View Full Version : Do People Still Like to Hate on Bill Bryson?
DuctTape
03-15-2017, 17:22
I just re-read A Walk in the Woods for the first time in maybe fifteen years, and it's still great.
I remember back in 2001 and 2002 it was in vogue to pick on Bryson and his popular book. Someone had even made T-shirts stating "Bill Bryson is a Candy-Ass." Does this sort of thing still go on?
Bryson has a way of wrapping up so many aspects of the Trail in a funny line or two. People go on and on about things in their plodding trail journals that he wraps in a neat little package.
I think a lot of it was mostly jealously - he wrote THE book about the Appalachian Trail and didn't even hike the whole thing.
I still haven't seen the movie.
13 Bill Bryson Quotes that Capture the Appalachian Trail Better than Your Crappy Journal
(http://www.downthetrail.com/book-reviews/13-bill-bryson-quotes-that-capture-the-appalachian-trail-better-than-your-crappy-journal/)
Do people still scoff at him or what?
FrogLevel
03-15-2017, 17:36
I loved the book. I never understood the hate he got for it- its just a humorous book about trying to hike. Its typical Bryson. People take things way too seriously.
ScareBear
03-15-2017, 17:42
He's a quitter. A failure. Who wants to read a book about a failure by a quitter? Or a book about quitting by a failure?
Him and Strayed. Profiting by quitting and failing. Only in America(tm)...
HYOH.
Christoph
03-15-2017, 17:43
I liked the book. I think he wrote a pretty funny one. Still have it, read it a few times.
Greenlight
03-15-2017, 17:46
It is part of the AT canon. A chapter in the AT bible, if you will. It is funny and he is clever, but an author friend of mine said he was disappointed with it because it leaned too much toward the "Me and Joe" genre. I've read the book and seen the movie. I'll probably do both again if for no other reason than I love the AT, love reading about people's experiences on and around it, have loved the short sections I've hiked so far, will one day thru-hike it, and may very well wind up being a trail angel afterward.
But Bill Bryson is a candy ass.
:)
I just re-read A Walk in the Woods for the first time in maybe fifteen years, and it's still great.
I remember back in 2001 and 2002 it was in vogue to pick on Bryson and his popular book. Someone had even made T-shirts stating "Bill Bryson is a Candy-Ass." Does this sort of thing still go on?
Bryson has a way of wrapping up so many aspects of the Trail in a funny line or two. People go on and on about things in their plodding trail journals that he wraps in a neat little package.
I think a lot of it was mostly jealously - he wrote THE book about the Appalachian Trail and didn't even hike the whole thing.
I still haven't seen the movie.
13 Bill Bryson Quotes that Capture the Appalachian Trail Better than Your Crappy Journal
(http://www.downthetrail.com/book-reviews/13-bill-bryson-quotes-that-capture-the-appalachian-trail-better-than-your-crappy-journal/)
Do people still scoff at him or what?
johnnybgood
03-15-2017, 17:50
Mr. Bryson is a world renown writer, author of many humorous books. To add validity to "A Walk in the Woods " he thought it would be necessary to experience it firsthand.
He never claimed to thru hike the AT so I'm not sure why the hate.
ScareBear
03-15-2017, 17:53
It was tongue-in-cheek sarcasm relating to a separate thread on somebody calling somebody a quitter....
But, Bryson aint no Dave Barry. Now if Dave Barry ever tried to thru hike the AT, the ten books(one for every 200 miles) would be epic humor....epic...
Sarcasm the elf
03-15-2017, 18:15
I've read a lot of A.T. books and Bryson's is still probably my favorite. From what I've seen it Seems like an author pretending to be a hiker can do a better job of telling a tale than a hiker pretending to be an author. :-?
garlic08
03-15-2017, 18:56
Mr. Bryson is a world renown writer, author of many humorous books. To add validity to "A Walk in the Woods " he thought it would be necessary to experience it firsthand.
He never claimed to thru hike the AT so I'm not sure why the hate.
Totally agree with Bryson's creds, but I think you're wrong about his claim. I specifically remember him stating in the last chapter that he feels he hiked the entire AT through his sampling, and I scoffed a bit at that. Hey, nobody's perfect. I still like Bryson's writing.
Boardin12
03-15-2017, 18:58
I haven't read the book but I have watched the movie so I can't speak for the book. How many movies are accurate? For instance the Fast and Furious movies are very unrealistic. Movies are meant to be entertaining. Makes me laugh when people get all upset about how a movie isn't like the book or isn't like real life. It's a movie! It's 1.5-2 hours long! Of course it's not how it is in real life. Anybody's life or story told in 1.5 hours would either be boring or not 100% accurate. A Walk in the Woods is one of my favorite movies
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I dont mind hating on Bill Bryson.
Loved the book, love the author. I've read most of his other books as well. I like the sarcasm and the self-deprecation. He doesn't take himself too seriously. All that said, I can see why some folks might be offended by certain parts of it.
I don't get the objection about him being a quitter. If anything, he's the more typical thru hiker wannabe. The vast majority don't make it. Reading Bryson, you learn a bit more about why that's the case.
TJ aka Teej
03-15-2017, 19:51
Do people still scoff at him or what?
Yes. His story was immediately debunked when the book came out.
He's a candyass.
Greenlight
03-15-2017, 19:51
Sarc,
You have the gift. LOL
I've read a lot of A.T. books and Bryson's is still probably my favorite. From what I've seen it Seems like an author pretending to be a hiker can do a better job of telling a tale than a hiker pretending to be an author. :-?
Yes. His story was immediately debunked when the book came out.
He's a candyass.
I prefer the term Bryson used to describe himself: buttercup.
rocketsocks
03-15-2017, 20:36
I'm a fan, damn good book. I also like his "a short history of nearly everything" pack full of jumping off points to research about sciencey type stuff...Big Bang to present. I listen to it on audio book, over and over again, never got bored of it yet.
Only saw the movie...had me rolling, especially Nick Nolte. Really disappointed with the ending, "hey, you want to home?". And that was that. Here's one case where I wish the Hollywood folks took cinematic license and took those guys all the way to Katahdin.
Odd Man Out
03-15-2017, 20:55
It was tongue-in-cheek sarcasm relating to a separate thread on somebody calling somebody a quitter....
But, Bryson aint no Dave Barry. Now if Dave Barry ever tried to thru hike the AT, the ten books(one for every 200 miles) would be epic humor....epic...
Yes, I got it. I was going to say that based on what's been posting recently, the answer is "yes". You're just more clever than me.
I've read a lot of A.T. books and Bryson's is still probably my favorite. From what I've seen it Seems like an author pretending to be a hiker can do a better job of telling a tale than a hiker pretending to be an author. :-?
Freekin' Brilliant!
*spoiler alert* I still bust out laughing every time I visualize Katz jettisoning gear and food as he comes up the approach trail - my favorite part.
I also appreciate the observations about how people in towns are wedded to their cars. I think there was one place he stopped where it was almost impossible to walk a half mile to get a grocery store and everyone though he was nuts to do so. And was it home town where people insisted on more parking by the gym because they needed to drive there so they could work out? Nice
Sarcasm the elf
03-15-2017, 21:05
Only saw the movie...had me rolling, especially Nick Nolte. Really disappointed with the ending, "hey, you want to home?". And that was that. Here's one case where I wish the Hollywood folks took cinematic license and took those guys all the way to Katahdin.
I haven't read the book but I have watched the movie so I can't speak for the book. How many movies are accurate? For instance the Fast and Furious movies are very unrealistic. Movies are meant to be entertaining. Makes me laugh when people get all upset about how a movie isn't like the book or isn't like real life. It's a movie! It's 1.5-2 hours long! Of course it's not how it is in real life. Anybody's life or story told in 1.5 hours would either be boring or not 100% accurate. A Walk in the Woods is one of my favorite movies
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I highly recommend reading the book (or listening to it on audiotape) when they adapted it for the film version they removed many of the best scenes, some because of time limitations and some because of off color humor. The book also gives some great background about the region as well as the creation of the trail.
I have read a lot of books about Appalachian Trail hikes and Bryson's is still my favorite. I would rather spend my time on a well crafted work by someone who has hiked part of the trail than some of the stuff that is out there by wannabe writers who claim they have hiked the entire trail.
Lone Wolf
03-15-2017, 21:08
anybody saying bryson is a candyass is just a packsniffin' wannabe
I read the book and also saw the movie. The book was good. The movie, which pretty much sucked except Nolte as Katz, was apparently based on some other book since it wasn't anywhere near the narrative of the book.
garlic08
03-15-2017, 21:24
I definitely agree the movie was not up to the book's humor standard. Redford could not, in my opinion, pull off Bryson's innate humor. The words were there, the humor was not. I also appreciated the natural history and human history narratives in the book, some of which I pondered on my thru hike. There are only a few books on my minimalist shelf, and a copy of AWITW is among them.
The book was a hoot as is most of Bryson's work. The movie was a dud. I can see Wild (film) inspiring someone to hike the PCT but, after all the delays and hand wringing WRT to AWITW (film), it only inspired me to quit going to movies.
MuddyWaters
03-15-2017, 21:49
Bryson ought to come back and thru hike it, show the naysyers up
rocketsocks
03-15-2017, 22:37
Bryson ought to come back and thru hike it, show the naysyers upid bet money that's never gonna happen, he was just being honest when he said "you don't have to hike the whole trail to get the thing of it"
MuddyWaters
03-15-2017, 23:11
id bet money that's never gonna happen, he was just being honest when he said "you don't have to hike the whole trail to get the thing of it"
Yeah.
And hes lookin pretty old these days.
AWIW was almost 20 yrs ago.
cliffordbarnabus
03-15-2017, 23:20
people will always hate that which they wish they could have done.
accurate portrayal of a thru-hike? nope. and never claims to be.
entertaining, funny, non-life-changing read? yup.
Dan Roper
03-15-2017, 23:23
Bryson is a supremely talented and funny writer (but not for those who don't enjoy vulgarity and profanity). A Walk in the Woods is a magnificent book and a bad movie.
One of the epic vignettes in the book is Bryson's account of entering Gatlinburg and then driving through Knoxville: "We wet ourselves lavishly." Another hilarious episode is the encounter with the spiffy, LL Bean-type backpackers at at a shelter. Wonderful writing.
An interesting part of his book is his dire predictions about the fate of songbirds in eastern North America. He noted that they were disappearing at the rate of 3% per year. By that math, songbirds should be essentially extinct now. Of course, they aren't. A great example of hysteria.
The first part of his trip - from Springer to Newfound Gap - seems very legit to me. After that it mainly becomes strung together vignettes on various topics, from coal mining to National Park Service land management notions. Very entertaining, but not really backpacking.
Tipi Walter
03-15-2017, 23:30
I read it when it came out and laughed at a few Katz encounters with random trail women, as in:
Trail woman: (to paraphrase) "So, what's your star sign?"
Katz: "Cunnilingus."
I mercifully haven't given Bryson a second thought until this thread.
Uncle Joe
03-15-2017, 23:48
I have no hate for him. It wasn't the book I thought it would be. That's probably because I was immersing myself in hiking encounters when I read it. Had I come at it for the story I would likely have enjoyed it more.
Yeah.
And hes lookin pretty old these days.
AWIW was almost 20 yrs ago.
Bryson is a year older than me. His hike was in '95, The book was published in '97. He was 43 when he did his hike. How many mid-life thru hikers do you know? Not many, I bet.
Buddy and Jensine and Rainbow Springs Campground are long gone. Shaws' is still around but old man Shaw is gone. Large scale organized trail magic wasn't yet a thing. The Smokies were soggy. Gatlinburg was a zoo. Newbs talked about gear. Some things don't change.
The appeal of the book stems from the fact that he was clearly not cut out as a hiker. He'd done a lot of traveling but his career up to that point was as a journalist and writer. He'd never been much of an outdoorsman. He jokes, in the book, about what a big deal it would be to ***** in the woods.
He knew it was an outrageous thing to do, but went anyway. Taking Katz along doomed the effort from the get go, but sure made for a funny story.
I'd read dozens of journals (the complete Rodale Press anthology) prior to my thru attempt. None of them made me laugh out loud the way Bryson did, and still does.
He still does a lot of walking. His latest work (The Road to Little Dribbling) is about his day hikes all around England.
CrumbSnatcher
03-16-2017, 00:05
books better than the movie :)
CrumbSnatcher
03-16-2017, 00:14
i didn't hate either one though. as Jack always said, Bryson might be a candy ass. But he made a butt load of money off a lot of us. :0
illabelle
03-16-2017, 06:06
Bryson is a supremely talented and funny writer (but not for those who don't enjoy vulgarity and profanity). A Walk in the Woods is a magnificent book and a bad movie.
One of the epic vignettes in the book is Bryson's account of entering Gatlinburg and then driving through Knoxville: "We wet ourselves lavishly."....
My favorite!
Traveler
03-16-2017, 06:37
My introduction to Bryson was with "Notes from a Small Island" and his hike through southern England. I think that book gave me perspective to really appreciate "Walk in the Woods".
Hating on Bryson is akin to hating Melville because one of his books detailed whaling, or Jack London because he had dogs in one of his works.
Francis Sawyer
03-16-2017, 09:19
Bryson makes a living with his writing. Judging from the posts on WB I'd say that NONE here could do that. I've read most of his books and enjoyed them all. He mixes a bit of humor with a bit of information in his prose and it works. He made me laugh a few times and a smile is something of which we can all benefit. As for his failure to thru; He's not alone. Yes , I'm talking to you.
fiddlehead
03-16-2017, 09:30
Didn't think I'd like it, as I didn't like his writing style in 2 of his other books that I had read beforehand.
He was too often finding the bad things about places for me.
I like to look for the good.
Anyway, I thought "A Walk in the Woods" was great.
It wasn't as negative as some of his other stuff and had me laughing many times.
Good one.
Should he hike the rest of it?
I would.
I believe I like to walk in the woods more than he does though.
Tipi Walter
03-16-2017, 09:34
Bryson makes a living with his writing. Judging from the posts on WB I'd say that NONE here could do that.
Because most of us could care less about writing for a living. The only pertinent question I have for Bryson is this: Is he still out backpacking and is he still getting his all-important bag nights?
Hikingjim
03-16-2017, 09:35
Enjoyed Walk in the Woods (don't care how far he or anyone else makes it). Tried some of his other books (the australian one and one in england), and could not get into them at all
Seatbelt
03-16-2017, 09:56
I loved the book. I never understood the hate he got for it- its just a humorous book about trying to hike. Its typical Bryson. People take things way too seriously.
Maybe because Bryson rarely passes up a chance to make fun of southerners, not only this book either.
I always loved the book. Never understood the hate.
thumper-TX
03-16-2017, 10:12
The book was my introduction to the A.T. and the reason I hike today. He is a masterful writer, the sort of guy who could go to the hardware store to buy a hammer and somehow come back with an interesting, humorous story. The film is a lightweight affair, absent of Bryson's wonderful history and lore of the trail, but still a pleasant diversion if you enjoyed the book.
FrogLevel
03-16-2017, 12:27
Maybe because Bryson rarely passes up a chance to make fun of southerners, not only this book either.
To be fair we do give him lots of material.
JLorenzo77
03-17-2017, 12:53
I enjoyed his book. As a pretty pathetic hiker and an even more pathetic humor writer, I thought it was a good blend of both. And now I'd like to shamelessly plug my blog.
www.theauthorofsarcasm.com
In all honesty, I was sort of disappointed that he didn't finish it. I realized it when I was nearing the end of the book and they were only in VA.
illabelle
03-17-2017, 13:34
I enjoyed his book. As a pretty pathetic hiker and an even more pathetic humor writer, I thought it was a good blend of both. And now I'd like to shamelessly plug my blog.
www.theauthorofsarcasm.com (http://www.theauthorofsarcasm.com)
In all honesty, I was sort of disappointed that he didn't finish it. I realized it when I was nearing the end of the book and they were only in VA.
You're a good writer! I enjoyed your essay on crayons. :D
JLorenzo77
03-17-2017, 14:19
You're a good writer! I enjoyed your essay on crayons. :D
Well thank you illabelle! I appreciate that!
I've read a lot of A.T. books and Bryson's is still probably my favorite. From what I've seen it Seems like an author pretending to be a hiker can do a better job of telling a tale than a hiker pretending to be an author. :-?
As the thousands of accounts at TrailJournals certainly attest! One can literally see the failure of the American school system when attempting to read such excrement.
I imagine Bryson isn't overly concerned about what some sanctimonious thru-hikers or forum dwellers think of him. The guy's doing all right, and the fact he loves walking is a nice peculiarity in this day and age.
rocketsocks
03-17-2017, 15:14
You're a good writer! I enjoyed your essay on crayons. :DI like the way this fella thinks...thanks for da tip!
this is the interweb - everyone likes to hate on everything
I am a lifelong big reader - likely over a million pages - IMO opinion the only 2 AT authors who could write are bryson and model t
the only AT movie that I ever considered subjecting my non-hiker wife to, was a walk in the woods
The first time I seen a "Bill Bryson is a candy ass" tee shirt, Baltimore Jack was wearing it.
Settled law, in my opinion. :D
V8
As the thousands of accounts at TrailJournals certainly attest! One can literally see the failure of the American school system when attempting to read such excrement.
.
obviously your education did not learn you the definition/ purpose of a journal, it is a quick unedited account - as a opposed to a "memoir"
I liked A. Digger Stoltz' stories of a semi-fictional hike. Stumblin Thru. They are pretty funny.
i didn't hate either one though. as Jack always said, Bryson might be a candy ass. But he made a butt load of money off a lot of us. :0
From a while ago but funny.
From Just Passin' Thru by Winton Porter: Jensine, from the hostel in Franklin, says "That pasny-ass wouldn't know which side of the mountain to walk off when I was done with him. You know he pissed off a lot of people along this trail, and he better not show his face around here again. Did you hear what he sad about my chili? And the bunkhouse - what does he expect, the Hilton? With a Continental breakfast?"
GANGGREEN
03-18-2017, 15:10
Maybe because Bryson rarely passes up a chance to make fun of southerners, not only this book either.
I'm not a southerner and I've never through-hiked the trail, but I agree with you. I thought Bryson came off as being very smarmy and condescending all around. There were funny things in the book and he's a very good writer, I just didn't care for his attitude.
gpburdelljr
03-18-2017, 16:58
Maybe because Bryson rarely passes up a chance to make fun of southerners, not only this book either.
I'm not a southerner and I've never through-hiked the trail, but I agree with you. I thought Bryson came off as being very smarmy and condescending all around. There were funny things in the book and he's a very good writer, I just didn't care for his attitude.
I'm a southerner, and took no offence. Even southerners, like Jeff Foxworthy, make fun of southerners.
Uncle Cranky
03-19-2017, 01:25
Bryson is the only guy who made millions of dollars off the Trail and right now he's got his feet up, smoking a cigar, sipping some sherry and isn't even thinking about the A.T. or your opinion of him for that matter.