I've been on a Mark Twain kick, having just finished listening to (Librivox readings of) The Innocents Abroad, which I loved; Tom Sawyer, which I enjoyed a lot; and Huckleberry Finn, which I enjoyed less; and thought I'd find out what this lesser-known book was like. I guess I was at a point of diminishing returns. I happened to listen to the author's notes at the end before starting the book, in the process learning that the two Italian twins in the story started out as conjoined twins, but they were later "separated" in the course of revising the manuscript. Well, that explains the many references to them being mercilessly "put on display" by their parents, and other bits that would make more sense if you were talking about Siamese twins rather than twin brothers who are highly skilled musicians.

Beyond the patchy adaptation of the plot to the new circumstances of key characters, I have a general problem with Twain's fiction, which I didn't have with his more journalistic Innocents Abroad travelogue. And that is that he gets his characters into such desperate straits that I often have to put the book down for a while because it's too hard to keep listening. When I come back to it, it's usually with a greater sense of detachment, in which I constantly remind myself that it's just outrageous fantasy. And for me that detracts from the work. I was relieved when I finally finished this relatively short book. It has a satisfying ending, I suppose - you see a scoundrel getting his just deserts, and some good or pretty good characters being vindicated or lionized. And I am fascinated by the firsthand accounts of slavery - like the previous two novels, and like Uncle Tom's Cabin and various firsthand accounts by former slaves, it does succeed in giving a modern reader a keen sense of what slavery must have been like - you realize how deeply entrenched the system was, and how it was an inherent part of the everyday norm for everybody in the country, North and South. These depictions have helped me make more sense of current race relations in the US and African-American culture and pathology. This is what happens when you choose a very bad expedient for immediate profit or benefit, in this case, exploitive cheap forced labor from and harsh abuse of one particular group of people. Folks obviously weren't thinking of where it might and probably would lead in the future. Polluters, global warming deniers, and resource wasters (which includes all of us), are you listening?

But I can't say I think very highly of this particular book or that I would recommend it to anybody other than a hardcore Twain fan. The ending is a bit too tidy, and it is hard for a modern reader to identify with, since fingerprinting apparently hadn't yet been established at this time and it is treated like a new scientific wonder, which I guess it must have been back then.

I still do plan to at some point go on to Life on the Mississippi, in the hopes that it will be something closer to truthful reporting, more like Innocents Abroad (which however also includes wild flights of fancy in parts, but only in parts), than the incredible fabrications of Pudd'nhead Wilson. But first I am taking a restorative nonfiction break from Twain for a while.

Would be a very interesting psychological study, but being Twain, it doesn't go that deep. A slave (1/16) woman switches her (1/32) baby with the master's son in order to save him from being sold down the river. This turns him into a tyrant and a horrible human being. Of course, in the end this is attributed to his 'black blood'.

I absolutely love this novel. I had to read it for an American Southern Literature class in undergrad, and I think it's amazing. Twain's somewhat twisted sense of humor comes through in this social satire that questions racism and even the idea of race itself.

I do not feel qualified to review a book by Mark Twain. He is one of those rare authors who combines intelligence, wit, humour and sarcasm with a quality missing in many men today: compassion. "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson" displays all of these qualities - and adds a dash of surprise.

The best and most affecting story I've read from Twain so far. Starting out i thought it would just be a prince and the pauper story set in the pre civil war south, but twain creates something great for his story. Tom Driscoll is a weak iago and Chambers the poor othello. Twain's statements on the absurdities of racial ideologies of the time (as well as the practice of slavery as a whole) are witty and acid tongued. Twain speaks as part historian part misanthrope not apologizing for the time or the institution but somehow giving it the tinge of acceptability due mostly to people and their continued errs while ruthlessly mocking it and the people who endorse it as well as those who suffer from it, black and white. For a quick read there's a fantastic amount of depth and meaning to be found in its reflections on both americas past and peoples eternal flaws and mores.

The note of the author at the very end of the book made me laugh more than any of the rest of the book did. Twain wrote at the end there in his candid non-fiction way that is so charmingly witty.

The rest of the book was a delight to read as well. It was a great carrier (as most of his books are) of his opinion and beliefs regarding slavery, albeit put forth in a very creative manner (murder mystery, switched babies, oriental daggers, and all that jazz).

I was almost afraid of the book not having a happy ending, but thank goodness it did. Otherwise, it would have been sorely disappointing.

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Some memorable lines:

"Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world."

'Behold, the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs int he one basket" ―which is but a manner of saying, "Scatter your money and your attention"; but the wise man saith, "Put all your eggs int he one basket and― WATCH THAT BASKET!"'

'All say, "How hard it is that we have to die" ―a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.'

"It is often the case that the man who can't tell a lie thinks he is the best judge of one."

During the antebellum south on the western shore of the broad, mighty , muddy Mississippi River 2,350 miles long and miles wide, in the golden era of the steamboats ( numbering an astounding 1,200, vessels ) feed by more than a dozen tributaries, they continuously went up and down those waters and entered other streams too. A small , tranquil village named Dawson's Landing stood, half a days travel by boat below St. Louis in the state of Missouri not an important place mind you, yet when an intriguing stranger, Mr. David Wilson arrives from a distant part of the country, seeking to practice law here things pick up, he hears loud barking from an unseen dog on his first day, annoyed greatly the new lawyer tells some curious leading citizens that if he owned half the animal he Wilson would kill it... Shortly afterwards the influential people in town gather and discuss those quite remarkable silly words by the newcomer, after a short conversation come to the unanimous conclusion this Mr. Wilson is a pudd'nhead (translation, an idiot) the unfortunate man quickly receives that nickname Pudd'nhead, his high hopes for being a successful lawyer collapses , no one will hire this obvious moron...At about the same time two look alike children are born both boys, one to Percy Driscoll, Thomas Driscoll, from a prominent family in old Virginia his poor wife soon expires in the effort, another from a black slave the beautiful Roxana ( no surnames given them) her son, she names Valet de Chambers. The interesting thing is Roxana is white in appearance, only one -sixteenth black which makes Chambers one -thirty -second he had a white father however one drop of blood , will change your life. Roxy who takes care of the children, is afraid she and her baby will he sold and sent down the river to a fearful fate , by her owner Percy Driscoll and switches children Thomas becomes Chambers and Chambers , Thomas, nobody notices the difference, still one has a fabulous life of wealth and privilege the fake Tom, ( doesn't known he's black) is a cruel vindictive, coward the real Tom a kind, generous, forgiving , brave man suffers misery , humiliation and beatings frequently by the impostor yes, treated like a slave.... Mr. Wilson has plenty of time for a hobby between doing odd jobs in accounting and surveying to survive, virtually unknown to the public fingerprinting, a system that can identify anyone by the patterns on the tips of your fingers, he takes the prints of all on a glass in the village, the amused citizens think just another eccentricity of the addle- brained man, then a mystery happens, local robberies occur in the quiet, peaceful town . More fascinating the enigmatic Italian twins , Luigi and Angelo Capello nobles they say, somehow find this tiny community through a newspaper ad and rent a room, the entire Dawson's Landing is thrilled some excitement finally here, later duels, a murder and an old woman who keeps being seen and vanishing at the site of further unexplained, petty robberies ...A fine story that starts as a comedy and then unexpectedly turns serious, telling and showing the tragedy of slavery... Mark Twain wrote about this evil institution and reached the American conscience.

Mark Twain wrote this novel when he was pretty old, pretty crabby, and living in Europe to avoid creditors and the other people who made him feel old and crabby. Really, it's a simple story: A light-skinned slave woman swaps her baby with her master's baby, hoping to ensure the former a happier life without the risk of being "sold down the river," and the rest of the book builds suspense for the "big moment" when true identities are revealed.

I've read a few reviews that allege that Pudd'nhead Wilson is a book against slavery, but this isn't quite accurate, as the Civil War had made slavery effectively illegal a quarter century before it was published. Instead, Twain writes a book to counter "scientific" claims made in the late nineteenth century in support of (white) racial superiority. Slavery is over, he argues, but people who believe nature (one's heritage) has a larger impact than nurture (the social conditions into which one is born) are essentially slave-holders in their modern reincarnations. On one hand, I'd like to fault Twain for writing a book ostensibly about being black in the United States without including a single character whose skin is noticeably dark. But on the other hand, it's a treat how he points out real and artificial differences between white skins. There is, after all, less difference in color between "white" master and "black" slave than there is between the Italian twins who move into town, who are able to be distinguished only because one is slightly "darker" than the other.

Twain stages his conclusion in a courtroom, where poor Pudd'nhead Wilson finally has the chance to practice the law he studied oh-so-many years ago. For those of us who're accustomed to (and extremely tired of) the courtroom formula that plays out every week in Law and Order and a dozen other TV series, I think this is a bit of a let-down after what is otherwise an imaginative and caustic romp. However, I can't deny that that "big moment," when it finally happens, is written masterfully. Four stars.

The transparent plot earned this read a three star rating. The author’s voice was very unique and distinct but the story itself was so-so. It had a missing piece feel to it like it was part of a continuous storyline and I happened to snag book three. The only memorable part for me was how the character obtained his childishly silly nickname. You know I walked around for at least three days calling everyone in my house a Pudd’nhead.

n  WOW!!n Without divulging any spoilers, that was my reaction to the last sentence of Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson. Suffice it to say that the book took several twists and turns that I did not see coming, but each of them definitely kept the story moving.

There was no way I was going to pass on an opportunity to read a book with a premise such a this one: A white man, born free, but switched at 7 months of age to be raised as a slave. A black man, born into slavery, but switched at 7 months of age to be raised as a slave owner. What a freakin' social experiment!! n   A devil born to a young couple is measurably recognizable by them as a devil before long, but a devil adopted by an old couple is an angel to them, and remains so, through thick and thin.n First published in 1894, Twain manages to truly challenge the idea of nature versus nurture, using both humor and suspnse. (Twain even manages to throw in some forensics science for good measure).

In a the words of Langston Hughes, author of this particular edition's introduction,

n   In Pudd'nhead Wilson Mark Twain wrote what a later period might have been called in the finest sense of the term, a novel of social significance...Twain minces no words in describing the unfortunate effects of slavery upon the behavior of both Negroes and whites, even upon children. n

I am quite sure that most of us read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in an English Lit. class, somewhere along the line. But, personally, I would have loved to have read this one. It has been well over 100 years since Mark Twain created this work; yet, it still speaks to criminality our society condones and the racial prejudices that still exist. Even Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar has an adage that speaks to the importance of embracing differences, n  It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse-races.n

If you have not guessed, this book is definitely on my must-read bookshelf. It will truly leave you wondering: Where do we go from here? And, how can we make things better for everyone?

n  Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not the absence of fearn--Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar

This book, with its slave characters and family mix-up, is like a combination of Huck Finn and The Prince and the Pauper, but way darker. The story contains a plot involving visibly white people who have "black blood". And even as slight as it is, that makes them black to the general community. If Huck Finn was offensive to modern audiences, then this story wouldn't even be allowed in classrooms today, given all the satire. But as a whole, the plot consistently bumps along for its protagonists, and it has a satisfying conclusion, even though it does say more for society at the time than anything else. The only reason I'm knocking it a star is because some of the dialogue from the black characters is so hard to read, it's a struggle to get through it. Otherwise, a great book. Another one from the master.

America is weird