Great book! It is very interesting and is a page turner!!

n  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnn has biting social commentary, but Puddin'head Wilson has all-out black humor. It's the story of Roxy, a light-skinned slave woman who successfully switches her even lighter-skinned son with her master's baby, and follows how each one grows up. I would have liked to see more inside the slaves' lives other than from the character of Roxy, but Mark Twain's point was mainly to criticize the spoiled slaveowners. In any case, the courtroom drama in which Puddin'head Wilson reveals the truth will have you riveted.

An interesting literary tidbit: Mark Twain is known to have disliked Jane Austen's work, saying something roughly along these lines, "I can't stand Jane Austen. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig her up and beat her with her own shin bone." But as the Jane Austen fans love to point out, "every time I read . . ." implies that he read her more than once, and Mark Twain's sense of humor was to be negative about everybody and everything. But I think his ultimate tribute to JA comes at the beginning of Puddin'head. Compare this: "There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless" to Darcy's "the wisest and the best of men - nay, the wisest and best of their actions - may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke." Perhaps it's just a universal observation by two satirists, but I think the wording is very close.

Reading this for my American Lit class, honestly what is it about this era that even the most scandalous things are written so boring? Twain’s realist style was punchy and kind of funny sometimes which was nice, but it never really had a strong protagonist to anchor the story emotionally. Title makes no sense when Pudd’nhead Wilson is lowkey irrelevant until the end?? Random Italian twins? Why does the slave Chambers get basically ignored to focus on objectively the worst character, Tom? Just all around a weird story. #TomDriscollisOverParty #JusticeforChambers

I have no idea how this book escaped my notice for so long!
This was really really interesting: part social satire with all of Twain' s trademark social realism, part debate on nature vs. nurture, part thrilling courtroom drama; this really has a bit of everything.
Excellent story, and easily my favorite Twain book yet.

This book has a complicated plot so I’ll try to condense it.

The story takes place in Missouri. Pudd'nhead is the nickname given to David Wilson, a progressive thinker and failed lawyer whom everyone thinks is a flaky idiot, hence the nickname “Pudd’nhead.” Even though his name is the book’s title, he is not really the main character.

The main characters and drivers of the plot are a slave named Roxy and her son. Roxy is unique because she is only 1/16th black. Other than her dialect, she could easily pass for white as could her son Chambers. When Chambers is a baby, her fellow slaves are caught stealing and almost get sold “down the river” meaning way down south where slave conditions are far more brutal than in Missouri. She decides that she must protect her son so she switches him out with her owner’s baby Tom for whom she serves as nanny. As the babies are both white and Roxy is the only one who pays attention to them, no one notices the switch. So Chambers, the slave child with 1/32nd black blood, grows up as the wealthy Tom while Tom grows up as the slave Chambers.

To make s long story short, the new Tom grows up and is quite a douchebag. He’s abusive to everyone, including the new Chambers who is now his slave. He is awful to his mother Roxy, thinking that she is simply his nanny. He’s spoiled, dishonest and cruel. He gambles and is always in debt. He keeps getting into trouble and Roxy keeps bailing him out. She goes to extraordinary extremes to protect him. Well, Tom never cleans up his act and things just get worse until there is a murder and a false accusation. That’s when Pudd’nhead Wilson steps in to defend the falsely accused.

I liked this story a lot. It’s the first book I’ve ever read by Mark Twain. I don’t have much interest in Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn simply because I don’t think they would resonate with me. Plus, I’m always interested in lesser known books by famous authors.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I really liked Mark Twain’s writing style. I read somewhere that Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain were renowned for their ability to communicate in “common speak.” I can totally see this. The book unfolds in an engaging, witty, third-person storyteller voice. Unlike many 19th century books that drag, this one was easy to read.

I liked the plot too. I’m sure there are people who will shake their fists in disagreement, but I thought the subject was especially provocative for its time. With the exception of a switch at birth, what difference did having black blood really make? It was just a matter of circumstances that could have turned out a completely different way depending on birth. I realize that there is room for criticism in that it’s the black son who turns out to be “bad,” but is he bad because he’s black or because he was raised in a life of privilege? I think for the time this would have challenged readers’ perceptions.

The smartest and most compelling character is Roxy the mother. She is clever, passionate, subtle, cruel, self-sacrificing, and a force of nature. She takes a heartbreaking journey from being a selfless mother to one who realizes all too well the kind of child she has created, one who doesn’t really love her and is willing to use her for his own ends. And, yet, even though she knows how treacherous he is, she can’t help but still love him. It’s sad and yet, I never felt sorry for her. She was a woman who took responsibility for her mistakes. She was a character you had to respect and admire.

I think this is an interesting book for discussion. There are some silly moments like when Wilson is reading palms and there are these two random Italian twins running around, but I can overlook that. In my edition, there is a marvelous afterword about Mark Twain’s experience writing this book. It’s a great insight into how a book is born, how characters shove out other characters, and you wind up with something you never expected. Something every writer should read.

Thomas Paine once said, “Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.” Whichever you choose to use—title or nickname—one thing is for certain and that is Mr. David Wilson has got himself a doozy. David Wilson is a lawyer and a newcomer to Dawson’s Landing, a slaveholding town on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. Since irony is apparently lost on the good folks of Dawson’s Landing, Mr. Wilson’s first (and last) attempt at humor falls somewhat flat and results in the people thinking their newest citizen is a fool; therefore, it is only reasonable that they give him the equally fitting nickname of “Pudd’nhead”. Fortunately, what Pudd’nhead lacks in comedy he more than makes up for with fads. He has a penchant for palmistry and finger marks and is so enamored with the latter, he goes all around town collecting as many as he can from anyone he meets. Little does he know how useful these marks will prove to be when a case of mistaken identity, a series of robberies, and a brutal murder will ultimately point to the fact that perhaps Pudd’nhead Wilson isn’t such a fool after all.

Pudd’nhead Wilson is part murder mystery, part social commentary, and part psychological study of nature versus nurture. Combined, it’s a humorous and thought-provoking story of good intentions, broken promises, honor, love, and the ultimate price of sin. Twain gives us a story of two babies—one free and one slave—who were switched at birth and grow up according to their station in life. The slave is bound to his master while the other is bound by his uncle’s and society’s expectations. Twain also delivers one of the most infuriating and insufferable characters ever to grace the written page (honestly, you just want to reach in and give him a good wallop). Our young Tom, who has been given every privilege imaginable, is crass, spoiled, smug, selfish, ungrateful, untrustworthy, and cowardly. If ever there was a character truly deserving of a comeuppance, it would be Tom.

Mark Twain was born in the slave state of Missouri and slavery was a central theme in his writings. However, Pudd’nhead Wilson doesn’t focus so much on slavery as it does on two men and how their lives are ultimately determined by the cradle in which they sleep. A simple switch and both lives are irrevocably changed forever. One man is given everything only to squander it away while the other is given nothing, but makes the most of what little life has to offer. Pudd’nhead Wilson is a commentary on grace versus greed, dignity versus disgrace, and affection versus apathy and Twain delivers it all masterfully. But of course, Mark Twain would know a thing or two about fools. After all, it was he who gave us the quote, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” Oh, if only Pudd’nhead had known.

Inspired by the delightful Twain biography Chasing the Last Laugh, I decided to read Twain stories that were mired at the bottom of my to-read pile. Pudd'nhead Wilson is a lot of fun. A detective novel, though with no real element of surprise, it takes place in a small Missouri river town before the Civil War and has a Shakespearean plot twist when a slave child and white child are switched as infants. It also involves the use of fingerprints to solve a crime, nearly 20 years before they were accepted as evidence in U.S. courts.

Just a pretty weird book that might have been good 100 years ago

2.5 stars rounded to 3 stars

This is Mark Twain’s darkest novel about a master and slave switched at birth. When Roxy a “ light skinned” slave swaps her son Chambers with the master’s son Tom ( Twain’s favorite male character name) they grow up in completely different lifestyles, as you might expect. When one of them commits a brutal crime the eccentric town lawyer Puddin’ Head Wilson himself is called in to figure it out. Luckily he has previously fingerprinted all of the townspeople as an odd hobby he happened upon and manages to set things straight.
Back in the day this was published as a periodical in the newspaper. As with many circa 1890 reads I’m not sure Twain’s humorous satirical fable about race and identity translates all that well to today.
Read for On The Southern Literary Trail - 3 stars

It’s is vey good if you like mysteries. It has a goof plot with a very exciting ending

Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson, published in 1894, is a witty tale of mistaken identity and social commentary. At its core, the story follows the lives of two babies switched at birth, their contrasting personalities, and the subsequent unraveling of a murder mystery.

Two infants, one white and one mixed-race, are swapped by a desperate mother seeking to protect her son from slavery. 20 Years later, two Italian twins appear in the Antebellum river town, their distinct personalities and physical appearances baffling the locals. Amidst this backdrop, the quirky lawyer, Pudd'nhead Wilson, uses his unusual hobby of fingerprint collection to solve a shocking crime.

Beyond the comedic elements that fall short of Twain's other works, and a bunch of loose ends he wholeheartedly admits to in his afterword, Pudd'nhead Wilson offers a poignant exploration of racial prejudice and the enduring impact of slavery. Twain's satirical wit is evident throughout, as he skewers the social and cultural norms of antebellum America. The first paragraph of each chapter is insanely funny and intelligent. But the bumper sticker humor doesn't always carry on. It is also hard to read some of the dialogues even though they're ultimately sharply anti slavery the language is rather harsh. The novel's ending is particularly satisfying, as Wilson's clever use of fingerprints exposes the truth and brings justice to the victim as well as intrigue regarding this "new" technology and field of scientific inquiry.

While Pudd'nhead Wilson may not be Twain's most famous work, it remains a valuable contribution to American literature. Its blend of humor, social commentary, and a well-crafted mystery makes it a timeless tale that continues to resonate with readers today.