Fantastic Euro-Voyage

Europe or Bust? Bill Bryson has traveled to Europe twice, each time adding to the story/travel guide he provides in Neither Here Nor There. He made his first trip with the disastrous Stephen Katz, whom Bryson vividly describes. The second trip ocurred many years later when Bryson went alone to find what he had missed during his first trip with Katz.

Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe

by Bill Bryson

William Morrow &Co., Inc.

$20.00

Neither Here Nor There is a gem of a book that combines little known history, interesting statistics and countless anecdotes that make for both an incredibly delightful read and an extremely enjoyable travel guide.

Though Bryson currently resides in England, he writes from an entirely American perspective. In it, he finds European stereotypes in all the people he meets.

Through his travels he learns to agree with Christopher Hibbert, saying "the peoples of Europe have for at least three hundred years been living up to their stereotypes." He then states that since the sixteenth century travelers have described "the Italians as voluble, unreliable, and hopelessly corrupt; the Germans as gluttonous; the Swiss as irritatingly officious and tidy; the French as, well, insufferably French."

As a motif, Bryson uses the description of the drivers in different countries. He begins with France, claiming that "the pedestrian crossing lights have been designed with the clear intention of leaving the foreign visitor confused, humiliated, and if all goes according to plan, dead." He follows that by telling how blind people and old ladies in wheelchairs can cross without hesitation, but how when he crosses the drivers try to kill him.

Bryson then moves to Italy, asserting that the drivers no longer "want" to kill him, but they still "will." Apparently, the drivers are too busy "tooting their horns, gesturing wildly, preventing other vehicles from cutting into their lane, making love, smacking the children in the back seat, and eating a sandwich the size of a baseball bat, often all at once" to pay attention to pedestrians. Spontaneity like this makes this book enjoyable.

Bryson does not try to "sell" Europe, but instead depicts all the color and vitality he has experienced there. He makes his work distinct from other travelogues because he does not merely glamorize the scenes and sights of Europe--he adds all of the hilarious anecdotes that have happened to him in his months of travel. Where else will you find Naples depicted as a dump and a description of the view of the sea at Capri as something for which the author would trade eyelashes with Tammy Bakker?

As a travel guide, Neither Here Nor There is nothing if not honest, which distinguish it from the rest. For example, Bryson became so frustrated with the other "incredibly useless guidebooks to Italy" that he decided not to dignify them by revealing their names--except that "one of them should have been called Let's Go Get Another Guidebook and the other one was Fodor's."

Most endearing about Neither Here Nor There is not its value as a travel guide, but its incredible levity. This book provides enjoyment for any reader, whether interested in Europe or not. Fortunately, it does provide some great inside information for any eager, or bored, traveler. One has to read this little work to experience the anecdotes that are much too graphic and profane to be quoted here.

These are reasons themselves to read this book. If you have ever gone, or are planning to go to Europe, this book should be required reading. And if you never get farther than the city limits, Neither Here Nor There provides just as great an experience.