The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid : a Memoir
Library Journal Review: I can't imagine there has ever been a more gratifying time or place to be alive than America in the 1950s, writes Bryson (A Walk in the Woods), and his wryly amusing stories of his childhood in Des Moines almost convince the reader this is true. Bryson recounts the world of his younger self, buried in comic books in the Kiddie Corral at the local supermarket, resisting civil defense drills at school, and fruitlessly trying to unravel the mysteries of sex. His alter ego, the Thunderbolt Kid, born of his love for comic-book superheroes and the need to vaporize irritating people, serves as an astute outside observer of life around him. His family's foibles are humorously presented, from his mother's burnt, bland cooking to his father's epic cheapness. The larger world of 1950s America emerges through the lens of Billy's world, including the dark underbelly of racism, the fight against communism, and the advent of the nuclear age. Recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/06.]?Alison M. Lewis, Drexel Univ. Lib., Philadelphia Copyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.