By the Great Horn Spoon, I’ve got a notion to try my hand at this. It seems a feller by the name of Ron Chernow, a historian whose book on Hamilton just won’t quit selling, has gone and written a whole book about Mark Twain. I hear it’s a real whopper, some twelve hundred pages, which is enough to make a feller’s eyes cross.
My rating for Mark Twain – 5
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It appears this Chernow is a master of his trade, a man who can dig up the past and make dead men breathe again. He’s a feller who doesn’t shy away from the less respectable parts of a man’s life, and he sure didn’t with Mark Twain. The book gets right into that business about Twain’s fascination with underage girls. Now, I’ll be the first to tell you it’s a bit unsettling, what with his starting a club for them and all. But, as the book is quick to point out, there was never a soul who said a cross word about his actual conduct. It’s an uncomfortable bit of business, to be sure, but it seems to be an honest one.
The book also wades into that ruckus about Huckleberry Finn and the use of the n-word. Why, I always figured it was plain as day that Twain used that word to hold up a mirror to a feller’s face and show him the ugly truth about racism. But it seems some folks can’t see the forest for the trees. If you don’t believe me, and you shouldn’t, James by Percival Everett makes the point much better.
And then there’s the whole business of Twain’s failed business ventures. He saw himself as a tycoon, but it seems he was more of a tycoon-in-the-lurch, a man who would trust any slick-talking conman who came along. He was a skeptic about most things, but when it came to a shady business deal, he’d jump in with both feet.
But the real heart of the book, it seems, is the influence of Twain’s wife, Livy. A smart, confident woman who kept her genius husband on the straight and narrow. She helped him keep his wilder ideas in check, kept the family together, and made him the best man he could be. And it’s a known fact that he was head over heels in love with her.
All in all, it sounds like this is a right fine book, even if it is a bit long. It gives a fair account of Samuel Clemens’ life and Mark Twain’s writing, and it does so in a way that’s informative, fun, and mighty readable.
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got bought this book.
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