Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe Review
Travelogues of Europe have been around since the Roman Empire, so if you want your book to attract even the smallest iota of attention, you've got to be either a fantastic writer, or have a startlingly original tale to tell. Bill Bryson knows how to write, and more importantly, how to write a travel journal utterly different from any you've read before.
Mr Bryson's secret is his discovery that, as any journalist will tell you, people aren't all that interested in travel or foreign parts; people are interested in people. And in Neither Here Nor There, the person Mr Bryson gives us is himself, a former newspaper journalist and editor with a taste for neoclassical architecture and draft beer, and a sense of humor that is caustic, expletive-laden, scatological, even prurient at times, but never less than screamingly, hyperventilatingly funny.
It certainly isn't the most complete guide to Europe out there. By his own admission, Mr Bryson's itinerary is impulsive and random rather than methodical. He bypasses Europe's second-largest and most bull-trampled nation, Spain, as well as virtually all of Central and Eastern Europe, though in fairness these countries still lay behind an Iron Curtain that was only just beginning to lift. His 1990 journey starts off in Hammerfest, Norway, to see the northern lights, then skips down to France, and meanders to Turkey via Germany, Sweden, Italy, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, among others.
This route breaks little new ground, though Mr Bryson assuredly deserves kudos for visiting the top of Norway in the depths of winter. He travels mostly by rail, but sets himself no gimmicky limitations, and isn't above jetting off somewhere if the weather proves unappealing. Others may try hiking the continent or roaming it on a unicycle, but Mr Bryson gets around fueled by beer and irritation.
Nor is the book especially informative regarding the things to see and do. Mr Bryson visits the requisite churches and museums, but rarely in elaborate detail, talks to the locals no more than necessary, and seems far more content to simply amble about the neighborhoods and parks and take in the atmosphere. The funniest parts of the book are Mr Bryson's frequent reminiscences of his childhood in Iowa, and of his two previous trips to Europe in 1972 and 1973. Otherwise, the energy of the book comes from Mr Bryson's catalog of complaints, discomforts and misadventures.
This is precisely what makes Neither Here Nor There such a great travel book. Mr Bryson completely strips away the romance of travel, and save Angelina Jolie, none of us look our best naked--especially not if we're still wearing our socks. In his almost masochistically honest account, you feel that Mr Bryson strikes closer to the actual experience of travel rather than the ideal; the frustrations and fatigue, the queues and queue-jumpers, rude waiters and cabbies, small hotel rooms and large restaurant bills. Readers looking for more genteel fare should try Paul Theroux or maybe the adaptations of Michael Palin's BBC voyages (I love the man, but his idea of interview technique is to say "Fantastic, great" to everything).
To be fair, Mr Bryson speaks almost rapturously of some places he visits, such as Copenhagen, Capri and Hamburg. But Mr Bryson the writer is at his best when Mr Bryson the traveler is at his worst. In lesser hands this would come across as mere whingeing, but it's never less than achingly funny to watch Mr Bryson wallow in his own misery.
By now the book is dated, of course, but in a way, this only adds to the enjoyment. Neither Here Nor There forms a neat snapshot of Europe at the end of both the millennium and the cold war. Mr Bryson talks of prices in francs and marks and lire, where now there is only the euro. It is sobering to read of Mr Bryson's stay in Sarajevo, knowing that two years later the city, along with the rest of Yugoslavia, would plunge into a horrific civil war that gave us the term "ethnic cleansing". His time in Sofia, Bulgaria, gives a hint as to why the Communist system collapsed.
His decision to end his "European" voyage in Istanbul raises an issue that is contentious once again. In 2006, Turkey's talks to join the European Union were once again frozen. Where does Europe begin, where does it end? What sets it apart as a distinct region? It's instructive to note how easily Mr Bryson moves about the continent despite knowing, at best, just one language. Neither Here Nor There suggests what binds Europeans together is their ability to embrace travelers to their nations and tenderly, gently, lift the traveler's cheques out of their jacket pockets.
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe Feature
- ISBN13: 9780380713806
- Condition: New
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Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe Overview
Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies -- in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe's most diverting and historic locales. Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies--in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe's most diverting and historic locales.
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Customer Reviews
Master of EmBillishment - William J Higgins III - Laramie, Wyoming United States
Bill Bryson is to embellishment like a hammer is to a nail. They go together.
Slamming his typical sarcastic wit to the sights, sounds, smells and situations throughout his European travels, Bryson rivets the reader with an imbibed smile. Swallow it down. This is humor at its sneering finest.
I've never had a desire to go to Europe. Just never have. Still don't. But to read of Bryson's experiences and the way he details it, makes for a fun read. Sure there is exaggeration and ridicule, so what? This is what makes life enjoyable.
Some can not take embellishment or fault-finding humor (evidently they missed out on the laugh chromosome when born or developed that way later in life). Sad. They are missing out. What a dull, gray existence if one can not laugh at themself or get a chuckle from observing others. Might as well live in a cave. Which nowadays many seem to do.
Anyway, if there is anyone to bring a smile within the pages of a book, it is Bill Bryson.
More Fiction than anything else - Launcelot -
A desperate effort of an American living in the UK to surpass his true heritage of 'american humour', the books has its moments but all in all is more fiction than anything else. Mr Bryson does not understand a thing about Europe or it's culture, no matter how many places he visits, how many miles he covers or how many years he chooses to live here, he remains and represents the average American mind, short of the ability to understand - and even worse, wanting to understand - anything that lies beneath the surface.
I hope I never have to sit next to Bryson on a plane. - Nicole Del Sesto - Northern Cal
Neither interesting, nor funny. Neither entertaining, nor educational. Neither provacative nor engaging.
Awful.
Not funny.
Maybe I've travelled too much to appreciate this book, but it was awful, bordering on offensive. I would have thought that Bryson would be an enthusiastic and passionate traveler, but he wasn't. At least not in this book. In this book he was bitter, whiney and did nothing but complain.
Let me sum up the book for you:
EVERYTHING IS EXPENSIVE
the food is bad
People are different than him, therefore, awful
something poop related
He bashed the culture of every country visited in some way. When he was in Switzerland and bored he made up some riddles. Here's one: "What do you call a gathering of boring people in Switzerland?" ... "Zurich."
Every once in a while something seemingly positive would happen, and I would think ... maybe ... maybe he's going to have ONE good experience on this trip. But nope. Always a "but". Murphy's Law always right around Bill Bryson's corner.
I'm shocked that this book was published. I've written better travel commentary on the back of an American Airlines cocktail napkin.
Neither brilliant nor dismal - Craig Wood - Menlo Park, CA
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.
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