The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America

With a razor wit and a kind heart, Bryson serves up a colorful 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?

Product Description
An unsparing and hilarious account of one man's rediscovery of America and his search for the perfect small town.

When I started reading this book, I laughed so much my wife wouldn't let me read it in bed. Then she picked it up and discovered how funny it was, and wanted to read it before me. Eventually we compromised, and kept it in the car; the rule was that whoever was driving had to read it to the driver. Several times, however, the reader was laughing so hard that they couldn't get comprehensible words out, and the driver had to pull over to the hard shoulder and grab the book for themselves.

Yes, he's a curmudgeon, as other reviewers here have noticed. That's just his style. He's not deep, either; his occasional ruminations aren't negligible, but he's no Mark Twain. But he has an acidly sharp eye for inanity and stupidity, and his anecdotal technique is flawless.

His other travel books are along much the same lines, but to me this is the funniest, though "A Walk in the Woods" does show he is capable of good introspective writing. "The Lost Continent" is sharp, satirical, acute, and unkind--wickedly funny in every sense of the word.


Humor -- and much more   June 19, 2001
22 out of 24 found this review helpful

Since many of the reviews below do a fine job of describing this book's general attributes, I'll just mention a few things you'd best remember when reading a Bill Bryson book, particularly The Lost Continent:

First, Mr Bryson's doesn't write guidebooks or serious travelogues. He writes anti-guidebooks. Much of The Lost Continent is a counterpoint -- indeed a cure -- for the attacks of 'Meaningfulness And Insight' one sometimes suffers when reading even the best of the 'serious' travel writers such as Jonathan Raban.

Second, he's not making fun of the places he goes, the people he meets, and the things he sees because he's a big old meanie. He's trying to be funny, and he tells the unvarnished truth about what he sees and experiences, unlike many travel writers --both professional and amateur -- who simply cannot admit they've come a long way to see something, only to find it disappointing. Mr Bryson is criticized in many reviews for being a 'tourist' not a 'traveler', but it's only tourists who think every sight they see is fascinating simply because they've chosen to see it.

Third, Mr Bryson's not 'arrogant' because he doesn't praise everything about America and Americans. In fact, if American readers can hold back their splutters of outrage, they'd realize very quickly that he's *including himself* in nearly all the jokes he makes. A surpassingly ignorant reviewer below has asserted, for example, that our Bill's a hypocrite because he makes jokes about fat people, but then dines on a six-pack and candy bars. Well, of course he does -- Mr Bryson's acknowledging that, for all his griping about fast food and convenience stores and fat bellies, he's no better able to resist temptation than any other American. How many other travel writers -- or any writers at all -- allow us to see them being so fallible? This is arrogance?

Finally, I would recommend that the careful reader of The Lost Continent will find much more here than humorous description and anecdote, although both abound. There's also a story. Its only real character, of course, is Bill Bryson, but it's a character who is ultimately open to and changed by his experiences, both in making his comic journeys and in the remembrances of his boyhood his travels evoke. Mr Bryson is seeking more than just an elusive epitome of small-town America; he's trying to learn how to be an American again after a long time away, and he's finding it tough going at times. As an American (an Iowan, even) who's lived overseas for more than a decade myself, I find this story more and more compelling every time I come back to visit both 'lost continents' -- the real one, and this fine book.

Highly recommended.


Possibly Bryson's funniest book   May 15, 2007
Mike Smith (Albuquerque, NM)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

It would be a real stretch to say that Bill Bryson thoroughly researches everything he writes about, goes out of his way to learn about and see and document only the most interesting aspects of places, and presents his portraits of places fairly and with an effort to see every side of both places and issues.
A real stretch.
But, it wouldn't be a stretch at all to say that Bill Bryson is undeniably loaded with wit and humor. This book is, I believe, Bill Bryson's very funniest. I laughed so hard at his descriptions of eating in small town diners that I woke my wife up who was sleeping next to me, several times. I tried to read passages from it to my brother over the phone, but couldn't get certain words out because I was silenced by laughing, by the sort of full-body laughing usually only high schoolers drinking milk get to enjoy.
This book is not an objective or a thorough or a totally accurate picture of America; its passages about the West, places I'm especially familiar with, almost appalled me at the total lack of effort Bryson made to go out of his way to see anything other than major attractions like the Grand Canyon. Even there, he just stood on the edge and looked over. However, what this book is, is funny. Very funny. Dangerously funny, especially if you ever find yourself hiding in an Anne Frank-style bunker, living secretly in fear of the government, where laughing very loudly could end your life.
I highly recommend this book. Writers about American subjects will find quotable quotes on almost every region, and lovers of good comedy will find a very enjoyable read.
Plus, and I couldn't believe this, it's really well-indexed.


Fall Down, soda-up-your-nose funny   May 19, 1999
Joypebble (Back East, USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Having just completed a 30,000 mile road trip to photograph citizens in 53 towns in the USA with the funniest names you've ever heard, I can tell you that Bryson's observations are excruciatingly on target and snortingly funny. He sees beneath the contrived commercial and pointless idiocies that coat America's boonies and larger towns. It's satire with an appropriate but minimal garnish of respect and every word is true. He sees us as we are and makes us laugh out loud. I want him in my car for my next foray into the boonies. If you don't think he's funny, then you must be in his line of fire.


An unsparing look at America   January 5, 2003
norman (upstate ny)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

This book was mean-spirited, misanthropic, and cruel--I loved it. I think most of the negative reviewers of this book would benefit by lightening up a little and getting a sense of humor. If you're a blind, gung-ho, flag-waving, patriotic America-booster then this book will deflate your bubble. I think America is the greatest country the world has ever seen and I love it, but if you sincerely love your country then you will be able to criticize it and laugh at it sometimes. Bryson's hilariously sharp eye catches all of middle America's absurdities, but what saves the book's harshness is that he doesn't forget to target the biggest absurdity here--himself (yes, the [sad man] who whines about how boring everybody is around him but spends most of his time alone in a motel room drinking beer and eating candy). For me the main joke of the book is that Bryson spends most of his time trying to escape from somewhere rather than looking forward to his next stop. Yes, perhaps some of his targets are a little too easy, but still hilarious. As a travel book: 1 star. As a comedy: 5 stars