Legacy of the Thunderbolt Kid
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The thunderbolt legacy by ben m
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up in Des Moines Iowa in the fifties? In the life and times of the thunder bolt kid by bill Bryson, bill tells the story of his child hood in the fifties from being at a Kid die coral in Dahls food store ,to the to Disneyland and everything in between.
So in this auto biography (which is not, its more of a memoir) there is some crazy stuff and then there is exaggeration. Here is a quick summary about the book to explain more. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson traces Brysons childhood in 1950s America. He relates an all-American experience in Des Moines, Iowa, full of family oddities, friendships, and his own rich imagination. His work associates the events, people, and inventions that have transformed America during the decade, along with Brysons own experiences and thoughts in fourteen themed chapters. Throughout, Bryson uses his alter ego, the Thunderbolt Kid, and his humorous reminisces to illuminate the concerns, preoccupations, and joys of a nation and a young boy in Iowa.
At some point in his childhood, Bryson decided that his biological parents could not possibly be his biological parents and he could not possibly be from earth. Finding an old football jersey with a golden thunder bolt on it that no one knew about could give you super powers (which actually it couldnt happen). Bryson grew up on the right side of town, in a white clapboard house, with his brother, his sister, his dad – a good-humored sportswriter for the Des Moines Register – and his mum, the muddle-headed home furnishings editor of the same paper. There was always good food to eat, and plenty of it, and neighborhood children out playing – Buddy Doberman, Lumpy Kowalski, and the Butter boys – and also Mrs. Bukowski, who “had the first bikini in Iowa and wore it while hanging out her wash”. “Growing up”, writes Bryson, not surprisingly, “was easy.”
Not only was bills exaggeration in his work way off Also, he was not much of a joke teller either if you read this book you will find that bill loves to exaggerate. Easy, ease and easiness are crucial terms in understanding his humor. He has a laid back style in which he doesnt so much tell jokes as it lets his sentences stretch out and relax into feet-up, satisfied good humor. “All our meals consisted of leftovers,” Bill writes. “My mother had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of foods that had already been to the table, sometimes repeatedly.” He likes a little clause at the end of a good sentence, like someone undoing their belt at the end of a good meal.
As a personal reflection to this book it was a great book that maybe will inspire me, or someone else to suppress my memories and to also write a book about my childhood. But, also bill to probably some