Mark Twain, A Life by Ron Powers

Sunday, March 09, 2008

CHALLENGES:
Chunkster
Back to History
In Their Shoes
Chunkster Challenge: At 722 pages including 95 pages of indexes, this book definitely qualifies as a chunkster. And it took me eleven days to read it!! Let's just say I've had my fill of Mark Twain for a while.
Back to History Challenge: Powers certainly did a lot of impressive research for this book. I enjoyed the way he not only told about Twain's life, but about what was going on in the country and in the world during those 75 years. He also imparted how Mark Twain influenced society through his novels, essays and lectures. It was quite a pivotal time in history; and I enjoyed reading about those years in the West, the South, and New England.
In Their Shoes Challenge: Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, was probably one of the most famous celebrities of the 20th century. In fact, Powers compares him to modern-day rock stars. This comparison almost made me quit reading, it seemed so ludicrous. Granted Clemens was mercurial, hot-tempered, and moody; he liked his liquor and cigars; he spent money at an alarming rate; but he was incredibly faithful and loving to his wife and family; didn't go around trashing hotels and trains; and was considered a good friend by those who didn't make him mad; and was certainly not a one-night wonder. He is considered by many to be America's greatest author and was a leading humorist of his time. There were a few instances when Powers seemed to be trying to be a humorist himself, again terribly distracting. "The Quaker City's crew had waged a three-night dockside brawl with some British sailors, and had ended up kicking some major Britannia butt." What?? There was enough fodder in the facts of Clemens' life to easily fill this book without annoying asides. Power's page and a half of trying to dispel any feeling that Clemens was a racist was a waste of time when a chapter later, he quotes a few very racist remarks from Clemens. I don't think anyone can argue that in his early years, Clemens was a product of his Missouri upbringing and that included racism. It seems to Clemens' credit that he overcame a lot of that prejudice later in his life and hated to see people misused. I really liked how Powers differentiated between the boy, Sammy Clemens; the man, Samuel or Sam Clemens; and the celebrity author, Mark Twain. Speaking of the changes in Missouri: "The "progress" that Samuel Clemens embraced as a businessman-investor was a betrayl of what remained of Sammy's faith. Against the sterilizing tide, Mark Twain needed to build a bulwark: a life on the Mississippi as permanent as words could make it." Powers also did some in-depth analysis of Mark Twain's writing and his talents. I think this part of the book would be very interesting to someone who was going to be teaching from his books. I was probably not as interested in it as I should have been. The section that dealt with his financial extravagances and mismanagement really put my banker's teeth on edge. He was such a mess that I had a hard time reading about it. For a person that famous and successful to come to the brink of bankruptcy was appalling. Mostly I just enjoyed reading about a person who truly was larger than life, who crammed a lot of living and traveling and experiences into his 75 years. Those experiences were definitely worth reading about. His love for his put-upon wife was so endearing and she was always struggling to refine and civilize him. "He promised Livy one morning he would swear off profanity, shortly before breaking two tumblers while trying to take some medicine--"then I released my voice. Mrs. C behind me in the door: 'Don't reform any more, it isn't an improvement.' " Would I like to meet the man? Probably not. He had a very forceful and abrasive personality and could be quite cruel in his sarcasm and humor. On the other hand, he was very funny and was a charming and entertaining host.
Rating: 4
Posted by Framed at 6:07 PM

5 comments:
Booklogged said...
I'm not sure I could read that many pages about Mark Twain. And if I did, I know it would take way longer than 11 days. (Did I just give away where I live with that "way" longer thing?!)
3/10/2008 12:21 AM
Trish said...
Whew--750 pages! I have to admit that I don't know very much about Mark Twain, but I enjoy his fiction. I'll have to put this on my list to pick up (one day). If you're interested in biographies, I read one a few years ago on Lewis Carroll (by Morton)--very fascinating and misunderstood man.
3/10/2008 6:59 PM
writer2b said...
Whew, this is definitely a chunkster. Twain sounds like a mixed character--like the characters in his books. I enjoy his humor, but I can't read several in a row by him.Thanks for reading and reviewing this. I hope you're reading something light and fun now!
3/11/2008 1:48 PM
gautami tripathy said...
I am on my third chunkster! It is never ending!
3/12/2008 9:38 AM
Mo said...
Twain is one of my all-time fav's, and while I have read quite a bit about the man, I haven't read this particular biography.. it sounds interesting to me, tho.. would *I* have liked to have met the man?! You bet'cha!! Brash & sarcastic tho he may have been, from all accounts he was gracious and charming, still!Great review, BTW.