THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID

by Bill Bryson

Humor is a funny thing. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist that.) Either I find someone funny or I don’t. Alas, I have discovered that I don’t find Bill Bryson particularly funny. To read an entire collection of essays, which Bryson has pulled together and called a memoir, had me grinding my teeth by the book’s end. My husband and I chose this as one of our “read-aloud” books – a new reading experience we started during the pandemic to break up the monotony of our days. Interestingly, my husband laughed aloud regularly as we made our way through the book. But then he has always appreciated social satire more easily than I do.

In Thunderbolt, Bryson recounts stories from his mid-western upbringing in the 1950s. Amid his reminiscing about how times were easier then, there are lots of sophomoric jokes about underpants and poop. And, honestly, a little of that goes a long way with me. Maybe if I’d stopped after one or two chapters – aka essays -- I wouldn’t have disliked Thunderbolt so much. As it is, we plowed through to the book’s end and this was definitely Not My Cup of Tea. (Liz)