He set foot on the British Isles for the very first time in the spring of 1973 and became a resident of the country for two decades. Then around the mid-1990s the family decided to move to his native United States. However, prior to the move to the States, he decided to do a solo trip across Britain which was to be his farewell. He re-visits places such as Dover, London, Windsor, Virginia Water, Bournemouth and several others, places he had visited all those decades ago. A number of cities and towns in Wales such as LLandudno, Porthmadog and in Scotland such as Edinburgh, Inverness, Thurso were included this time around.
He, in his inimitable style, shows the good, bad and ugly side of modern Britain while openly acknowledging the challenges the country faces given its high population density. One of his common refrains, during this trip, is the general apathy about heritage structures in the country. He thinks that because there is an abundance of such structures that’s why they are not cared for except for the ones that are popular and pull in the tourists. For example, he doesn’t mince words in his assessment of the town of Oxford, a town with an eight hundred years old University and yet how its town planners have so thoughtlessly dealt with it over the decades. Another example, he found the graves of George Orwell at Sutton Courtenay and Winston Churchill at Blandon in a general state of neglect in churchyards with tumbling tombstones. In comparison, the most obscure of American Presidents are accorded grand memorials.
One curious thing the readers will note is that he makes it a point to visit those places which were industrial centers of the British Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and captures their gradual and painful decay with a sense of sadness. Places such as Saltaire, Bingley, Ashington appeared forlorn during his visits. The mining village of Ashington, in particular, was an eye opener for him.
However, his travels around Scotland and Wales did seem a bit of a touch and go in comparison to his travels around England, although he did venture as far as John O’Groats, the northernmost tip of Scotland.
For Bill Bryson, self-deprecation is an integral part of his writing style and this book is no exception. Take this example. After he was given a run down of the rules by the nosy proprietress of a guest house in Dover, he took a piss in the sink as a silent protest against the complicated rules. He has this ability to bring humour and sarcasm when describing the most mundane of incidents. Of the 29 chapters the book is divided into, I found his writing style a notch better in Chapters 24 and 29.
Though this book can be appreciated to its fullest extent by British readers and those foreigner nationals who have lived in Britain for some years, there are a few incidents which the Indian readers can relate to as well. For example, the way the British people inquire about trains at railway platforms is similar to the way Indians do, just that British are a bit more queue-lovers. Or when he describes what over-commercialized mass tourism has done to Blackpool, a popular beach town, Indian readers can relate it to Goa.
If you’ve read Bill Bryson before and enjoy his works, then you will like this one too.
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