Am pierdut prea mult timp incercand sa scriu despre Notes form a Big Country. Sincer nu pot. Imi vine doar sa rad…

Cei ce ma cunosc stiu ca eu zambesc/rad cu usurinta. Nu am nevoie de planuri elaborate si strategii atent construite pentru a rade cu pofta. Dar cand citesc zambetul imi dispare cu desavarsire de pe buze. De multe ori mi s-a intamplat sa plang. De si mai multe ori sa blestem scriitura proasta si pierderea timpului. Dar foarte-foarte rar mi s-a intamplat sa zambesc in timp ce citeam.

Ei bine, citind aceasta carte am ras! Cu pofta si seninatate, cu orgoliul gadilat de ironia autorului, de spiritul sau alert de observatie si de inteligenta cu care lua peste picior pe americani.

Bill Bryson este un american, care dupa ce traieste 20 de ani in Anglia, se intoarce cu nevasta si copii acasa, in America. Experienta reintoarcerii o povesteste in scurte articole, adunate in aceasta carte: Notes from a Big Country.

Pentru cei ce simt o inversunata frustrare din cauza ca nu s-a implinit visul „vin americanii”, aceasta carte nu ofera un debuseu pentru mistocareala prostiei natiunii americane. Deci nu va avantati sa o cititi cu un zambet malefic pe buze!

Da, Bryson scoate in evidenta minusurile americanilor, dar o face cu dragoste si intelegere, cu un ton patern si protector. Desi exasperat de birocratie, junk food si comoditatea americanilor, Bryson vorbeste si despre numeroasele parti pozitive ale vietii in America.

Nu pot spune mai multe. Va ofer o mica selectie de citate si va doresc sa puneti mana pe carte pentru a reusi sa o cititi (este in circuit la Schimb de Carti Timisoara :)).

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t for a moment think that Americans are
inherently more stupid or brain-dead than anyone else. It’s just
that they are routinely provided with conditions that spare them the need to
think, and so they have got out of the habit.

You have to understand that I have very happy hair. No matter how serene
and complicated the rest of me, no matter how grave and formal the situation, my
hair is always having a party. In any group photograph you can spot me at once
because I am the person at the back whose hair seems to be listening, in some
private way, to a disco album called Dance Craze ’97.

There are many wonderful things about the United States of America that
deserve praise – the Bill of Rights, the Freedom of Information Act and free
bookmatches are three that spring to mind – but none is more outstanding than
the friendliness of the people. When we moved to this little town in New
Hampshire, people received us as if the one thing that had kept them from total
happiness to this point was the absence of us in their lives. They brought us
cakes and pies and bottles of wine. Not one of them said, ‘So you’re the people
who paid a fortune for the Smith place’, which I believe is the traditional
greeting in England.

Most people in most places don’t know much about the rest of the world. I
mean to say, could you name the leaders of Denmark or The Netherlands or even Ireland? Of course you couldn’t – and you are immensely intelligent and
attentive. I can see that from here. No reason why you should. There is a lot of
world out there to follow, and you have your hands full just keeping up with
Eastenders. I understand.

In the US, frozen cheese pizza is regulated by the Food and Drug
Administration. Frozen pepporini, on the other hand, is regulated by the
Department of Agriculture… this kind of madness would not be possible in a
small country like Britain. You need the European Union for that.