A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
By: Bill Bryson / Narrated By: Rob McQuay
Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! …oops… wait… is it okay to laugh…?
Oh gosh, dude. There were sooo many times author Bill Bryson had me in stitches throughout this little jaunt of his doing some thru hiking on the Appalachian Trail (And, for that matter, when civilization was reached and what-all disorientation happened then), but then I’d catch m’self in a year 2020+ frame of mind, and I’d think: Whoopsie. This is all kinda non PC, if ya get my drift.
Let’s start with the unfortunate Mary Ann, a woman who comes upon Bryson and his hiking companion Katz. She’s obnoxious, she’s condescending, she’s an in-your-face piece o’ work. But really? She’s just gross, Bryson says, as she hawks snot from her nostrils as punctuation to her declarative sentences. Plus, oh dude is she fat or what?
I was smiling, but at the same time? Hmm, I was a trifle offended. I mean, really, does he HAVE to throw her weight out there as a punchline to go with the derogatory remarks he’s making of her? He states that he himself has a bit of a paunch, as does Katz, but apparently it’s grosser on the woman and not to be borne.
I know I know, being politically correct takes ooooodles of fun outta EVERYthing, doesn’t it? But still…
Or when Bryson makes sport of people he deems to be idiotic. Apparently this offended reviewers from the South, esPECially those who were of the ilk being made fun of. I mean, truly: The reviewers were all: Blah blah Leftist Progressive blah. I get it, and I even understand it however much I m’self might poke fun at the MAGA crowd. I mean, they get to have a voice in a free country. And whilst I did indeed chuckle at the nudge and the wink Bryson gives the listener, I did think: Good cow, kinda going out on a limb there, Mr. Bryson, sir. Are you writing to actually shrink your readership?
That said, this does indeed have lovely imagery of what sounds like a scenic trail, even tho’ when all is said and done, Bryson and Katz gave up and went for mileage elsewhere. Plus, it has how the AT came to be created, how it’s suffering through mismanagement of dwindling government funds and ignorance or exploitation (Yup, blah blah Leftist Progressive blah again from many reviewers), but it genuinely sounds beautiful.
What it’s about? Not much except that Bryson gets a bit of a hankering to walk the entire trail, and then thinks better of doing it all by himself (If he trips, he dies! nobody there to help him or go for help!). Eeeeveryone he asks turns him down, except for old pal Stephen Katz, a bit of a wild card himself, what with him being a bit of a nobody with addiction problems. The two prep for the trail, but then they’re actually soooo not ready for it. Poor Stephen, as the Little Debbie snack cakes did NOT make the cut as hiking necessities; what IS Stephen to do? And naturally Bryson’s writing regarding Stephen is somewhat unsparing and unkind. I do wonder what Stephen thought of the finished product of A Walk in the Woods.
Anyhoo, there are bugs to be feared, especially ticks as Bryson tells us how horrendous Lyme Disease is. There are bears, the possibility of them, and Bryson tells us how to survive an encounter (He’s vaaaaastly paranoid and distressed that there’s Nature out in Nature). There’s pouring rain, snowstorms that spring up even waaaaay after Winter. There’s hitchhiking when a road is FINALLY trekked to and civilization with its heaters and motels and snack cakes and canned soft drinks.
I was kinda worried about Rob McQuay as narrator. I mean, nothing personal, Mr. McQuay, but I dooo sooo like Bryson doing Bryson—he has such a warm and wonderful and ironic voice. But McQuay sloooowly eased me into this story with all its diatribes and keen observations, with all its commentary and its many instances of Bryson just being a bit rigid and moralistic. At least McQuay did NOT sound like he was sneering at any point in the narrative, so tho’ other reviewers found Bryson to be smug, it certainly didn’t come out in the reading of the material (Which is what made this so gosh danged funny, even tho’ m’ toes did curl as in: Oh tell me you did NOT just say that…!). No, McQuay did a very good job, and he even made Katz falling off the wagon chuckle-inducing, even tho’ such a situation isn’t funny when you think about it. But McQuay slurring and shouting with drunken exuberance just had me grinning… until Katz is no longer drunk, but he’s hungover and feeling great shame—NOT funny.
I am sooo sorry to say this, but here in the 2020s, a lot of this isn’t funny, and it’s kinda a relief to fess up to becoming a stick in the mud as I age outta this life—but I don’t fault Bryson tooo much for it all. When this was released, we could still laugh at a lot of this, at a lot of people.
Pithy observations, witty asides, clever writing. It’s just that the tongue wasn’t in cheek but was firmly wagging… no matter who might be hurt. We’re kinda sorta beyond that now, or at least I would hope so.
Blah blah Leftist Progressive blah, yeh yeh yeh. But even for this sliiiightly left of center gal, it had me worried. I do miss laughing; it’s just that I do NOT miss hurting people…
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