The Thunderbolt Kid

I finished The Thunderbolt Kid by bill Bryson.

I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would as I had become a bit bored with his other books. It seemed to give a very good picture of a small boy growing up in a small town in Middle America.

I grew up slightly earlier going to an all-girls’ school in a city in Scotland, so his experiences were quite different from mine, although I too remember the fear associated with the American stand-off against the Russians and the fear that the world might be coming to an end.

The Bay of Pigs, The Vietnam war and the draft did not touch me directly at all, although on this side of the pond we still had National Service. My then fiancé managed to miss this by the skin of his teeth by being at University until it was discontinued.

Here my worries were about exams, career options and those strange creatures, boys.

Do read this book if you have not already done so.

It is so hard to believe that a time so recent appears so far distant in the past.