The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid – A Memoir by Bill Bryson

This delightful memoir comes highly recommended by MRB friend Charlie Stella. I’ve learned that if Stella likes it, the book is probably pretty darn good. No exception here.

Bryson is a talented author widely known for his most notable book, A Walk in the Woods, that recounts his laughable efforts at being a through hiker of the Appalachian Trail. ‘Thunderbolt Kid’ is a wonderfully nostalgic look at growing up in the middle . . . in the middle of the country (Des Moines), in the middle of the century (1950s), and born in the middle of the baby boom (1950).

There is no plot per se. Each chapter has a unique theme that each could be considered a short story. Bryson tells us about his family (and his wonderfully ditzy mother), home, neighbors, town landmarks (parks, schools, theaters, stores), the Iowa landscape, farming, dull loser brothers, the neighborhood dork/geek/wizard/girl magnet/future AA member, and lord only knows how many more. Take your pick.

And don't forget to stop in the grocery store with the Kid Corral (a fenced off corner filled with comic books), or the drug store to sneak peaks at girlie magazines, or stealing beer, or faking IDs, or the war zone of middle school, the girls, kid's matinees at the movie theater, blacks on the other side of town, local bully-ers and bully-ees, big brothers, clueless parents, cops, and store owners. How the hell does he remember all this stuff?

For people of a certain age, this helps recall fond memories of when all really was good with America (at least until the Soviets launched Sputnik). For younger people, it lets them in on a secret. It really wasn’t all that bad ‘back when I was a boy’ and sadly, that we aren’t likely to ever experience a time like that again.

If the stats of Blogspot are accurate, this post marks the 500^th review here at MRB. They say the first 500 are the hardest. We shall see about the next 500.

East Coast Don