Monday, March 3, 2014

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

You may have fun, but you will never have as much fun as this kid. The Life And Times Of TheThunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson tells of his childhood’s finest memories. This is one of Bill Bryson’s many books. I have not read his other work but I look forward to do so.

Born and raised in Iowa, Bill Bryson, the “thunderbolt kid” was the one to set the stereotype of kids in the fifties with the things he had done such as swimming in dirty waters, playing sports completely wrong and wrong just to make it fun, and even building a bomb to set off in the yard of callanan middle school! Most kids would be jealous from all the things that are prohibited nowadays, if he was here, he would say that we are creating a generation of soft, wimpy, spoiled brats. With all the dumb things they had done, they got some good experiences out of it, such as to never play football around a pile of sharp rocks or if you see a herd of hillbillies and they demand a sacrifice, give them the kid who feels no fear or pain. And even if you breathe a cloud of harmful DDT gas, you can cough up colorful dust for months on end

The book is tied together with news articles, people, events, and places, which some of all of these things are just truly dreadful yet exciting. Readers develop an attachment to a character quite fast after they are introduced. The story isn’t focused on anything other than making for a few laughs, life lessons, and comparing childhood today to child hood of the fifties. He also makes the point that the fifties were great but they were not that great for black people, women, and lgbt.

I would recommend this book for kids and young adults as well as older people willing to relive the fifties and sixties. The book is suited to impress those who value autobiographies.


Book Review by John P.

No comments:

Post a Comment