In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
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Book Reviews of In a Sunburned Country
Book Review: Vintage Bryson
Summary: 5 Stars
Bill Bryson is a fantastic travel writer, probably the funniest travel writer out there. His wry comedic style and self-depricating humor make him as much a part of his travel narratives as the places he visits. His ability to find interest in the mundane, absurdity in the commonplace, and value in almost every aspect of his travels is wonderful. He has a particularly amusing knack for describing people, both historical figures and people he meets along the way. He has a great appreciation for the eccentricities of human behavior. He also seems to thrive on describing in great detail all the dangers of the world-things that could maim and/or kill you. While he has a great love for nature, he's also quick to point out that nature, more often than not, wants to kill and eat us. These make Australia perfect for Bryson. It's a land of eccentric people and dangerous animals and landscapes. It's like the entire country was made for Bryson's talents.
Bryson wanders well off the well-worn tourist trail, visiting small towns and unheard-of museums along the way. But in truth it doesn't matter where he goes because he could describe dirt for thirty pages and it would be entertaining. Still, his timing is perhaps his greatest strength. Just when you might be tiring of his day, he interjects some history or some interesting facts. He knows exactly how much is enough and not too much. While this isn't my favorite Bryson (A WALK IN THE WOODS), it's certainly right up there at the top. And I have yet to read anything by him that I didn't like. I was only in Australia once for a short time, but everything Bryson says rings true, and it makes me want to go back.
Book Review: Probably the Funniest Travel book I've Ever Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Bill Bryson is without doubt one of the best of modern American humorists and he does not fail to build on this reputation in his book on travels in Australia "In a Sunburned Country." Despite the very real problems that he outlines in his more sober discussion of the Australian aborigines, this is certainly one of the funniest books I've ever read.
From the outback to the large cities of the only country that is also a continent, Bryson covers the essence of a land not that dissimilar from the American Southwest, where I grew up. Yet, as he acknowledges, he has only touched on this really huge country.
From trying to explain the significance of stromatolites to an elderly day-tripper at Shark Bay to discussing the various deadly organisms in Australia (and they have a lot!) with various companions, to traveling to really out of the way parts of the outback like Stingybark Creek, and conversely to big modern cities like Brisbane and Sydney, Bryson gives us a tantalizing glimpse of a very complex land.
Having never been to Australia, I have to rely on the few Australian friends and acquaintances I have accumulated for my own impression. If they are any indication, than Bryson has not painted too extreme a picture.
Now if Bryson would only write a book on the American Southwest! I'm sure he would find a lot of material in Arizona, New Mexico and west Texas!
Read this book if you are at all interested in Australia or just like to read humorous travel books. Bryson does not cover everything of interest, to be sure, but he should wet you appitite for the land down under!
Book Review: A Good Read!
Summary: 5 Stars
Bill Bryson's excellent writing makes "In a Sunburned Country" a good read. I felt like I was traveling with him and I'm now more knowledgeable about Australia's people, politics, geography and history. Bryson's books are also wonderfully funny. And he doesn't mind making fun of himself. I loved his description of what happens when he falls asleep. "I'm not a discreet and fetching sleeper...I sleep as if injected with a powerful experimental muscle relaxant...My head tips forward to empty drool onto my lap, then falls back to begin loading again. And I snore, hugely and helplessly with rubber lips flapping and prolonged steam-valve exhalations." Another of my favorite stories involved Bryson and a friend having too much to drink at a bar. The following morning Bryson asked his friend, "Did I disgrace myself?" His friend replied, "You're doing a house swap next summer with a family from Korea." Bill responds, "I pursed my lips thoughtfully. "North or South?" I asked. When his friend said he did not know Bryson accused him of making the story up. Bryson said his friend "reached over and deftly plucked from my shirt pocket a business card, which he presented to me. It said, "Park Ho Lee, Meat Wholesaler" or something and gave and address in Pusan. Underneath it, in my own handwriting, it said, "June 10-August 27. No worries." I placed the card, folded once, in the ashtray."I also appreciate Bryson's willingness to be a human rights advocate (he brings attention to the plight of the Aboriginal people) and he's a powerful voice for the preservation and conservation of our planet.
Book Review: America's finest travel writer scores again
Summary: 5 Stars
In this, yet another jewel in Bryson's considerable literary crown, the author takes his readership into the exotic, eccentric and dangerous world of Australia. Using his unique blend of travellouge, history and personal memoir Bryson paints a fascinating portrait of a nation rich in culture and vast in space but unfortunately overlooked by much of the rest of the world.
Using his unique brand of scatalogical humor and personal insight (his description of not only how he sleeps but how he reacts to fear inspires peals of raging laughter)Bryson journeys throughout Australia's varied continent absorbing many of her treasures and traps. IN A SUNBURNED COUNTRY, Bryson debunks many misconceptions about the former British Penal Colony as well as holds up the special personalities that make her citizens stand proud. He goes beyond the "Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee" stereotypes and paints a picture of a nation filled with world class intellectuals and athletes.
He also refuses to pull any punches as he frequently tempers the humor with many sobering truths (the treatment of the Aboriginies to mention just one example). That he can be so balanced is a testament to his talent as a writer.
According to Bryson, Australia is a country filled with the most hostile ecosystem on earth and yet thrives with perhaps the most diverse biological assortment known to man. It is a special place. I may not be able to afford a trip yet. But Bryson's book is almost as good as being there.
Almost.
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.