I have read all of Bill Bryson's books at least once (excepting his newest, which I just bought this afternoon and will start shortly), most of them twice, but The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid holds a personal record for me. I'm not sure how many times I have read it, but a conservative estimate would put it at six. It is my literary comfort food, the book I pick up with the most relish, the one that hits me in the belly with a pang every time I reach its final pages, when I know it will be a couple of years at least before I pick it up again.
Though most famous as a travel writer, Bryson's books--especially his later works--cover a wide range of subjects, from science to history to literature. If I had to categorize him as a particular kind of writer, i would do so (somewhat pretentiously, I admit) as a chronicler of knowledge. Whatever his subject, he covers it with verve, intensity,and an unparalleled wit.
Among his works, Thunderbolt Kid is something of an outlier. It is ostensibly an autobiography, but in Bryson's characteristic meandering style, it becomes as much a biography of his era—1950s America--than of himself. He uses his own experiences as springboards to a discussion of the broader period, its strengths, its mores, its foibles and quirks. He peppers the text with interesting facts and arresting anecdotes, including bizarre news stories that serves as epigraphs for each chapter. The result is a rich exploration of America's apotheosis, told without jingoism but with pride.
Bryson’s prose, as always, is excellent. He is quite possibly the greatest comic writer of his time, and in Thunderbolt Kid he is at the top of his game. There are parts of this book that make me laugh every time I read them, even though I know they’re coming from pages away. While I would argue that his greatest, most out-of-the-park lines actually appear in A Walk in the Woods (his description of a bunk bed mattress, in which he notes that the previous occupant “didn’t so much suffer from incontinence as rejoice in it” can get a belly laugh out of me from memory alone, pretty much at will), I think Thunderbolt Kid is, when taken as a whole, his funniest book, and also his most touching. I already look forward to reading it again.