Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.94 You Save: $9.01 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.61 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Mark Twain: A Life
Book Review: A fine clear eyed biography of Mark Twain
Summary: 4 Stars
Born Samuel Clemens, this lad grew up to be known throughout the world as "Mark Twain." His life was a rollercoaster, with great successes and great failure. His personal life underwent much tragedy, as he lost two of his three e daughters before his own death. His creative well went largely dry in his later years, while he continued turning out manuscript page after manuscript page.
This book does a nice job tracing the arc of his life from childhood, most famously in Hannibal, Missouri, to his effort to create his own career (for a time as a riverboat pilot), to his abortive career as a soldier in Missouri, to his trip west to make his mark, to. . . .
His life was rich and full--even as he experienced failure (some of his speaking tours went bust, whereas others were grand successes; he wasted a fortune on failed inventions--going bankrupt, in essence, later in his life). He was beloved by many, made friends with major figures of the day--but could easily insult people, lose his temper, and turn his back on associates.
His wife, Livy, was his partner for many years. This book also suggests very briefly here and there that Isabel Lyon and Laura Wright (later Dake) had little known roles in his life. The latter sounds innocent. The former? So little is mentioned here that that story remains in the shadows.
The story of how he created his works, from Tom Sawyer to Huck Finn and so on, is well told. The book describes nicely the early years of his writing career, as a reporter, then as a humorist, and then the evolution toward a major author. What makes this work especially interesting is the exposition of Twain's somewhat mercurial nature and his interactions with those around them. He could be hard on people; he could also be the most loyal of friends.
His last years, rather sad at that, are well described. All in all, a fine biography of an American icon. . . .
Book Review: A wonderful biography of an incredible character
Summary: 5 Stars
Admittedly, I have read little of Mark Twain's work. But I love reading biographies, and he seemed like a fascinating man. And this book proved to me that he was.
It was interesting to learn about his marriage, his home life, his experiences as a youth, and how his books came about. He was truly a funny and loving man. I am no great scholar or anything, but this is a great read.
Book Review: Author's opinions interfere
Summary: 2 Stars
This book COULD have been great. Biographies are my favorite genre and I've read a bunch of them - this one falls pretty flat. The author's biases are so clearly obvious he's almost a presence in the book himself, which is distracting even if you agree with his views, and irritating if you don't. Forget Mark Twain's religious bias, the author's anti-Christian stance shines through even stronger, such as the statement that Mormons were just waiting for the Union to dissolve so that they could rise to power - and he sticks it to the Presbyterians just as badly, even misrepresenting Job from the Bible. His anti-capitalism, left-leaning political opinions come through just as clearly.
The book gives us a nice picture of the times and events in the places Sam Clemens lived - New York, San Fransisco, Carson City, etc - which is interesting in itself. But even those glimpses into American life at the time are tainted by the author's opinions. A good biographer doesn't make himself obvious in his books; he shouldn't intrude at all. Ron Powers is not a good biographer and I will not be reading any more of his books.
Book Review: Entertaining portrait not only of Twain but of his times
Summary: 5 Stars
I hadn't thought about Mark Twain in a while and picked up this biography somewhat at random. Then I thought it might be interesting to read about his days working on a steamboat on the Mississippi River. I couldn't put the book down, read it in two nights. I'm still thinking about it a week later. One of the best biographies I've read.Book Review: Everything you always wanted to know about Twain, and then some...
Summary: 4 Stars
I have never been exposed to Mark Twain, but I do enjoy reading biographies. So when a friend gave me Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers, I couldn't resist.
Mark Twain is a mammoth work, and Powers goes to great lengths to explain this 19th Century icon to 21st Century readers (Powers calls Twain America's first rock star). Twain had a circuitous route to fame, and the author starts with his childhood and the history of the Clemmens family. Twain first became a printer's assistant, switched over to steamboat pilot and then had a very short career as a Confederate soldier in the Missouri State Guard. But Twain's first love was writing, and he became a successful newspaper writer for two Western papers. This gave him the platform which launched his career as a humorist, speaker and novelist.
Powers gives us lots of information about his relationships with his family and friends. Clemmens was a prodigious writer, and is said to have written from 50,000 to 100,000 letters. He also kept dozens of notebooks, which help give us a window on Twain's thought processes. It is mind-boggling to think that Twain's social circle included Thoreau, Emerson, Longfellow, Henry James, Ulysses S. Grant, Henry Ward Beecher and William Dean Howells.
But while Powers gives us everything we ever wanted to know about Twain (and then some), he skimps on Twain's early years, as well as his old age. Powers claims that the Hannibal years of Twain's youth were the "ten most imaginatively fertile years of his life." Yet Powers only spends one chapter (13 pages of a 722 page book) discussing these formative years. Powers dedicates only two chapters (29 pages) to the last ten years of his life. Instead of facts, Powers has a tendency to over-analyze Twain's writing. The chapter on Huckleberry Finn reads like a doctoral dissertation. At the end, Powers leaves us hanging when Twain breathes his last, and there are many unanswered questions. Where was Twain's funeral? What was it like? Who eulogized him? Where is he buried? Does he have any descendants? Who reaps the financial benefit of his writings today? When and how was his Hartford house turned into a historic site? And what ever happened to his father's Tennessee land? After finishing this book, I discovered that Twain had his wife's remains cremated. Why didn't Powers include this fact in his book? Such information is interesting--especially for the times.
Still, Powers is a wordsmith and he is obviously smitten with his subject. His descriptions of Twain's talent are first rate. "Mark Twain's baton began to mute the Anglican symphony and strike up the rhythms of American jazz....Any language to him was a form of music. Even the slightest misuse of his native tongue grated on his ears like a false note--unless it was in dialect, which had its own laws." Powers claims that Twain suffered from "typographical Tourette's Syndrome" when he worked as a Western news writer. This is good stuff. But unlike Twain (who valued brevity), Powers loves a dollar word when a nickel word will do.
I definitely enjoyed Mark Twain: A Life and it has piqued my interest to read more of and about Mark Twain. I may even take a ride to see his home in Hartford CT. But I feel that Powers fell short of having a truly magnificent biography.