Product Description

Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies -- in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe's most diverting and historic locales. Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies--in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe's most diverting and historic locales.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16345 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-06
• Released on: 1993-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
After 20 years as a London-based reporter, American journalist Bryson ( The Mother Tongue ) set out to retrace a youthful European backpacking trip, from arctic Norway's northern lights to romantic Capri and the "collective delirium" of Istanbul. Descriptions of historic and artistic sights in the Continent's capitals are cursory; Bryson prefers lesser-known locales, whose peculiar flavor he skillfully conveys in anecdotes that don't scant the seamy side and often portray eccentric characters encountered during untoward adventures of the road. He enlivens the narrative with keen, sometimes acerbic observations of national quirks like the timed light switches in French hallways, but tends to strive too hard for comic effects, some in dubious taste. He also joins other travelers in deploring the growing hordes of peddlers who overrun major tourist meccas.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Bryson, a baby boomer, retraces his journeys through Europe in 1972 and 1973, when he and an Iowa high school buddy backpacked through the continent's major capitals and cities. In this account, Bryson revisits many of those places, and his tales about the changes in the sites--and within himself--are fascinating and often hilarious. The interests of Bryson and his unforgettable buddy, Stephen Katz, were quite different almost 20 years ago; they were in a constant search for beer and women and their favorite and least favorite places were judged accordingly. His interests on this latest trip are a bit more sophisticated. Bryson blends the accounts of the two journeys, offering insight into the various countries as well as his own life. This book is fun for travelers or armchair travelers, especially for anyone who journeyed through Europe in the hippie days of the early 1970s.
- Melinda Stivers Leach, Precision Editorial Svces., Wondervu, Col.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Bill Bryson has a warm, full voice and superb timing. He reads as well as he writes. Plus, he's clearly enjoying the material. When he tells the story of Marta, the gorgeous woman who got away, you can practically see the smile on his face. The only thing wrong with this audio presentation is revealed in the title. It's neither here nor there. Not held together by a single trail, as A WALK IN THE WOODS was by the Appalachian, or by a single culture, as NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND was by England, there's a randomness that weakens the experience. Still, it's the work of a lively intellect, mightily amused. B.H.C. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

The Gospel of Bill...
Last fall, as a 21 year-old college student in his final year, I started pondering what to do with that ludicrous accumulation of wealth that all university students find upon graduation. Lies, actually: I scraped together the best I could and bought a ticket for London. A pair of "Let's Go" guides accompanied me for practical reasons, but Neither Here Nor There was my travel bible, my Psalms, as it were. I read it that Fall of '07 and it inspired me to take the trip in ways that no other source had. It revealed to me that even travel hardships can result in the most absurdly funny, cherished stories.

His ascerbic wit goes gangbusters on the little quirks of the Continental, from country to hilarious country. I partially molded my trip to make sure I checked out some of his destinations--they were that well-described.

Interestingly enough, I found him to be dead-on in some countries/cities, and WAY off the mark in others. One of his most memorable anecdotes comes out of backwoods Austria. I happened to find the same people to be the kindest, most hospitable of my whole 14-country trip. But the laughs I had over that chapter, and the inspiration to camp out under the Tyrolean night sky, paid dividends. So what if his descriptions aren't cookie-cutter and unfailing? No two travel experiences are the same, and God forbid they ever will be.

Read this book. You'll shoot (insert beverage here) through your nose laughing and develop an ache to see Europe. Prost, Bill.

The best of this author's many great books!
Bill Bryson has written so many hilarious books that it's hard to say which is the funniest, but when I meet someone who is new to Bryson's work, again and again I find myself recommending this one.

The one-liners ("Italians park as if they've just spilled a beaker of hydrocloric acid in their laps") are funny no matter how well-travelled (or non-travelled) you are, and the prose is so descriptive and wonderful that you learn as you go along.

As far as I'm concerned Bill Bryson is the finest non-fiction writer of our time.

An Early Effort from the Master Travel Writer
Reading Neither Here Nor There made me think that I won't die happy if I don't get to see Capri, and I determined that there were several other cities I don't ever wish to visit. I also learned that a certain brand of travelers' checks is terrible, and I won't be using them in this lifetime.

It is interesting to read this book in it's Communist-era, pre-Euro context. Empty shops in Bulgaria and discussion of purchasing things with dinars and schillings was very interesting. Unfortunately, reading the book even as I did, spreading the chapters out over several days, I still got that "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" feeling. I began to lose track of where Bill saw the beautiful sunset, or where his pocket was picked.

I was also disappointed by Bryson's alarming views towards animals and cavalier comments about hating them and wanting them killed. Dogs hate him, and this fact has provided much humor in his writing over the years, but the tangents he went on regarding his loathing of companion animals were over the top and distinctly unfunny. So was his anti-Arabic rant during one of his many visits to queues for financial situations. I may be more sensitive to such things in light of recent world events, as comments about the guttural nature of German language or the expense of traveling in Switzerland didn't bother me, but this did.

The funniest anecdotes were the ones Bryson shared about his previous travels through Europe with his friend Katz. Katz provided a hugely politically-incorrect thread of humor in the book, and at times I thought he would have made a more interesting traveling companion. Heresy, I know.

All in all, I'm very glad I read the book, and I got many laughs out of it, but it was no Walk in the Woods.