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This is surprisingly well written - is it unusual to find writing talent in a professional comedian? Maybe not, as they write their own material. Dave tries to drive across the States using only independent. non-chain gas stations, restaurants and motels, and meets a few characters along the way. It's a refreshingly new take on the US road trip genre and for the most part both amuses and holds the interest. He examines his own motives and reactions along the way - whether truly so or just as copy for the book it's hard to say. I too lived in the States as a child but rather liked the ubiquitous big stores and the chain restaurants (Howard Johnson's in particular - 28 flavours of ice-cream). There's something rather beguiling about meeting standard environments in any location across that vast continent but of course a trip from one Best Western to another would not have had quite the same interest.

America Unchained is the odyssey of a road trip from the left coast to the right coast of the US without sleeping in a chain motel, eating in a chain restaurant, or buying gas (petrol) in a chain owned petrol station whilst making a documentary film of the journey. It must have sounded like a good idea from across the Atlantic... Dave and his director/camera person have many adventures when traveling from West to East and they go north for a surprisingly long time. The book is written in an amusing style that will be instantly familiar to Dave Gorman's radio work. He captures the highs and lows of an intentionally difficult journey which showed the best and worst of America. The photographs don't come out too well on a Kindle but the rest works well. It's worth a read by those who live in the US, those who want to visit, or those who have been there and have missed the real character of America outside of the big tourist destinations.

I like Gorman's radio show and he was great live. This book just highlights what an innovative, intelligent and likeable bloke he is. It could have ot boring if someone else had written it but his styke keeps you interested and wanting more. Buy it, you won't regret it.

Like his shows, the story pulls you along and amuses you all the way through...but I've been a Dave Gorman fan since I saw his first shows on BBC2 at the turn of the Millennium. If you like 'Are you Dave Gorman?' and 'Googlewhacks', I think you'll like this.

This is the third sensational book by Dave Gorman. It follows his debut non fiction novel Are You Dave Gorman? which he cowrote with fellow British author of many books in this genre Danny Wallace. His second book and first independent adventure tale was Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure. If you haven't read any of these guys' work before its pretty hard to describe the type of book you're going to be reading. Lets just say you know those moments when someone recounts something which happened them to a crowd of friends or people at a party that has those listening imagining they were in that situation and everyone breaking into uncontrollable laughter. Well these guys have the talent to do this in the written form and they do it extremely well!

America Unchained is a little bit less eccentric in its task than the first two were. Are You Dave Gorman? was a world wide adventure of trying to find and meet 54 people with the same name as him. Googlewack Adventure was Dave being bet he can't find a chain of ten Googlewhacks in a row before he turns 32 and travelling around the world to win that bet. This book is more a reflection on society today and a challenge he is interested to undertake, to discover if the America he loved on TV as a kid, could actually still be found today. Depressed from his previous travels in the USA while doing a stand up tour and experiencing sterile sameness in the hotels he stayed in, places he dined in, bought groceries at and so on, Dave wants to experience the USA of his childhood dreams. Where small mum (mom USA) and pop stores knew their customers names, where owners were proud of their bed and breakfasts, where if you travelled around you'd experience uniqueness everywhere you go. Dave decides he's going to drive from the West coast to the East coast only sleeping in, buying food from, and filling up with gas from non franchise, non chain establishments. The idea was also liked by a British documentary company. They offered to fund Dave's trip if they could also send a passenger with him, that passenger of course would have a camera. Can it be done, you'll have to read and see but there's definitely a lot of fun along the way, a lot of experiences for Dave, many of which come from the fact that he bought a Ford Torino Estate wagon, nice car however the one he was sold is a bit of a lemon. Dave also does a bit of wondering around the places he is at without the camera companion Stef, and his experiences and commentary in Salt Lake City on the followers of Joseph Smith and the book Joseph made up/founded are hilarious. Along the trip Dave will meet some of the nicest and friendliest people in America as well as some not so nice ones including an evil Mississippi cop and encountering unfriendly youths with a gun.

America Unchained is a great Griswold's National Lampoon's Vacation type driving adventure! I found the first half of the book to be a bit higher quality than the second. When Andy joins the trip it drops a bit in quality as he just wants to finish the trip and get home to his granddaughter. That's why I rate it four and half stars instead of five. It's still a must read though.

If you haven't already done so also grab a copy of Are You Dave Gorman? as well as Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure. Also read Danny Wallace's books Join Me! (the story of how he started a cult by accident) and Yes Man (Danny can only say Yes to any question) they're hilarious as well!

I love Dave Gorman. I was lucky enough to see him perform and have read every book ever since. This isn't as wacky as his earlier books, but still a fun romp. I highly recommend this book, especially if a part of you hates using businesses owned by "the man" (she says as she sips her Starbucks coffee).

Kind of boring.