The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid
Bill Bryson
If you are not an American, if you weren’t born or grew up during the 1950’s or if you have lost any memory of your childhood, fret not. For here is an interesting guide who will stand by you and take you on a tour around America in the 1950’s, a trip down history, a childhood of the Thunderbolt Kid. Des Moines is the place and your guide is none other than the Thunderbolt Kid a.k.a. Bill Bryson.
While you imagine yourself being transported in time, you will see the land of opportunities, the Americans’ obsession for cars, electronic goods and themselves from the view of a fellow citizen.
Bill Bryson’s fantastic humour makes you wonder how interesting, a boring place like Des Moines, can be. As a child, Bryson morphs into this fictional comic hero, Thunderbolt kid to wage war against the adult world. Confused? I was for the first time as I did not relate to many characters from TV shows, movies of yester years of their land. But, interesting narration of growing up years, the pranks kids play, the boyish antics and many such incidents make you relate and recall your childhood memories.
Even serious issues like racism, women empowerment, child delinquency, politics, and nuke race get importance and touched upon with sensitivity and good humour. The book can be said to be both informative and hilarious at the same time. One moment you are laughing your head off when Bryson, with his brilliant style, whacks you right to the ground reality and then again lets you take off on boyish fantasies.
The book is a memoir of Bryson and he narrates his school days and the kid world with such alacrity that everyone that has went through a childhood will relate to at least one incident. His indignation towards his mother’s cooking skills, the vivid description of Uncle Dee’s masticated gooey liquid flowing out of his throat, why Lumpy Wilkinson got his name and his long time friend Katz’ eccentric nature make the characters come alive with Bryson’s wit and effective
narrative style.
With so many angles to childhood and incidents around the town, you’d most certainly want to look at your own town with a new perspective. The undiscovered path leading to your school, the regular hangout that now has transformed into something modern, the creaky old building where you thought the watchman was the ghost are possibly incidents every child will remember. Reading this book will not only take you to Bryson’s childhood but will let the floodgates of your own memories as a child, open. Beware!
