Lost in America: A Dead-End Journey

by Colby Buzzell

Overview

"Nothingless than the soul of an extremely interesting human being at war on ourbehalf." —Kurt Vonnegut

Astunning portrait of modern America by Colby Buzzell,the critically acclaimed author of My War: Killing Time in Iraq.Recounting his five-month journey through the country, from its thrivingcoastlines to its rust-belt wrecks, Buzzell reveals aparadoxical landscape of American dreams both achieved and broken, manifestdestinies claimed and refuted, and community ties pulled apart and patchedtogether. In the tradition of John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, Buzzell’s Lost in America uncovers the starkrealities of our national character even as it explores the deepest questionsof identity, unity, and fatherhood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062097095
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	12/15/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	309
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Colby Buzzell is the author of My War: Killing Time in Iraq and served as an infantryman in the United States Army during the Iraq War. Assigned to a Stryker Brigade Combat Team in 2003, Buzzell blogged from the front lines of Iraq as a replacement for his habitual journaling back in the states. In 2004 Buzzell was profiled in Esquire’s “Best and Brightest” issue and has since contributed frequently to the magazine. The Washington Post referred to his article “Digging a Hole All the Way to America” as “A Tour de Force Travelogue,” and his article “Down & Out In Fresno and San Francisco” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2010. His work has also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and on This American Life. He currently lives in San Francisco, California, and has no plans whatsoever of staying there.

Editorial Reviews

In his follow-up to My War: Killing Time in Iraq, Buzzell offers a bleak book, a dour and humorless account of a five-month trip through America following the spirit, if not the actual route, of Jack Kerouac's travels in On the Road. Buzzell doesn't help his case much by introducing himself in his first chapter as "a no-name writer" who claims to have left his wife and "week-old" son to take an assignment to "'write a love letter to Kerouac'" only to blow it off and wander aimlessly searching for "grime, alleys and alcohol." And after a beautiful tribute to his dying mother in chapter two, that's basically what Buzzell presents: a memoir of drinking his way from his California home through Utah, Wyoming, and Nebraska, taking day-labor jobs with no health care that remind him "what it is like to be an American"—even though he seems to have a bottomless bank account with which to support himself. Other than a few casual and unexplained snipes at Barack Obama, Buzzell's unsurprising reporting doesn't rise above banal observations like "The lady working the front desk looked straight out of a David Lynch movie." When he ends up in Detroit—the location for almost the book's entire final half—he realizes that "there was absolutely nothing original that I was doing." Unfortunately, the reader will have come to that realization well before that. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

A witty, fearless, sharp-eyed chronicler of America in decline. Buzzell exhibits a Henry Miller-like talent for the memorable character sketch.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher