Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe
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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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
After 20 years as a London-based reporter, American journalist Bryson ( The Mother Tongue ) set out to retrace a youthful European backpacking trip, from arctic Norway's northern lights to romantic Capri and the "collective delirium" of Istanbul. Descriptions of historic and artistic sights in the Continent's capitals are cursory; Bryson prefers lesser-known locales, whose peculiar flavor he skillfully conveys in anecdotes that don't scant the seamy side and often portray eccentric characters encountered during untoward adventures of the road. He enlivens the narrative with keen, sometimes acerbic observations of national quirks like the timed light switches in French hallways, but tends to strive too hard for comic effects, some in dubious taste. He also joins other travelers in deploring the growing hordes of peddlers who overrun major tourist meccas.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Born in Iowa, Bryson (A Walk in the Clouds) backpacked through Europe as a young man. While living in England some 20 years later, he revisited many of the same places, and here he jumps back and forth between old memories and new experiences. He begins with rather negative incidents and throughout spends a great deal of time on his woes, often due to hangovers, missed opportunities with young women, and difficulties with transportation and hotel personnel. Bryson is a rather talented, opinionated writer who obviously has spent a fair amount of time walking and traveling by bus and train in Europe. Since he is given to serious profanity at times and brushes upon topics such as sex with animals and prostitutes, this is definitely not family entertainment. His descriptive ability is considerable, and his commentary, while rambling, is generally interesting. His enunciation and inflection are good, but an affected British accent creeps in at times. It's like a self-indulgent memoir of which few will care and some will be offended. Only libraries willing to risk patron indignation at his profanity, some of his topics, and his repeated generalizations about nations and their people should consider.ACarolyn Alexander, Brigadoon Lib., Salinas, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Having groused his way across America in The Lost Continent (1989), Bryson (The Mother Tongue, 1990) now turns his attention to Europe. If it is any consolation to Americans, Bryson, an ex- midwesterner who has lived in England for the past 15 years, finds almost nothing to praise between the Arctic Circle and the Bosporus. Bryson's crankiness could have proved amusing--after all, Mark Twain's did in Innocents Abroad--but the humor here is meanspirited and juvenile (in Copenhagen, a hung-over Bryson notes that ``I needed coffee the way Dan Quayle needs help with an I.Q. test''), with defecation, flatulence, and eructation far too often figuring into the comic repertoire. Nor do original insights abound as Bryson retraces the steps of a journey he took two decades before, traveling from Norway to Istanbul, stopping at many of Europe's capitals (Paris, Brussels, Stockholm, Rome, etc.) along the way. He offers such comments as: ``Parisians are rude,'' ``Swedes are heavy drinkers,'' and ``the Swiss are dull and conventional.'' Consistency is not Bryson's strong suit either. While in Naples, for instance, he complains, ``I found...mean, cavernous, semipaved alleyways with...washing hung like banners between balconies that never saw sunlight.'' Yet when he reaches modern and manicured Milan, he pines, ``I wanted pandemonium and street life...washing hanging across the streets.'' Meanwhile, lines like ``let's be frank, the Italians' technological contribution to humankind stopped with the pizza oven'' are also no help. Smart-alecky and obvious, with the wit of Bryson's first two books curdled into waspishness. (Maps.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Customer Reviews
why travel if u don't enjoy it?
i found this book to be such a downer. almost every new location he visits there's always something wrong. it might be the locals are mean, some parts of the cities are dreary and could be so much more beautiful, the trains run too slow, god forbid a local that can't help him because he doesn't speak english, or things are just too expensive. waaaah, waaaaah, waaaaaah. you know what? how about trying to find the positive things when you travel and write about those? use the negative things that happen as anecdotes but not the focus. i've been to many of those places he wrote about and have really great memories and i don't focus on the negative. so what, florence can be hot and crowded in the summer, but is that what i want to remember? no! i want to remember seeing the duomo for the first time or walking the boboli gardens. why do i want to read about someone bitching and complaining about how traveling can sometimes be work and things don't always go the way we want. that's part of traveling. he should feel lucky to even have the privilege to travel and probably be paid for it at the same time! the book is in the recycle bin.
Funniest book ever full of stealthy insights of Europe
I shouldn't like this book. I should hate this book. I should complain,deride and denounce this book because every time I read it, I wet my pants laughing. It should be illegal to make someone laugh so hard she wets her pants. It's embarrassing. This book is so addictive that I tend to pick it up wherever I see it. Since I am an avid reader, I pick it up in book stores and libraries. It's humiliating to be standing in a bookstore with your legs crossed and a warm stream of pee tickling down your thighs because you can't stop laughing. I should also be mad because Bill Bryson clearly stole all my experiences of travelling to Europe for the first time. I'm the one who couldn't understand the English language the way the English speak it, who thought they were angry when they said they were "pissed" and didn't know it meant "drunk." I'm the one who spent the night trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with the window because the innkeeper told me, "Fold the pane." Bryson stole all my material. The only reason I'm not mad is because he writes it all so beautifully, weaving the jokes into the story into the irony into the drama into the comedy, and does it so beautifully that this book disappears in hours when by rights it should take days to read because it is so full of experiences. I denounce Bill Bryson. Off with his head. Send him back to Europe, but please let him pack his pencil and his sense of humour before he goes. He is a national treasure.
Not a balanced view of Europe: 19 out 22 Chapters are on Western Europe
PROS:
- Bryson's writing style is fluid and funny.
- Good coverage of Western Europe: 19 out of 22 chapters are on it.
CONS:
- The subtitle of the book is, "Travels in Europe", but it should have been called "Travels in Western Europe" since that's where 90% of the book takes place.
- Bryson has minimal interaction with Europeans, only interacting with the locals briefly, even though he traveled alone. He seems to travel with his guidebook in hand, looking at buildings, but not really spending much time getting to know the people. Part of that probably is that he doesn't speak a foreign language well.
- Not terribly informative.
CONCLUSION: Don't expect to learn that much about Europe, but do expect to laugh out loud. If those are your expectations, then you will love this book. I gave it 4 stars because it was so funny, so entertaining, that it overcame the flaws I listed.
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