Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson (3 ★)
Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson
I enjoy Bill Bryson enough to keep reading his books, he’s a staple in the travel memoir genre, but they’re really too much for me. His humor is at times self-deprecating, but often turned against anyone who slightly inconveniences him. His disgust with fat people is evident in every book he’s ever written despite constant descriptions of his meals, which very often include Big Macs from McDonalds no matter where in the world he should find himself. In this book he also takes offense to women with armpit hair, “gypsies”, and people who run museums.
This particular book is about Bryson’s travels through Europe. Perhaps because he realized he didn’t do much of interest during his tour, he also includes stories about the last time he visited these countries when he was younger and had a friend for comic relief. True to form, he makes so many bad jokes throughout the memoir that a few were eventually bound to make me laugh, but I spend most of the time reading his writing annoyed by his constant complaining. I finally realized with this collection in particular that it would’ve been much more enjoyable if I only read one or two essays a week instead of getting through the whole thing like a cohesive book. Reading these in installments would probably make his complaining style of humor less grating, and I could’ve spent more time appreciating the descriptions of each country.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot to appreciate as far as that goes. Some chapters were better than others, particularly the countries Bryson seemed to enjoy more obviously received more consideration. Thank god for the references to his past adventures because Bryson as an adult solo traveler just stayed in a lot of boring hotels, waited in a lot of lines to argue with workers, and ate at a lot of McDonalds.
There are some great moments in here and I might be tempted to skim over some of these essays again if I knew I was planning a trip to any of these countries, but they’re also so outdated now it probably wouldn’t be much help. Bryson is a good writer, but I still feel like he’s a big Larry David style jerk and I would not want to meet him, or god forbid travel with him or anyone like him.
Rating: ★★★
3/5 stars
