get it, Bryson doesn't like it when modern stuff screws up the aesthetics of olde England. But seriously does he have to mention it in every single freaking chapter? That said I look forward to reading another of his books. Possibly In a Sunburned Country or From Here to There. But right now I am just going to type and see if I can fill out the rest of this to get to the super review. Only 17 more words and I am there. I don't have much else to say about Mr. Bryson. I just didn't think this was his best effort. (show less)

   

  by Facebook-användare on Oct 21, 2009 at 02:20PM

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  I have finished NOTES from a SMALL ISLAND for the second time---and parts of it for the third and fourth---and I still find it hilarious. Before I had ever been to the UK I laughed from start to finish; now that I have spent 12 months here, I find it still funny, and now I understand much better this small island of which he writes.
  We have both visited some of the same places, albeit years apart, and I share quite closely some of his reactions. (Although I liked the Cotswolds more than he.)... (show more)

  I have finished NOTES from a SMALL ISLAND for the second time---and parts of it for the third and fourth---and I still find it hilarious. Before I had ever been to the UK I laughed from start to finish; now that I have spent 12 months here, I find it still funny, and now I understand much better this small island of which he writes.
  We have both visited some of the same places, albeit years apart, and I share quite closely some of his reactions. (Although I liked the Cotswolds more than he.) It is fun to see his take on, for example, Stonehenge, which was identical to mine: "Impressive as Stonehenge is, there comes a time somewhere about eleven minutes after your arrival when you realize you've seen pretty well as much as you care to, and you spend another forty minutes walking around the perimeter rope looking at it out of a combination of politeness [and] embarrassment."
  Bryson has a political agenda and he occasionally whinges and even rants about such things as the disappearing hedgerows. Hundreds of thousands of miles of hedgerows have been rooted out since WW II, and he does not see it as progress. Likewise, he laments the ruination of so many High Streets in every part of England: "Upstairs the structure was half timbered and quietly glorious; downstairs, between outsized sheets of plate glass . . . the facade had been tiled--TILED--with a mosaic of little multi-toned squares that looked as if they had been salvaged from a King's Cross toilet. It was just awful."
  In my own travel blogs I can only wish I had Bryson's subtle sense of humour. Describing the same "holiday hell" caravan parks I saw in North Wales, he writes of them as an "odd type of holiday option: sleeping in a lonesome field miles from anywhere in a climate like Britain's and emerging each morning with hundreds of other people from identical tin boxes, crossing the rail line and dual carriageway and hiking over a desert of sinkholes in order to dip your toes in a distant sea full of Liverpool turds."
  Bryson and I liked some of the same places very much: Llandudno on beautiful Colwyn Bay, which he saw as a "fine and handsome place" with its "nice old-fashioned air." He also liked Edinburgh as much as I did: "Can there anywhere be a more beautiful and beguiling city to arrive at by train early on a crisp, dark Novembery evening? To emerge from the bustling subterranean bowels of Waverly Station and find yourself in the very heart of such a glorious city is a happy experience indeed."
  And I know very well why he liked Inverness; he noticed the "adorably over-the-top nineteenth century sandstone castle on a hill, some splendid river walks" along the River Ness. . . . "Above all, Inverness has an especially fine river, green and sedate and charmingly overhung with trees, lined on one side by big houses [and] trim little parks. . . . Nearly all the houses on both sides of the river were rambling places built for an age of servants. What, I wondered, had brought all this Victorian wealth to Inverness, and who supported these handsome heaps today?"
  Well, at least I can answer part of his question: one or two now house upscale restaurants and many of the others are well kept B&B's, one of which we stayed in last autumn, enjoying the same peacefull walk along Ness Side.
  NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND is vintage Bryson and I love it. He thinks much like I think and appreciates the same things I enjoy. I don't think you need to come here to appreciate his book, but doing so enriches both experiences. (show less)

   

  by Facebook-användare on Jul 31, 2009 at 07:01PM

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