The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
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Book Summary Information
Reader: Bill BrysonEdition: Music CD
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Published: 2006-10-17
ISBN: 0739315234
Publisher: Random House Audio
Book Reviews of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
Book Review: Reflecting on a fun/scary transitional period in America
Summary: 4 Stars
As we Boomers are pushing our kids out of the nest, we are finding time to write. And what better topic to write about than ourselves? Bill Bryson adds his personal, perceptive and funny reminiscences of an Iowan boyhood in the 50s in the form of "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir," a fast-paced romp through a typical 50s childhood. Bryson combines solid period research, mature reflection, genuine memories and (too often?) outrageous exaggerations of fact into a memoir of a his wild childhood. He touches all the generational bases -- polio, the Red Scare, Sputnik, A-bomb drills, TV and comic book heroes as well as the personal ones about clueless parents, trying to get in to see the strippers at the fair, petty theft at the candy store, local brands of soda, hocking looeys in the Tunnel of Love and harassing managers when the lights dimmed at the movie house. Given the title of his memoir, it's surprising that his alter-ego -- The Thunderbolt Kid -- makes so few appearances in the book and seemed added almost as an afterthought or marketing ploy.
Nevertheless, I got a kick out of The Thunderbolt Kid, and it made me think back on my own childhood at the end of the 50s. Bryson's comments as funny and often on the mark. His short takes on 50s for black Americans, on the Army-McCarthy hearings and on the US's hapless late-50s space shots were educational. I found that Bryson's fictional swings actually diminished the effectiveness of the book -- it was sometimes hard to tell where reality left off and mendacity-as-entertainment began. No matter. An age in which kids spent their summers outside and unsupervised, in which neighbors were invited over to see the new fridge, and in which church suppers and county fairs were the major means of entertainment, and in which causal racism was pervasive and barely noted is increasingly difficult to recall. Bravo to Bill Bryson for helping us remember.
Summary of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
BONUS FEATURE: Exclusive interview with the author.From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the middle of the United States in the middle of the last century. A book that delivers on the promise that it is “laugh-out-loud funny.”
Some say that the first hints that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came from his discovery, at the age of six, of a woollen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater, but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap, and proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly, become invisible, shoot guns out of people’s hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman.
Bill Bryson’s first travel book opened with the immortal line, “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” In this hilarious new memoir, he travels back to explore the kid he once was and the weird and wonderful world of 1950s America. He modestly claims that this is a book about not very much: about being small and getting much larger slowly. But for the rest of us, it is a laugh-out-loud book that will speak volumes – especially to anyone who has ever been young.
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