I had high hopes for this book which was picked by one of my book clubs. Bill Bryson’s other travelogues are hilarious (“Neither Here nor There” is probably my favourite). This book covers Bill’s attempt to trek the Appalachian Trail. This is the same trail Cheryl Strayed walked in her memoir “Wild” which I found intriguing.
However, this book was a disappointment. It was not as funny as Bryson’s other books. I couldn’t get past the way he described his travel companion, Stephen Katz, which seemed downright mean. Much of the humour centred around Katz’s shortcomings and, to a lesser extent, those of others they encountered while walking the trail.
The only reason I give pause for thought is, when we discussed this book in our book club, most people felt a sympathy for Katz. I am not sure whether that proves Bryson was unnecessarily cruel or whether his language revealed a nuance about Katz that lead us to side with the latter.
Has anyone else read it? What did you think?
