Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe is a 1991 humorous travelogue by American writer Bill Bryson. His take on istanbul is unbearably putdownish. he should try it again. However his attampts to find humor in every situation will hardly improve the second time. However the city improved a lot with millions visiting and enjoying it. Mavi Boncuk |
Bill Bryson's first travel book, The Lost Continent, was unanimously acclaimed as one of the funniest books in years. In Neither Here nor There he brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia. Fluent in, oh, at least one language, he retraces his travels as a student twenty years before.
Whether braving the homicidal motorist of Paris, being robbed by gypsies in Florence, attempting not to order tripe and eyeballs in a German restaurant, window-shopping in the sex shops of the Reeperbahn or disputing his hotel bill in Copenhagen, Bryson takes in the sights, dissects the culture and illuminates each place and person with his hilariously caustic observations. He even goes to Liechtenstein.
It documents the author's tour of Europe in 1990, with many flashbacks to two summer tours he made in 1972 and 1973 in his college days. Parts featuring his 1973 tour focus to a large extent on the pseudonymous "Stephen Katz", who accompanied Bryson, and who would play a more prominent role in Bryson's later book A Walk in the Woods, as well as appearing in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.
Bryson's trip begins in the winter, in Hammerfest, Norway, where his goal is to see the Northern Lights. He visits numerous locations throughout Europe, commenting on the various aspects of life in different parts of Europe, and comparing them to how he experienced them in his earlier visits. The book ends with Bryson reaching Istanbul, Turkey,[1] and contemplating on how the city is the gateway to Asia, and considers continuing his tour.
Unlike Bryson's later books, Neither Here nor There is marked by his solo observations; he does not seem to engage locals in conversation in his travels, nor is there as much detailed research about the history, flora and fauna of the places visited.
