A fine biography of Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens. The book traces the arc of his life from a hardscrabble beginning, living in a family with a father who had dreams of "aming it" but who could never quite reach that dream, often lkeaving the family in rather straitened circumstances. It details his maturing and his start in writing. One leaqrns that he wrote a lot of works that never were finished or--if finished--published. He paid a price for poor investments, but was always able to "come back." It is also the story of his somewhat forlorn later days. A very fine work. . . .

The audiobook is very well read, with the narrator (Ron Powers, the author) changing his voice very slightly to indicate when Twain is speaking. It's tricky to sound more midwestern without sounding cartoonish, and Powers does a great job.

Here's a book that I feel I've been reading for long, long time and have finally finished. It's actually a very good, if long, biography of Mark Twain. I certainly learned a lot and there is a greater understanding of him as a person and writer that I'll tackle re-reading a lot of his works in a deeper and new way - which is what you want as a reader of literary biographies.

Perhaps, it is a tribute to its thoroughness that reading made me realize that I would never, ever want to meet Mark Twain in person or be part of his social circle. Too temperamental and short tempered - but it does shine a light on how that fire when harnessed properly really made for profound satire and social commentary in his writing. And when his writing was divorced from that fire, it tended to be underwhelming to say the least. Now I understand I see how the things were in his life and his goals with writing each book why they varied so in quality. Which is invaluable insight in reading them.

Definitely recommended to folks who like Mark Twain and literary biographies in general.

Fairly Good Biography

This is a fairly good biography of the writer we know as Mark Twain. There are some aspects of his later years that are not touched on,like his frienndship with inventor Nikola Tesla, but still there's enough here to like.

Ron Powers has written a powerful, masterful biography of a towering figure in American literature. He tells not only the story of Twain's life, but delves into the innumerable facets of his character that made him the man he was - husband, father, riverboat pilot, entrepreneur, internationally recognized celebrity and terrible money manager. When I finally put the book down, I felt like I had met the man. Truly a five star story!

The man of a million one-liners, writer and "humorist" Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens lived an incredible life!

As a young man from Missouri, Twain piloted riverboats on the Mississippi and dodged the Civil War by going West to mining-bonzanza Nevada. Eventually, Twain won fame and riches by writing famous books and delivering speeches (more like a stand up comic - he once made the stoic US President Ulysses Grant almost die laughing at a solemn occasion). Twain traveled around the world, met many famous people, spoke out against controversial topics like imperialism, and was an icon. He never seemed to lose his "everyman" touch - you could find him playing billiards, drinking and/or smoking, and always having some laughs.

On the flip side, Twain endured more than his fair share of suffering. He lost his younger brother in a boat explosion, barely escaped enormous debt due to bad investments, tragicaly lost three of his four children, and much later lost his wife under cruel conditions (the doctor only let him see her for two minutes a day out of a fear that his personality would overwhelm her). Mark Twain was a man who lived a full life, there is no doubt about it.

I am giving this one 3/5 stars. Perhaps this isn't the best reason for the grade I gave, but I think it could have been shorter and a more thematic telling of his life could have helped (instead of chronologically). Reading this book takes a while, but it is very thorough and the research is admirable.

A fresh 21st century Twain biography.

An excellent biography, one that skillfully takes into account contemporary scholarship and the author's own extensively documented life story. Samuel Clemens, AKA Mark Twain, has a well-deserved reputation as the best American writer of the 19th Century. But he was much more than that too--a perpetual crank and skeptic, a devoted husband and father, a horrific businessman and investor, and also one of the world's first true celebrities. Though some of the luster of his name has worn off over the years due to controversial positions he sometimes took, Twain was a true original and enormously influential.

Twain's presence was dominant over a forty year period, starting shortly after the American Civil War, and concluding in the early part of the 20th Century. Understanding Twain's life, be it in written form, or in the humorous and (usually) entertaining talks by which he entertained many an audience also provides the reader an understanding of the history of the time period. Twain rubbed shoulders with many significant figures of his period, befriended some, feuding with others, all to frequently entertaining effect.

Mark Twain: A Life is a lengthy book that took me a while to finish. It starts slow, but picks up speed and the interest of its audience quickly. The details of Twain's riotous youth spent in California and Nevada, while salacious, were far less interesting than the account of the mature period of his work, where he penned classic books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that are still required reading in schools. Powers discusses Twain's unique writing process, which will be of interest not just to history buffs, but also to those who enjoy analyzing classic literature.

I did enjoy this book even though it took months and months to read it. It was really funny throughout, but it was a struggle to get through it at times. It was certainly written at a higher level than I am used to. I haven't read a book with so many unfamiliar words in years; that explains part of the struggle, but it was neat to learn new words.
Apparently I had no real understanding of all of the struggles he encountered during his fascinating life. Plus, i love learning of all the intersections of historical figures - who knew he was friends with US Grant? And that's just one example.
I'm definitely glad to have spent the time reading this.

Packed with info but not an easy read. Took me nearly a year to wade thru.

An excellent and very thorough biography of Mark Twain. At times the book was a little too scholarly and it is very long. As a fan of Mark Twain I am very glad that I read it.

This book gets three stars because of several cutesy turns of phrase that betray the better prose passages and the author's tendency to want Mark Twain to be his Mark Twain, which is a smaller, less interesting irritable radical rabble rouser than the larger figure who was constantly experimenting with genre, fiction, non-fiction, essay, etc. The fervent, rationalist anti-Christian who wrote a novel of Joan of Arc. The artist who wrote several easily dismissed sequels to Tom Sawyer. The radical anticapitalist who boated with millionaires. And Powers saves his worst judgments for Twain's literary executors and biographers, who did the same thing. This was a good book that could have been better, but reminded me of those books about Jesus or Lincoln that tell you more about the biographer.