Notes from a Small Island

Title: Notes from a Small Island

Author: Bill Bryson

Publisher:  Black Swan, 2011 (First published 1993)

ISBN: 978-0-552-99600-6

Pages: 379

Bill Bryson is undoubtedly one of the funniest writers alive. As I mentioned in the review of his another title Down Under, you become his fan for life after reading anyone of his little gems of work. I started with his At Home, which I liked very much. By the time A Short History of Nearly Everything was reached, a genuine interest was born and with Down Under, I was enraptured with his style and now, this. Whereas Down Under dealt with his travels in Australia, this one references his journey in Britain, where he lived for two decades, before finally settling back in U.S, his home. The 7-week journey captured in the book was made just before his departure to U.S and presents in a condensed form Bryson’s accumulated wisdom spanning two decades he spent in the old country.

The book covers Bryson’s travels from the southern tip of Dover, which faces France on the continent, to the northernmost point of the country, John O’Groats in Scotland over seven weeks through train, automobile and sometimes by trekking, even. Along the weeks-long voyage Bryson makes fun of almost all aspects of British social life, but always with a tinge of deep-seated respect to its culture and social norms. The weariness which the author must have felt on this long, solo journey is not at all evident anywhere in the charming narrative. Even when there is a goof up, he calmly and good-naturedly acknowledges it and wipes away the ill will with a most hilarious account of the episode. Over the course of the expedition, the author travels through all the parts – England, Wales and Scotland. His decision to travel back home after two decades of stay in his adopted country is evident in several places – often with pangs of homesickness materializing at quite unexpected places, like in the middle of a movie which features American themes.

Though Bryson doesn’t spare any expense in making fun of all things enroute, his appreciation for Britain abounds and is made obvious in several pages like this one, “The glory of Britain is that it manages at once to be intimate and small-scale and at the same time packed to bursting with incident and interest. I am constanly filled with admiration at this – at the way you can wander through a town like Oxford and in the space of a few moments pass the home of Christopher Wren, the buildings where Halley found his comet and Boyle his first law, the track where Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile, the meadow where Lewis Carroll strolled; or how you can stand on Snow’s Hill at Windsor and see, in a single sweep, Windsor Castle and the playing fields of Eton, the churchyard where Gray wrote his elegy, the site where The Merry Wives of Windsor was first performed. (p.324). See this rich tribute to the country which headed the allies in World War II, and obtained a Pyrrhic victory, “What an enigma Britain will seem to historians when they look back on the second half of the twentieth century. Here is a country that fought and won a noble war, dismantled a mighty empire in a generally benign and enlightened way, created a far-seeing welfare state – in short, did nearly everything right – and then spent the rest of the century looking on itself as a chronic failure” (p.379).

As we go along with Bryson in this memorable town-hopping trip, we get to know the rhythm that animates British social life. Pubs, hotels, museums and good walkways constitute the essence of amenities the towns keep in store for the travellers. He tastes every such facility in a town before he leaves for another. The narration is extremely interesting and arresting. However, unlike in Down Under, the whole purpose of the journey sometimes suggest itself to be somewhat pointless, considering the small size of Britain unlike Australia, which is a continent. Also the urban infrastructure is conspicuous by the monotony of features they represent. In every town, you get to know the same places mentioned earlier in this paragraph. Such homologous architecture is in fact caused by the compactness of Britain as a whole. Perhaps you may also find that though Bryson’s language is extremely witty and hilarious, it may not be entirely recommendable for children. Depending on the reader’s cultural background, he might come across some passages which may offend his stricter sensibilities regarding the décor of the language which may seem to cross into the terrain of obscenity, at least on one occasion.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star