The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
by Bill Bryson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bill BrysonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-25
ISBN: 0767919378
Number of pages: 270
Publisher: Broadway
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780767919371
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
Book Review: A Humorous Bolt of Nostalgia
Summary: 5 Stars
Bill Bryson is a gifted comical writer, effortlessly able to convey the humor that resides in commonplace situations. While the majority of his books have focused on his travels, "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" is Bryson's memoir of growing up in the 1950s. And even if you did not grow up in the 50s, or weren't even alive during that decade of unmatched success and happiness, you can appreciate Bryson's nostalgia and his wry humor.
Bryson was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, a city that has vastly and lamentably changed since the days of his childhood. Bryson tells his tale from birth through high school, highlighting the everyday experiences as well as the extraordinary. Like the fact that he's also a superhero known as the Thunderbolt Kid who can vaporize his enemies on the spot - well, at least in his imagination. Mixed in with Bryson's childhood remembrances are sketches of Des Moines as well as all of America in the 1950s, perhaps the happiest and one of the most affluent decades in this nation's history. It is a loving portrait of what once made America so great and an account of what this nation has lost along the way.
Bryson's storytelling is seamless as it moves between personal memories and interesting factoids. There are some absolutely laugh-out-loud moments and some stories that almost anyone would recognize as being part of their formative years as well. For anyone who has ever witnessed a way of life that they loved disappear, they will appreciate the nostalgia and affection that Bryson displays for this lost time of his childhood, for it is a way of life that will never be known again.
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