The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

This was the funniest book I have read in ages that didn't have crime, gore and blood! Bill takes us back to the 50's when lifes pleasures were so simple- I can just see the toys, streets, drive-in movies come to life. His attempt to go to the State Fair to see the "risky ladies" was so funny-each year they raised the age limit!

Do you remember when there used to be air-raid drills in school? Or when you first realized your parents had sex?

Gotta read it!

Bill Bryson's "Thunderbolt Kid" is one of the funniest, best-crafted memoirs ever written. This zany and yet thought-provoking book will resonate with any American over 45, okay, 50. And the dusting of pathos at the end, the disappearance of splendid old theaters and family-owned businesses, could have been about any city anywhere in the country.

Roger L. Conlee, author of "Counterclockwise" and "Every Shape, Every Shadow"

The boyhood memories and antics are spot on
and hilarious. All wasted as author tries
to inject political views ,eg A Bomb and
other subtle partisan views..Read the the first
half of book,then put it down.

When first reading this title, I had no interest in the story, but this is a wonderful book, very entertaining and insightful. It's only fault is a weak title. Bill Bryson reminded me very much of my childhood in America and the loss of a certain quality of life which now exists only in our memories. American once had something special and dynamic, a uniqueness and individuality, an optimism and positive can-do attitude that has been replaced by a McShopping obsessed society, the numbing sameness of the mall culture of a consumer society. The Thunderbolt Kid is in reality the story of the death of America, the death of all the qualities that made America special, before it became The Empire. Through his own recollections, Bryson paints a portrait of his America and contrasts this vision against the conformity of America today. It ultimately becomes a tragic vision of loss.

Highly entertaining story. No wonder he changed identities of his buddies: they got into some pretty wild stuff. And the Kid's views and observations are high comedy. Just a bit of obvious stretching the facts is my only complaint.