The Innocents Abroad (Wordsworth Classics)

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I'm not quite sure about how I feel about this book in toto. So much of it is unreliable, if regarded as historical non-fiction, if attention is paid to detail, but is that really the way to read it? The book is composed, in the main, of reports Twain was commissioned to write of this so-called pleasure cruise for newspapers in the States. Many of these reports were lost in transit and Twain was obliged to reconstruct them from memory. The essential problem is trying to decide whether Twain, as he is more often than not, writing tongue in cheek, or perhaps halfway in cheek, or, mirabile dictu, completely in earnest. What struck me most after finishing this book is that the style of writing is divided into two sections. I'll simply call them the European and the Palestinian/Egyptian sections and go from there.The greater part of the book is comprised of the European section. Here Twain is full of the guffaw-inducing, faux-naif style with which readers generally acquaint him. Much of it, as other reviewers have remarked, is tedious and repetitious, particularly annoying is the colloquial use of "don't" rather than "doesn't" in the Third Person Singular - i.e., "He don't..." - as well as repetitious wisecracks and buffooneries. But what struck me the most was his attitude to the "great masters" of European art. I much more respect and find quite refreshing Twain's contrarian honesty about what strikes him as aesthetic than the Henry James attitude of kneeling prostrate before what he has been told is great art. I'm sure that this sort of thing has happened to every reader of this review: A painting or a book strikes a deep chord in him or her; s/he admires, respects and adores it as s/he has never done regarding any painting or book heretofore, until that is some "expert" tells him or her that the book or painting is not considered "of first water" or some such euphemism by people "in the know" about such things. I'm not saying, nor is Twain, that there aren't or shouldn't be ANY standards, but the standards at a certain time and place adopted are often all too fleeting and arbitrary and many a person's blossoming appreciation for the beautiful and creative is often killed dead by such remarks. It is a very healthy American attitude to dismiss such judgements, and, as Thoreau puts it, march to the beat of your own drummer.But Twain's style changes to a large extent once they reach Palestine. His acerbic pen is not spared here for either his fellow passengers or the locals, nor for Biblical imaginings, but an introspective, even poetic element enters the writing and grows. I don't have space here to cover all the aspects of this stylistic alteration, but it quite pleasantly surprised me. I think it reaches its apex towards the end in his description of The Sphinx. Tell me, reader, does this sound like the Twain you think you know?"After years of waiting, it was before me at last. The great face was so sad, so earnest, so longing, so patient. There was a dignity not of Earth in its mien, and in its countenance a benignity such as never anything human wore. It was looking towards the verge of the landscape, yet looking at nothing - nothing but distance and vacancy. It was looking over and beyond everything of the present, and far into the past. It was gazing out over the ocean of Time - over lines of century-waves which, further and further receding, closed nearer and nearer together, and blended at last into one unbroken tide, away towards the horizon of remote antiquity...It was the type of an attribute of man - of a faculty of his heart and brain. It was Memory Retrospection - wrought into visible, tangible form....The Sphinx is grand in its loneliness; it is imposing in its magnitude;it is impressive in the mystery that hangs over its story."Twain or Proust?!? As I say, every reader will no doubt find something that irritates him or her about this book, but it is more than made up for by the passages one comes to love!Four stars, and critics be damned!

Anyone on house arrest should read this satire. This is about the nature of the moon shot vacation hype. Reality sinks in

Normally like mark Twain but this book was very boring and not well written.

Mark Twain details the same problems tourists face today in Europe and the Middle East. He talks about the blabbering tour guides, commission shopping stops, tipping, temporary passport surrender- All things my clients complain about today. (I am a travel advisor). A very enjoyable read.

I had to buy this for my Cultural Anthropology class for Orientalism. The commentary provided by Mark Twain about his oriental experience is a very thoughtful, in-depth one. It hones down on the idea that the individual, as much as they try to be objective to the "new" environment of the "other individual" cannot separate his thoughts from the bias and subjectivity within himself. He uses his own culture as a point of reference to compare that of the new, which puts him and his company in a "bubble," incapable of truly experiencing the new world around them, keeping such artifacts at arms lengths. I hope my review was helpful, I don't want to spoil any more!

I do like the book, but I believe most folks these days would not relate to the travels of Mark Twain to Europe and the Middle East. It was written in an age that has not been taught in our schools nor that people in general would care about. Insights into that day and age and what they thought about.

A fantastic travel book. Whether you've been to the places Mr. Twain describes, or plan to go there - you will find something fun and exciting in this book. His descriptions of the places are hilarious and realistic, and still ring true 150 years later. But I think the best parts are the little stories about his personal journey and insights. Highly recommended for anyone who likes to travel, to learn more about the world, or simply likes a good chuckle.This edition read well, and the illustrations add a nice touch - kind of like cartoons in the New Yorker.

I love it......................!

Reading the recollections of Mark Twain, of what may have been the first ever pleasure cruise in history for the common man, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed reading his prose when I was in school. Imagining the America he experienced before the motor car and indeed, the industrialisation of the modern world. I can only imagine what he saw and ponder on what has been lost in our collective pursuits of wealth and power. A book for the ages.

to complete my reading of Twain/Clemens's satires. A little long-winded, which suggests he, like Dickens, may have issued it in instalments. A splendid author who should have been around this century, to deconstruct America's present lunatic politicians.

I ordered this book because it had such great reviews in the newspaper. However, I just couldn't get into it and found it quite boring and tedious. I don't normally give up on books but couldn't bring myself to carry on. His use of language is brilliant and he's a great story teller but it just didn't do anything for me. Have given it to a friend to read who had also read reviews on his description of Jerusalem and was dying to read this book. I didn't quite get that far so will await her thoughts.

This, Mark Twain's first book, is a travellogue! Incredibly well written, funny beyond words and, characteristically for Twain, so quotable! No wonder this book shot him to literary fame. It was both absorbing and an education to read descriptions of his travels across Europe and the near East in 1869 and be given to appreciate how much (and little!) this part of the world has changed in the last 150 years!!! I even landed up learning about different places/sites I'd never heard of and found myself constantly googling landmarks he visited. What a privilege to have come across it!