Seems to be a difficult read

I've had this book on my shelf for ages and finally got around to reading it. We're discussing it at book club tonight. It's a collection of essays and stories that were published after Twain died. Some of them were incomplete, and the book sort of skips around a bit. It's also a bit redundant at times. Still, it's Twain, so it's funny. I'm thinking the poor guy was an anti-humanist, if there's such a thing. He thought the whole human race was going to hell in a handbasket, and I'm not sure he was wrong, though I do prefer to look on the brighter side of things.

Twain razzes everything in this book. The first section makes fun of religion, later ones make fun of politics, Darwin's theory of natural selection, and society as a whole. There's very little he doesn't poke fun at at one time or another.

Still, I had a hard time finishing the book. I don't know if it's because it just wasn't cohesive like most of Twain's stories are, or what. But by the end, I was glad to be finished. I think I'll read more Twain later, but give him a rest for a while. ( )

http://boekenwijs.blogspot.com/2007/1... ( )

I have mixed feelings about this. I like Twain's satirical humour and appreciate his brand of philosophical pragmatism. But this was actually a collection of different writings, some of which I enjoyed and others which were somewhat tedious to read.

Due to my own interests in philosophy, religion, and politics, I thoroughly enjoyed the (actual) letters from (and the one to) the earth. Most striking was the passage dealing with what it means to be a patriot, which has eerie relevance for us today.

Elsewise, the essay on the writing of James Fenimore Cooper was amusing--and quite educational, to boot, being actually a good lesson on how NOT to write. His essay comparing the French to the Comanches is amusing, and his collection of papers on The Damned Human Race is an excellent glimpse into Twain's philosophical worldview.

My favorite portion of the book was The Great Dark, at the end, which is a brief fictional account of a man losing sense of the difference between dreams and reality. It actually has a tone of horror to it, when one considers how important and pressing was the concept to Twain.

If the book consisted solely of the aforementioned works, I would give this title at least three stars, possibly four. But I found the remainder of the collection to be dry and dull. ( )

I picked this up solely for the first story, Letters from the Earth, but I ended up reading through the entire book and find I have a new appreciation for Twain’s humor and satire. Letters was very entertaining, although the religiously inclined may not find it funny at all. However, I’m not, and I did! Some other portions worth a read include Eve’s autobiography (revealing!), an amusing critique of James Fenimore Cooper’s writing style, a parody of an etiquette manual, and The Damned Human Race, which demonstrates the ’descent’ of man. Twain died in 1910, and this collection of essays and short stories was not published until 1962.

Oh, and Mark Twain referring to "hot young blossoms" amused me to no end. ( )