The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir Review
If you grew up in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and even the 80's, and you enjoy reading, you simply MUST read this book. I was born in '68, well after Bill Bryson, and most of which he wrote were things that I experienced as a kid. It made me smile, laugh, and even brought a tear to my eye. For some reason, this book is in my top ten of all time. I loved it that much....
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir Overview
BONUS FEATURE: Exclusive interview with the author.
From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the middle of the United States in the middle of the last century. A book that delivers on the promise that it is �laugh-out-loud funny.�
Some say that the first hints that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came from his discovery, at the age of six, of a woollen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater, but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap, and proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly, become invisible, shoot guns out of people�s hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman.
Bill Bryson�s first travel book opened with the immortal line, �I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.� In this hilarious new memoir, he travels back to explore the kid he once was and the weird and wonderful world of 1950s America. He modestly claims that this is a book about not very much: about being small and getting much larger slowly. But for the rest of us, it is a laugh-out-loud book that will speak volumes � especially to anyone who has ever been young.
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Customer Reviews
The Thunderbolt Kid - Francis W. Chamberand -
Typical Bill Bryson - exaggerated humor - laugh out loud funny. Book is a kind of tongue-in-cheek remembrance of growing up in Iowa. Very enjoyable reading
The 50's - JerseyGirl - Charlotte, NC
I read Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" and laughed so hard I was crying. I was expecting the same with "The Thunderbolt Kid". However, this is more a reminiscence of life in the Midwest in the 1950's. There were a few funny moments in this book but not nearly as many as a "A Walk in the Woods".
If you are a baby boomer and enjoy reading about growing up in that era, then this book will appeal. There are things here that all of us can enjoy if you are like me, a child of the 1950's.
The author uses the book as a tool for rants against the United States in some of the last chapters. He particularly has great unhappiness with Republicans, the CIA, and Nixon among others.
However, if you like to read about the past and remember some of the good times of the era then this is a fun book; it is just not as laugh out loud funny as "A Walk in the Woods". I did enjoy catching up with Bill Bryson's old friend, Stephen Katz, who accompanied him on his walk in the wood on the Applachian Trail. Since it is not quite as funny as the other book, I chose to give this book 3 stars. I like Bryson best when he is making me laugh.
a gut-buster - Jim -
If you were born in the 1950's as I was you really have to read this book. So much that I have forgotten is brought back to vivid life.
I got this with my new kindle, it's the first book I have read on it. A word of warning though, it's a real buster. I'm steal laughing.
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