The life and times of the thunderbolt kid : a memoir

from One Of The Most Beloved And Bestselling Authors In The English Language, A Vivid, Nostalgic, And Utterly Hilarious Memoir Of Growing Up In The 1950s bill Bryson Was Born In The Middle Of The American Century—1951—in The Middle Of The United States—des Moines, Iowa—in The Middle Of The Largest Generation In American History—the Baby Boomers. As One Of The Best And Funniest Writers Alive, He Is Perfectly Positioned To Mine His Memories Of A Totally All-american Childhood For 24-carat Memoir Gold. Like Millions Of His Generational Peers, Bill Bryson Grew Up With A Rich Fantasy Life As A Superhero. In His Case, He Ran Around His House And Neighborhood With An Old Football Jersey With A Thunderbolt On It And A Towel About His Neck That Served As His Cape, Leaping Tall Buildings In A Single Bound And Vanquishing Awful Evildoers (and Morons)—in His Head—as The Thunderbolt Kid. using This Persona As A Springboard, Bill Bryson Re-creates The Life Of His Family And His Native City In The 1950s In All Its Transcendent Normality—a Life At Once Completely Familiar To Us All And As Far Away And Unreachable As Another Galaxy. It Was, He Reminds Us, A Happy Time, When Automobiles And Televisions And Appliances (not To Mention Nuclear Weapons) Grew Larger And More Numerous With Each Passing Year, And Ddt, Cigarettes, And The Fallout From Atmospheric Testing Were Considered Harmless Or Even Good For You. He Brings Us Into The Life Of His Loving But Eccentric Family, Including Affectionate Portraits Of His Father, A Gifted Sportswriter For The Local Paper And Dedicated Practitioner Of Isometric Exercises, And Of His Mother, Whose Job As The Home Furnishing Editor For The Same Paper Left Her Little Time For Practicing The Domestic Arts At Home. The Many Readers Of Bill Bryson’s Earlier Classic, a Walk In The Woods, Will Greet The Reappearance In These Pages Of The Immortal Stephen Katz, Seen Hijacking Literally Boxcar Loads Of Beer. He Is Joined In The Bryson Gallery Of Immortal Characters By The Demonically Clever Willoughby Brothers, Who Apply Their Scientific Skills And Can-do Attitude To Gleefully Destructive Ends. warm And Laugh-out-loud Funny, And Full Of His Inimitable, Pitch-perfect Observations, the Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid Is As Wondrous A Book As Bill Bryson Has Ever Written. It Will Enchant Anyone Who Has Ever Been Young. the New York Times - Jay Jennings as A Humorist, Bryson Falls Somewhere Between The One-liner Genius Of Dave Barry And The Narrative Brilliance Of David Sedaris…at His Best He Spools Out Operatically Funny Vignettes Of Sustained Absurdity That Nevertheless Remain Grounded In Universal Experience. These Accounts, Like The Description Of The Bumper-car Ride At A Run-down Amusement Park Or The Tale Of A Friend's Father's Descent From The High Dive At A Local Lake, Defy Excerpting; When Taken Whole, They Will Leave Many Readers De-couched. Occasionally In The Course Of His Reminiscences, Bryson Abandons Punch Lines And Demonstrates A Lyrical Gift For The Tactile And Noisome Nature Of Childhood…that Elevates The Work To The Level Of Classics In The Genre Like Laurie Lee's cider With Rosie . Adult/High School?The Thunderbolt Kid was born in the 1950s when six-year-old Bryson found a mysterious, scratchy green sweater with a satiny thunderbolt across the chest. The jersey bestowed magic powers on the wearer?X-ray vision and the power to zap teachers and babysitters and deflect unwanted kisses from old people. These are the memoirs of that Kid, whose earthly parents were not really half bad?a loving mother who didn't cook and was pathologically forgetful, but shared her love of movies with her youngest child, and a dad who was the greatest baseball writer that ever lived and took his son to dugouts and into clubhouses where he met such famous players as Stan Musial and Willie Mays. Simpler times are conveyed with exaggerated humor; the author recalls the middle of the last century in the middle of the country (Des Moines, IA), when cigarettes were good for you, waxy candies were considered delicious, and kids were taught to read with Dick and Jane. Students of the decade's popular culture will marvel at the insular innocence described, even as the world moved toward nuclear weapons and civil unrest. Bryson describes country fairs and fantastic ploys to maneuver into the tent to see the lady stripper, playing hookey, paper routes, church suppers, and more. His reminiscences will entertain a wide audience Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. Using his fantasy-life persona as a springboard, Bryson re-creates the life of his family in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality--a life at once familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy.--From publisher description