Most of it is funny. And it’s frustrating when, compared to Twain, I’m leading an incredibly dull life. Everything that is interesting, funny, outrageous, supernatural & all seems to happen to him. And oh, the envy on his wittiness!
In some parts, it’s touchy. Not only the episodes about his mother and brother (characters in his books – Sid and Aunt Polly, for those who remember), but especially the memories about his wife and daughters. Susy’s biography, written when she was about 14 (have no idea if it ever got to be published) is at the same time, funny, objective and delicate.
In some smaller parts it’s boring – consider the episodes about his troubles with business partners, copyrights a.s.o. But then again, family comes into sight, with focus on his wife, Olivia, an extremely determined woman, who always found a way to get out of financial problems.

A tireless campaigner for women's and civil rights, Mark Twain wrote in the highly offensive, discriminatory style of the XIX Century, drawing dumb, lazy and untrustworthy black stereotypes. A puzzling contradiction.

I guess that -as is the case with figures like Jack Kerouac, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Bob Hope- Americans would enjoy this man's biography much more than I did.

This is very different from almost any other autobiography, as it's more a collection of recollections by the famed author. Mark Twain attempted to write his autobiography several times, and the source material is drawn from the many attempts. What is most striking is the number of other notable people he knew and interacted with, from inventors to bankers to emporers.

I believe he dictated much of this as he states in the book. Remarkable. He can make you laugh and then weep with a sentence or two. He sets every story and musing up so well. A book you can pick up and put down.

Авторът на първия роман, който прочетох в живота си. Всяко подрастващо момче може смело да навлезе в живота, ако е чел Марк Твен. Радвам се, че продължавам да го преотривам.

Finally finished this so I'll be boring people at social functions a little less with Twain minutia, maybe. Was absolutely hooked by the first paragraph, which made me laugh out loud twice. This is a lean 500 pg. edit of Twain's full autobiography -- which apparently contains full novels.

This edit is from 1958, before all of what Twain wrote was even available. I think it focuses too much on his Twain's takes his contemporaries -- Brett Harte, Marie Corelli, Thomas Bailey Aldrich -- all of whom he slags. There are three chapters devoted to Brett Harte alone, which probably is reasonable in the three-plus volume full edition, but in this condensed edit it comes off as professional jealousy.

Before I read Twain in college, my impression from school was of a folksy midwesterner who wrote kids books and used the N-word freely. The folksiness really turned me off, probably because it is so often imitated without Twain's sharp edges. Twain is never folksy as a contrivance for nostalgia, but only to lull readers into comfort before twisting his knife.

Obviously the way Twain talks about race is unacceptable today, but if you get down to his actual beliefs he's really modern. There is much more to write on this obviously, but I don't have time.

I know this isn't the utterly and complete Autobiography that's like three huge volumes long, but as the editor goes into great detail in the introduction explaining how it was compiled and edited, I think it's probably as complete and cohesive as really needed. It was easy to read and absolutely kept Clemmens' wit and charm throughout. I learned many things about his life I didn't know, and much about his personality as well. Although as he readily admits, it's hard to know which or how much of some of these events are true...

What kept me from giving it five stars were a come of disturbing observances and anecdotes, mainly having to do with slaves or further slaves, or indigenous peoples. Overall, he nearly always presents POC very positively and is surprisingly insightful about oppression, etc, for his time. But one scene in particular he recalls as a young man observing his friend make passes at a young slave girl in the presence of her mother, and describes the mother as not being all that concerned, but the girl being very concerned indeed. We are given the impression that this never moves beyond what the boys view as harmless flirting, but knowing some of the history of how slave women in particular were often treated and their bodies used in unspeakable ways, I know this scene probably played out much differently in the minds and memories of the women involved. The very real fears likely involved makes the story incredibly disturbing. His descriptions of tormenting other young men with really unkind "practical jokes" felt rather malicious as well.

On the other hand, he very tenderly speaks of his family, is very complimentary to his wife's contributions to his life and well-being, and a deep love for his children.

Definitely worth the read, although certainly with eyes open to the realities of the times.

Such A Good Telling of A Life

This was a good telling of a life well lived. He did everything in his own way. He loved the women in his life. He was smart, had unaccountable common sense, and told the best stories.

I had to stop reading this one half way through. I got the feeling this was Mark Twain's last joke on the world.

A Fulfilled, Yet Sad Life

An uplifting and inspirational work by the creator of those ageless boys, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. One can see these characters and Becky and Tom's Aunt in tales from Twain's life. A short history of a long and glorious life, made short in words by his modesty and succinctness. He recites words of wisdom from those amongst whom he grew up with and developed. He does not dwell upon the misery of the divided Nation caused by the Civil War and speaks with joy and pleasure of his life and family, of his comfort in having provided for thise whom he loves and the desperation of the losses of his son, his two daughters and his beloved wife. He is a man who taught us much and still imparts his wisdom today.

سيرة ذاتية مفيدة للي سيقراها.... عمتم صباحاً سيد مارك توين (صامويل كليمنس)

In effetti si tratta di un libro un po' prolisso (con tanto di appendice, e ben nutrita) e lo stile di Twain si stempera e si diluisce nei vari affreschi delle più disparate situazioni e personaggi. Il proverbiale umorismo si stempera via via che il calice della vita diventa sempre più amaro.
In ogni caso, oltre al tipico sense of humor, qui si apprezzano anche le descrizioni degli ambienti, nonché le storie e i personaggi che caratterizzano una certa America di fine Ottocento (e non solo del Missouri) e le aperture descrittive (e critiche) verso l'Europa. Twain percorse l'America, viaggiò per il mondo, si stabilì a Firenze per lunghi periodi; fu considerato il maggior scrittore del suo tempo. Tuttavia la sua partecipazione alle grandi vicende dell'epoca (si pensi alla guerra di secessione) qui è assai limitata. E' invece Sam Clemens, alias Mark Twain, a prendere tutta la scena. Le sue aspirazioni, le sue peripezie per realizzarle, la sua inquietudine un po' nevrotica, la sua insoddisfazione, il suo radicale pessimismo verso la società umana nel suo insieme e infine il suo dolore per la perdita delle persone care: l'amatissima moglie Livy, le dolcissime figlie: Susy, morta a 24 anni, Jean, che lui seguirà dopo soli quattro mesi. Le pagine più toccanti, intime, profonde, e tuttavia non grevi, sono proprio quelle dedicate all'irreparabile dolore della perdita e quindi alla sostanza immutabile dell'amore. Destinato comunque a finire con la morte: questo è il dichiarato disincanto di Twain.

Ma c'è una chicca di altro genere, profeticamente politica, ed è questa:
Twain ricorda la frase di un ufficiale d'alto rango dell'esercito che in occasione di un banchetto disse, con esplicito orgoglio, sottolineato dagli applausi degli astanti: "Apparteniamo alla razza anglosassone, e quando l'anglosassone vuole una cosa la prende e basta". Lo scrittore giustamente si indigna e usa parole durissime a proposito della protervia anglo-americana, concludendo così:
"Assiduamente, continuamente, persistentemente, stiamo americanizzando l'Europa e verrà il tempo in cui avremo perfezionato l'impresa".
Era il 1906.