Almost Heaven

I'll admit that this book didn't jump off the shelf at me. In fact, I got it at a bargain sale at our college on the sole premise that I couldn't go wrong with a travelogue for a buck. However, in retrospect, I would easily pay full price for this book. It's an interesting, relaxing, and fun read. There's enough written here about the premise of the book. I thought it was captivating though to see the real cross-section of America that he was able to meet just by hopping in his car and taking off. For those of us that are much too shy to travel across America and walk up to strangers and introduce ourselves, or for those too tied down for an extended road trip, this is a great book through which to live vicariously.

I love travel writing, of which this book is a great example. However, I only stumbled upon it because I happened to meet a friend of the author, and I think its a great shame that more people haven't been introduced to this writer. This book covers his journey from The Delmarva peninsula all the way to the Pacific NW. Along the way he took the time to meet with locals, and learn about their everyday lives and the changes that have been ongoing in many of the little nooks and crannies of this country. He had researched his trip well, and took the time to meet with local politicians and newspaper editors, all of whom added their own local flavor. I have been eagerly awaiting Bill Brysons next book and now I will add Martin Fletcher to the same waiting list.

Fletcher reveals the fallacy of American cultural homogenisation, by highlighting the infinite and remarkable complexity of the United States. A book you won't regret reading, but will lament finishing.

This is a really good read. Martin Fletcher is an Englishman who travelled the back roads of the USA. This book is about his findings. For the most part, Fletcher had specific destinations in mind, but the things and people that he introduces us to are remarkable. Some of the things that he writes about that amazed me are: a group of Americans whose speech patterns still smack of Elizabethan English, an island that is home to a herd of wild horses that are the descendants of a Spanish shipwreck from hundreds of years ago, the Mysterious Melungeons, and just about every other sub-culture group in the US. This is a very informative and interesting read. I couldnt put it down.

A Brilliant book. Martin Fletcher takes the reader through the unexplored tracks of America, and paints the reader a picture of an unknown america so fantastically well that it is a book immpossible to put down. I strongly recommend this book. Funny, well-written, and fascinating, Martin Fletcher easily compares with Bill Bryson and John Steinbech.