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I'm a stranger here myself
523 pages
A hilarious, bewildered love letter to the absurdities of American life, seen through the eyes of a returning native.
What it feels like
Reading this collection of essays feels like sitting at a diner with your funniest, most observant friend as they point out the ridiculousness of everything around you. Because it was originally written as a series of weekly columns, the pace is brisk and highly snackable, making it easy to dip in and out of. The mood is overwhelmingly lighthearted and cozy, steeped in a bemused affection for the quirks of American culture. The prose is conversational and sharp, relying on masterful hyperbole and self-deprecating wit to land its jokes. It is a perfect fit for anyone who delights in gentle satire and the kind of observational humor that makes you laugh out loud at the mundane absurdities of everyday life.
- Mood
- lighthearted
- cozy
- nostalgic
- bewildered
- Tone
- wry
- bemused
- affectionate
- self-deprecating
- observational
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- reverse culture shock · absurdities of modern life · rediscovering home · American excess · comforts of the mundane
- The writing
- Conversational, witty, and sharply observant, relying on hyperbole and perfectly timed comedic beats.
- The arc
- Moves from bewildered alienation to a fond, if exasperated, acceptance of his homeland.
- Who it's for
- Readers who enjoy gentle satire, observational humor, and essays about the quirks of everyday life.
About the book
After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item. Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Description from Open Library.
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