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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
 
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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America (Paperback)

by Bill Bryson (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 349 pages
  • Publisher: Black Swan; New edition edition (2 Jan 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0552998087
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552998086
  • Product Dimensions: 20 x 12.8 x 2.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5,949 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #15 in  Books > Reference > Atlases & Maps > Continents & Regions > The Americas > North America
    #78 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Travel Writing

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. The Lost Continent is no exception. Following an urge to rediscover his youth (he should know better), the author leaves his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that takes him across 38 states. Lucky for us, he brought a notebook.

With a razor wit and a kind heart, Bryson serves up a colourful tale of boredom, kitsch, and beauty when you least expect it. Gentler elements aside, The Lost Continent is an amusing book. Here's Bryson on the women of his native state: "I will say this, however--and it's a strange, strange thing--the teenaged daughters of these fat women are always utterly delectable ... I don't know what it is that happens to them, but it must be awful to marry one of those nubile cuties knowing that there is a time bomb ticking away in her that will at some unknown date make her bloat out into something huge and grotesque, presumably all of a sudden and without much notice, like a self- inflating raft from which the pin has been yanked."

Yes, Bill, but be honest: what do you really think? --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
"I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to". And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him, but it did lure him back. After ten years in England he returned to the land of his youth, and drove almost 14,000 miles in search of a mythical town called Amalgam, the kind of smiling village where the films of his youth were set. Instead he drove through a series of horrific burgs which he renamed Smellville, Fartville, Coleslaw, Dead Squaw, Coma, Doldrum. At best his search led him to Anywhere, USA; a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels and hamburger outlets populated by obese and slow-witted hicks with a partiality for synthetic fibres. He found a continent that was doubly lost;lost to itself because blighted by greed, pollution, mobile homes and television; lost to him because he had become a foreigner in his own country.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
73% buy the item featured on this page:
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America 3.8 out of 5 stars (79)
£5.39
Notes from a Big Country
9% buy
Notes from a Big Country 4.5 out of 5 stars (90)
£5.29
Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe
7% buy
Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe 4.3 out of 5 stars (71)
£4.99
Notes from a Small Island
6% buy
Notes from a Small Island 4.0 out of 5 stars (143)
£5.20

 

Customer Reviews

79 Reviews
5 star:
 (39)
4 star:
 (12)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (11)
1 star:
 (8)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (79 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably one of the funniest books about the U.S., 31 Jan 2001
By A Customer
The first book by Bill Bryson I read was "A walk in the woods", and I could not imagine any book to be funnier and wittier. Then, one day, I saw "The lost continent", bought it, read it - and had to change my opinion. In this book, Iowa-born writer Bryson, who has moved to Great Britain some years ago, becomes homesick, borrows his mother's rusty car and makes a journey across small-town America. It was great fun reading and enjoying all those acerbic commentaries about everyday life in the U.S. On his journey, Bryson has to deal with lots of displeasant accidents - unfriendly waitresses, weird (and warty) gas station attendants, bad hotel rooms, ugly shopping malls everywhere, mentally retarded radio dj's (who are fond of playing "Hotel California" by the Eagles every ten minutes) and so on. His travel leads him to Cape Cod, the Grand Canyon and the Great Lakes, and there are lots of funny depictions of life in those places as well as worried remarks about fast-food culture throughout the U.S. You really can feel Bryson's affection for his home country, and that's why this book is so entertaining.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A PERSONAL REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LIFE, 9 Jun 1999
By A Customer
Bryson takes us on a journey through small town America, strictly on the by-roads, in search of that American Nirvana that he calls "Amalgum". Poignant comments and humourous reflections upon the new society on the way, together with many bizarre and macabre historical references make this an excellent holiday read.

For those who have ever travelled outside of the cities in the U.S., and witnessed the social mix which is as varied as the weather across this vast land, this will sate your appetite for a definitive view of American culture. Bryson sees what is now, and with subtle yet hilarious use of personal reflection and historical counterpoint manages to capture the essence of his America.

Excellent cadence, depth and colour. There is a little of him in all of us, and he knows well how to reach it. A beatifully sublime book.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, 22 Oct 2001
By A Customer
I've read a few reviews of this book by Americans who feels Bryson is being unfair by laughing so much of their country and culture. All I can say is they need to get a sense of humour! This book is interesting, funny and also poignant in parts, particularly the part that covers the Deep South. Probably Bryson's funniest book, and that's saying something!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Still relevant today - and laugh out loud funny
I read this on holiday recently and couldn't put it down; ideal entertainment as it's easy to read, funny, but equally does make you think on a deeper level now and again... Read more
Published 18 days ago by Jl Adcock

2.0 out of 5 stars read too quickly
Kerry Shale read this far too quickly. When my son and I listened to it in the car we kept bursting into giggles because we could hardly keep up with him! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Slummy mummy

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and great for all occasions
This book is, like the other books of Bryson, just brilliant. Funny, detailed, yet not at all boring to read. Read more
Published 4 months ago by CyprusNIC

5.0 out of 5 stars Travels between crudbucket towns
When Billy Bryson wrote this book Nancy Reagan was still twitching the net curtains at the White House. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sally Wilton

3.0 out of 5 stars author ok, country, hhmmmm
this travel book of bills is let down by the fact that every small town he visits is more or less the same, dreary, boring, one road plains , with a gas station, fast food outlet... Read more
Published 8 months ago by A. fordham

5.0 out of 5 stars Pants-wettingly funny
I think you either dig Bryson or you don't. This was the second book of his I read (first was Neither Here nor There). Read more
Published 9 months ago by purrdey

5.0 out of 5 stars funny & poignant
Can't remember a book that made me laugh out loud, and in public! Not sure why the other reviewers didn't like it but when I read the passages that had me doubled over to my... Read more
Published 14 months ago by b.lops

3.0 out of 5 stars Listenable, but nothing special....
In The Lost Continent Bryson revisits America having lived in England for his adult life. He returns to his hometown and treats smalltown American with large doses of sarcasm and... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Tony Hirc

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe it's me, but....
What's wrong with the most recent reviewers of Bill's hysterically funny debut? Has there been a recent upsurge in humour bypasses? Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2006 by Brent Adsley

2.0 out of 5 stars Bill's lost the plot
I was disappointed with this - as I enjoyed 'Notes from a small island' and 'A walk in the woods'. Bill Bryson takes us on a road trip around small town, mid-west America. Read more
Published on 11 Oct 2006 by BikeMan

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