America Unchained: A Freewheeling Roadtrip In Search of Non-Corporate USA

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-06-23 rating:
A Book Of Two Halves
A good idea for a book and it very nearly comes off as a good read.

When Stef is cameraperson there is much more feeling to the book. The detours to visit places make excellent reading. Unfortunately after she has to quit through injury the sparkle goes out of the book.

Enter Andy and it all goes downhill. It becomes apparent that the idea is to get to the finish line as quickly as possible with no thought to what places may actually be missed by this style of travel. They could just as well have flown instead of driving for the last part of the book for the interest shown. If Andy was so desperate to see his daughter why volunteer for the assignment in the first place? DVD sales of the book is all that comes to mind to me. In this case the last part of the book is a let down. All the stars are for the part with Stef in it.

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review by: date: 2008-06-05 rating:
A recommended read
I have been to the USA five times on holiday and I have had the best holidays of my life there. Therefore, I have an interest travel writing in the states.

Rich Smith's 'You can get arrested for that' is a good book on his tavels accross the USA.

Dave Gorman's idea of chain free travel is a genuine heart-felt idea of giving hope to family run businesses still trying to beat away the corporate big gun companies trying to take over. You have to admire Dave taking on this task as he went through troubled times on virtually the whole trip.

Dave's book is very well written, his use of English is easy on the eye and his emotional feelings throughout the trip are evident because of his honesty. He decribes scenery, people and towns etc in great detail and you do feel your on the trip with him.

I felt, however, that Dave gives a lot of irrelevant info during the book. For example the Mormons business goes way over the top on detail and only a few other times I was left slightly frustrated at the lengty detail given on some history topics.

Overall though I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

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review by: kjr_electronics date: 2008-06-05 rating:
Raod Trip!!
A truly amazing read which kept me wanting more throughout. I would have to recommend this to anyone with a sense of humor! This being the first book of Dave Gorman's I have read I approached it reluctantly, after in all honesty, not finding myself interested with the ideas behind his previous books. How wrong could I be? The book takes us on a trip through an unchained America, and asking "can you really travel from one coast of the US to the other without giving money to "the man". You really can't manufacture the situations that this trip finds itself in. At times I found it quite hard to grasp the landscape and the scenario's within which the book was placed, this being to the description being too over complicated and annoying at times. Also felt the book was cut short at the end, leaving me wanting more, but I guess that's a good trait to have as a writer. Just ordered the DVD to see the words in motion. Overall well written book, which I'm sure I will be reading again, very enjoyable.

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review by: ParkouRob date: 2008-05-15 rating:
Great Idea!
Whilst this may not be the funniest book (although in places there are hilarious moments) and the style of writing can grate occasionally,

5 stars go to an awesome idea with an end result that makes me want to go on my own independent little road trip across the US in a classic car.

If you enjoy the work of Danny Wallace then it is likely that you won't regret buying this book.

Note: This book does appeal heavily to my sense of travel and adventure and if you don't also relate to this you might be disappointed.


review by: date: 2008-05-08 rating:
Almost makes America sound nice...
Like many people I encountered Dave Gorman's comedy/documentary through his quest to find 54 other Dave Gorman's (to win a bet), and was further won over by his 'googlewhack adventure' which is a very funny, and structurally very fine piece of work.

At first America Unchained lacks the comic angle, and sure there are fewer laugh out loud moments than the earlier books, but this book grew on me. There's less of a wacky conceit to the journey here (so not the type so derided recently by Mitchell & Webb in one of their sketches- unnecessarily attacking fellow comedians) with a reasonable logic to try and find the non-corporate America, and it's successful in finding a mostly friendly and helpful America (apart from Mississippi) so removed from stereotypes (some coming from their own media).

It's not a great piece of travel writing either, if you're a reader of such books, in terms of describing places and spaces, but as ever this is really about taking another journey with Dave. He's very good at a particularly English kind of blend of whimsy, intellect, and self-deprecation, with and added does of a relatively untypical (for an Englishman) degree of unabashed passion over things he experiences and values.

The only downside is this is only his third book, and I'v now read them all. I hope whatever journey he takes next, he writes it down

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Similar products

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Dave Gorman In America Unchained [2008]
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