Customer Reviews

The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Don't buy this book! The stories, of course, are classic Mark Twain- one of the most thoughtful, humorous, and clear thinking writers ever born. But the Bantam edition is unreadable.
To save money, the margins run from 1/4 to 1/8 an inch. Not too bad on the outside edges, but on the inside edge near the spine the words are nearly hidden by the curve of the page. Either you break the spine to read the words, or you are forced to slide your thumb along the inner edge to reveal Twain's words. Find another edition.

This inexpensive book of over 600 pages offers an incredible value for anyone who enjoy Mark Twain's quintessential humor. It is one of those books that you cannot put down once you get started on it. A great way to while away a hot summer afternoon

This is an important book in American literature. This collection truly shows off the massive range that Mark Twain had. From the author of books as divergant as Huck Finn and Joan of Arc, to the humorous travel writings and all the way past the bitter, hateful scribblings of his later life.

These are some of the highlights, as I see it:

"The Story of the Bad Little Boy", an early version of Twain's comprehenisive pessism and it proves that there is really no such thing. There's optimism and there's realism. "A Day at Niagra", an obvious parody of his own early newpaper feature writing. Perhaps it was an abandoned assignment on a trip to the falls and Twain had such a bad time he wrote this vicious, sarcastic piece. There are numerous other wonderful stories along the way, hilarious, mean-spirited, touching, beautiful, gently humorous and smile factoring. After the dreadful 1890s of Twain's life (lost a wife, a daughter, a fortune and another kid got sick), sometimes a few of the stories are near-misses. Still always amusing, but something is missing. Then, at recurring times over the last decade of his life, Mark Twain got angry. He popped the blister that became "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyberg", a brutal profile of mankind's inate greed and selfishness and how there will always be someone out there to laugh and enjoy your misery. "The $30,000 Bequest" is a heart-breaking tale about delusion and wasted lives, and how even the thought of money corrupts absolutely. "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" is a mercilessly blasphemous account of Heaven being no different, really, from the earth, the same classist behavior, the same tragic dreams of a better life never to be had. It shoots a hole the size of, well, Heaven in this shaky mythology.

Finally, we visit with "The Mysterious Stranger", a categorically violent attack on the idea of God. It demystifies so many absurdities organized religion tells you to take for granted, don't be surprised if you lose your faith after reading this short novel. It is one of the ultimate masterworks of satirical tragedy ever produced by a writer and is desperately in need of some ingenious filmmaker to produce an R-rated animated movie. Hell, anyone out there who may chance across this add, I'm willing to write the screenplay or assist in production in some way. I have some experience and can do this one TOP NOTCH.

Enough advertising--all in all, a beautiful, necessary book.

I read this on my kindle to my husband while he was driving and couldn't finish it out loud because I couldn't stop crying.

It is a sad story about the dark side of human nature and the light side of a dog's nature. You fall in love with the main character instantly and feel its pain and confusion. It makes you want to hug every dog you see on the street and tell them its going to be ok.

This volume claims to present the complete short stories of Mark Twain. It contains sixty stories but is far from being complete.

Indeed in other editions I have collected thirty-three more tales, some of them absolutely extraordinary, and worthy to be anthologized.

For instance 'Mr Bloke's item' published in 1865 seems completely forgotten. But one of the funniest stories I know.

Nevertheless this book is very entertaining, if not complete.

This story is not at all the type of story I have come to associate with Mark Twain. It starts out interesting, and quickly goes down hill. If you are an animal lover, I would avoid this sad tale. The problem with the story is that not only is it sad, it also has hints of a reality that any animal lover will abhor. I can't tell you more than that without telling the tale.

The copy was fine, the story was not.

It is hard to believe that one writer could create such a diverse group of stories on all kinds of subject matter; each one written with Mark Twain's unique sense of humor and extraordinary gift of imagination.
These stories also stand the test of time as they are every bit as entertaining now as they were over 100 years ago.
Some of the ones that I enjoyed the most;
The Canvasser' Tale; the story of a man's collection of echoes
The Diary of Adam and Eve; a humorous look at what Adam and Eve's first thoughts of each other and the world around them.
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm.
The Californian's Tale with a twist at the end.

This collection is writing at its very best; a treasure of American story telling.

The funniest, sweetest, truest book ever written. "Political Economy" and "Science vs. Luck" are very short and howling funny. "The Diaries of Adam and Eve" will make you laugh and cry. "The Mysterious Stranger," "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven," and "Was it Heaven, or Hell" are masterpieces of religion, ethics, and humor. "What Stumped the Bluejays" is a believable account of a sense of humor in birds.

Part of a good author's job is to make the reader think. Having read the other reviews of "A Dog's Tale" (and of "A Horse's Tale" as well) I think some of the reviews may be missing the point.

I agree wholeheartedly that in all, it is an upsetting story. I also agree that it is probably not suitable for young children. Speaking as someone who shares his life with three dogs, one reading was certainly enough for me. However, there are deeper things at work here, and they should be looked into.

Consider that "A Dog's Tale" was written very early in the twentieth century.. This was a time when treatment of animals did not measure up to the same standards we as a society hold today. In fact, animal cruelty was societally acceptable. Levels of animal abuse that will have you in court in today's world were utterly unremarkable then. The dog was yours; you could do anything you wanted to do to it, good or bad.

What "A Dog's Tale" does very well is put the reader in the dog's life to experience firsthand the astounding cruelty being dished out by the dog's "scientifically detached" owner. The man demonstrates no sympathy or caring at all for his own dog, but through the story, Twain certainly elicits it from the reader! And I propose that this was the point; to make the reader think about the way they treated animals then. Twain was someone who saw much pain in his own life, and it's my personal belief that he probably disliked people that casually inflicted pain. Such people would be a ripe target for an iconoclast such as him.

All in all, a superbly crafted story, even if it is disturbing. Being disturbing, I think, was very likely the whole point. Don't get completely wrapped up in the emotion, look deeper. Five stars for making us think.

Added on 1 /30 /2012

I found this in a book of Twain's quotes the other day; I think it leaves little doubt as to where he stood in regards to cruelty to animals:

"I believe I am not interested to know whether Vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't. To know that the results are profitable to the race would not remove my hostility to it. The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity towards it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further."

I generally like Mark Twain's writing, and I love dogs, so I though it would be an enjoyable book. It is not. It is a horrible, horrible book and I will have to spend many a day trying to get the words out of my head. I've almost been thinking that someone must have typed it in wrong, or something happened to the text in order for it to be considered a story in the first place. If you read it expect to be greatly saddened and horrified.

Terrible.