Friday 13 July 2012

Devouring Books: Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson

"It seemed to me strange that in all the words written about the fall of the Iron Curtain nobody anywhere lamented that it was the end of a noble experiment. I know Communism never worked and I would have hated living under it myself, but it seems to me none the less that there is a kind of sadness in the thought that the only economic system that appears to work is based on self-interest and greed."

That quote about Communism came right near the end of Neither Here Nor There, and, frankly, it made any problems that I may or may not have had with this book completely obsolete. Which is not to say I had millions of problems or anything, but I had a few qualms- something which is pretty much unheard of for me with a Bill Bryson book! So, I'm just going to get all of them out of my system in the next paragraph, so you can forget all about them by the time you get to the end of the review so that you still want to read this. (Definitely read it! It's good!)

So. Bryson seems SO grumpy in this book, to a greater extent than in any other book I've read of his, although it's possible I just think that because I haven't read a book of his for a while. I mean, I know he's usually pretty grumpy, and I like it, but in this it just felt excessive. There's also the fact that he was mostly grumpy at tourists, which is something he clearly was to be able to write this book, which smacks a little bit of... 'I'm more important than you, so I'm allowed to be a tourist, but NO ONE ELSE IS.' Having said that, he does a little bit go 'yeah, I know I'm a tourist so I'm totally being a hypocrite', and self-awareness? I approve of it a lot. And then, the other thing that slightly bugged me was that it's a really out of date account of travelling in Europe (it was published in 1990) so there are places he visited where I was like 'well, that's clearly different now' and 'the Swiss are NOT that boring!' but this isn't something that it's really fair to be annoyed at because, well, he can't exactly just change his experiences of the places like annually and just spend his life travelling round Europe! Or can he..?

Anyway. So, grumble grumble grumble. OH, and one final grumble- he was mean about Sweden! I'm basically convinced that Sweden is the greatest place on Earth (sorry, America) and so reading his 'yeah, it rained ALL THE TIME' and 'this guy peed in the street in Stockholm' and his basically not saying anything nice about Sweden at all made me really cross! But having said that I haven't actually been there, so... maybe it does suck (FORGIVE ME, SWEDEN!) But. Apart from Sweden? There were basically, as Bryson described it, good and bad parts to every country, as you would expect, and the bits that are good are described so beautifully that it makes you want to uproot and go to ALL THE PLACES, immediately. Honestly, I'm kind of desperate to go to Bruges now, and Capri sounds basically like heaven, and they're all so close to me! Damn you, Bryson.

Here's a little aside: I've just realised (having looked at a list of the places he visited) that he didn't venture into Spain once. This is kind of weird to me- it's a massive country, and whilst it's totally a tourist hotspot for English people (the awful kind) there are still places like Barcelona that have a lot of culture and things. Hmm. Now I'm really intrigued as to why he didn't go there! Answers on a postcard please.

Um. What else? Well, I liked the way Bryson tied in his earlier travels in Europe, when he first came over from America, with his modern day (HA! Old modern day) trip, and, as always, I enjoyed all the Katz anecdotes. I honestly want Bryson to basically have lived with Katz for the entirety of their twenties, just for the anecdotes he would have gotten! I mean, he also would probably have ended up murdering him, but what's a little murder compared to hilarity and Katz-isms? Nothing, that's what I say. As long as he'd gotten away with it and been able to still travel around and write books, obviously. Anyway, ignore the murder thing. But KATZ! He was great in A Walk in the Woods, and he remains awesome, albeit ridiculous, in this book.

So. A crotchety middle aged man (when has Bryson not been middle-aged? Really, tell me!) travels around Europe and complains about a lot of things, but also points out some magnificent European things that I should probably see someday. It's by no means an up-to-date guide of what's hip and happening in Europe (and, bless him, I doubt it was even when it came out. And also, you probably guessed that by the fact that some of these countries still had Communism! Jeez!) but there's still plenty to get out of it in a travel guide sort of way, and much more to gain in an anecdotal, awesomely written sense. As always with Bryson books, you should basically probably read this. Obviously.

I read this book as part of the Fuck the Patriarchy Readathon. If you'd like to donate to Rape Crisis, please visit this Justgiving page. Thanks!

13 comments:

  1. Bryson is totally grumpy. Although I prefer to think of him as cantankerous.

    It's weird that Spain isn't included in here... I choose to believe that this is because he is in the process of writing an ENTIRE BOOK about Spain. That would be heavenly! (I studied abroad in Spain in college and it's pretty much my favorite place ever, minus the bullfighting.)

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    1. Cantankerous is a good word- I believe I have used it in relation to him before... if not on here, then definitely in my head!

      Nice idea about the Bryson Spain book, but... well, it's been like 20 years since Neither Here Nor There came out now, so you'd think he'd have gotten round to it by now! I feel like it's definitely because of the dodgy kind of like British tourists going to Spain and just staying in their hotel complexes and eating English food and stuff that he avoided it, but still. There are good parts, obviously! (I have never been there, so I can't comment either way! But I've never been there because of the aforementioned reasons haha)

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  2. Did I tell you I bought At Home? I bought At Home. I just kept checking it out of the library, so finally I was like "GAH" and now I don't have to worry about returning it.

    Sooo this sounds enjoyable. Why do you want to visit Bruges though?

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    1. You did not! How exciting! Start it immediately and add it to your 'currently reading' pile! I may never read At Home, because it is MASSIVE and I just can't do big books right now. Except for Stephen King, obviously, but clearly he doesn't count because he's crap (NOT! But that's what some dude would have us believe!)

      Oh, so Bryson went to Brussels and was like 'this is the ugliest f-ing city ever' and then went to Bruges and kind of gushed about how pretty and olde worlde it is, so it sounded pretty convincing!

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    2. I want to go to Bruges too! Although mostly this stems from watching the movie In Bruges. If you can ignore the psychopaths running around shooting people, the scenery is lovely. Also, Colin Farrell and Mad-Eye Moody make a great duo.

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  3. I definitely remember thinking the book felt outdated too. Does backpacking change that quickly? I guess.

    And can I just say, I TOTALLY agree about Sweden being the best country in the world in my mind. I've never been, but it sounds amazing. I picture everyone being super happy, super healthy and beautiful. Blonde and beautiful. Why would Bryson ruin my vision?!

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    1. I don't know that backpacking necessarily changes that quickly, but a LOT of these countries have changed dramatically, espesh the Eastern European ones (obviously!). Although I've never actually been backpacking, so it could be outdated for that too!

      Super happy, super healthy and beautiful? Yep, that sounds pretty much like my vision of Sweden! Although they do have an awfully high suicide rate because of all the darkness in the winter (I believe that in Stockholm there's only daylight from something stupid like 10-2 in the winter?) so there's that to consider. I just picture a country FILLED with Alexander Skarsgards, and, well, I want to go there!

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  4. I have several of his books but I still haven't read any of them. Don't know why. I'm an anglophile so I should probably start with Notes From a Small Island, and you've convinced me that I need to read at least one ASAP.

    Btw, why Sweden? I hear Stockholm is nice, but other than that it seems like one of the most boring countries in the world. Liseberg was fun though =)

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    1. Ahhh, that was me last year! (Well, apart from his Shakespeare biography). Definitely start with Notes from A Small Island if the UK is your jam, but my favourite is A Short History of Nearly Everything... You know, just in case you wanted to know that ;).

      Ummm, Sweden- looks so beautiful and serene and lovely, and also see above re: many many Alexander Skarsgards walking around. Also, they have a freaking ICE HOTEL! Now that's exciting!

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  5. I have A Short History of Nearly Everything also, will definitely be reading that at some point. But travelbooks first, I think.

    Had to google Ice Hotel, and apparently we have it too. Though probably in a part of the country I've never visited, far north. When I picture Sweden I picture the eastern part of Norway which is the boring part of Norway, but I might be waaay off. I've only been to the western part of Sweden a few times and that's it. Haha and I don't have a thing for Alexander SkarsgÄrd.

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    1. You DON'T have a thing for Alexander Skarsgard? Say whaaaat?! (Also, you know, fair enough! Different tastes and all that.) And, well, it's very very possible that Sweden is really boring, (and Bryson definitely thinks so!) but, well, I'm going to believe it's amazing until it's proven otherwise! Hehe

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  6. Before I even read your review I'm going to say that if you didn't like it I'm going to cry into my pillow
    ::reads review::
    Yes, he's super grumpy. But I still love it. And he's not grumpy when in Italy because I think it's impossible to stay grump with Italy. It's too ridiculous there to stay made at. Like a puppy that chews apart your favorite blanket but then looks at you like "aren't I the cutest?" Let's go to Capri!!

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    1. I liked it! Honests! It's just not my faaaavourite...

      ANYWAY! He's slightly grumpy in Italy- like in Naples when he moans at all the tourists! And that place he doesn't even go to because it's too depressing (oh wait, was that Naples, and the touristy place was Florence? I forget...) But anyway, yeah, he is totally the least grumpy there!

      LET'S GO TO CAPRI! OMG YES!!!!!! ROAD TRIP!!

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