“Bill Bryson's new book The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is a memoir about growing up as a baby boomer in the very heart of the country - Des Moines, Iowa.
Many Bryson fans - myself included - associate his books with massive undertakings that stretch his physical and emotional limits, often resulting in hilarity and insight. Previous undertakings include hiking the Appalachian Trail, backpacking across Europe, exploring the Australian outback, road tripping across America, and visiting non-profit groups in Africa. By contrast, Bryson admits that in Thunderbolt Kid "what follows isn't terribly eventful." The book is essentially a collection of anecdotes and stories organized thematically, that weave together to recollect a fondly-remembered childhood in the climax of American prosperity.
Bryson has always been known for his wit, and he gets a real chance to showcase it here. Aside from maybe I'm a Stranger Here Myself, this may be his funniest book to date. The fact that there is no real narrative never really gets in the way because the reader will likely be spending so much time laughing. Byson hilariously explores the small town shops he frequented, the monotony of farm living, and, as the title implies, his creation of a superhero alter-ego.
The other thing that always fascinates me about Bryson is the extensive research that he puts into the smallest details. He will tell you that he loved comic books as a kid, tells a funny story, and then proceeds to back up his claim that comic books were popular with a ridiculous amount of statistics regarding comic books sales, surveys, and studies. And it's like this with everything: baseball, nuclear testing during the cold war, farming, and so on. It adds a slight level of depth and makes it just that much more interesting.”
Matt Andrews wrote this review Tuesday, December 11 2007.
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