a_little_shelf_absorbed's review against another edition
4.0
Hilarious tall tales that range from satirizing bureaucratic process to marriage between men and women. Twain pulls apart the stereotypical with his excellent use of many devices of humor.
judyward's review against another edition
5.0
All sixty of Mark Twain's short stories are included in this volume and they trace his development as a writer from his youth to his old age. Such a great read!
jocelynw's review
5.0
How much Mark Twain is too much? Eight hundred and fourteen pages is not too much. I have decided that of Satan-meddling-with-the-world-stories, I prefer "The Mysterious Stranger" to _The Master and Margarita_.
bb9159's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
bobbo49's review
5.0
So, I read this big volume of Twain's short stories one at a time (except the really short ones), over the last three months. Like all collections, of course some of the stories were great and some were just ok - but overall, the collection is simply superb. A few of the tales were part of my childhood (like The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County), some I've read as an adult (like The Diary of Adam and Eve), but many of them were new to me - and had the same magic as Twain's other writings. Yes, there is some cultural anachronism (they were written in the latter part of the 19th and earliest 20th centuries), but the social and political commentary on the developing American society, as well as the tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the character (and characters) of the evolving West, are brilliant and filled with humor. A delightful read. Thanks, Mom!
writesdave's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Be warned — this is not the lighthearted Twain of "Huckleberry Finn," "Tom Sawyer," or "Connecticut Yankee." This is a darker, more cynical and angry Twain. Fed up with the human condition and enriched enough by the aforementioned works to go his own way, he really let fly his discontents. My rating sort of averages all of them out; some are brilliant, other less so. And it took me six years to read them, all of them, one at a time. Makes for good reading on public transit.
This volume combines all 159 of Twain's short stories, including a couple of novellas that stretch the definition of "short;" "The Mysterious Stranger," which closes the collection, is 70 pages long. It opens with a classic, "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."
This volume combines all 159 of Twain's short stories, including a couple of novellas that stretch the definition of "short;" "The Mysterious Stranger," which closes the collection, is 70 pages long. It opens with a classic, "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."
easolinas's review against another edition
5.0
Mark Twain was a pretty versatile author, writing everything from the story of Huck Finn to a time-traveling Arthurian satire.
And in addition to writing articles, novels and travelogues, he wrote a lot of short stories. Everyman's Library's "The Complete Short Stories" brings together all of Twain's short works, from the sublime to the sublimely ridiculous (there's a story called "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"!).
The stories include stories of Jim Smiley and his trained frog, the Capitoline Venus, a missing elephant, the "orneriest-lookin'" cat Tom Quartz, the overwrought romance of Alonzo and Rosannah (via phone), a tragic Inuit maiden, a wild sketch about an odd couple on the Russian border, Captain Elias Stormfield's voyage through the startling expanses of heaven, and countless other tales. It also has some stuff that is not quite as easily classified as short stories, such as the demonic fable "The Mysterious Stranger," a scathing poke at organized religion.
"The Complete Short Stories" has a lot of different kinds of tales in it, from the tragic ("The Esquimau Maiden's Romance") to the hilarious ("The Belated Russian Passport"). But since Twain was a noted humorist, most of the stories have a wry, biting edge -- sometimes it's gentle, and sometimes it's pretty vicious.
Heck, even the romantic stories in it -- such as the tale of Alonzo and Rosannah -- have the vague feeling that you should be laughing at the overwrought emotions and reactions of the lovers.
And that edge permeates all the stories, however they are written. Some are conventional 19th-century prose, with splashes of color and clever wordplay. But he experiments with style at times -- sometimes he's being told a story by a fictional third person, sometimes the story is almost all dialogue, and so on.
Above all, Twain was a brilliant wordsmith, able to conjure up the mundane with as much color as the ethereal and exotic. His stories tend to be brief, but they pack a lot of punch -- even if they're barely more than sketches (like the membranous croup story), they have clever, colorful writing.
"The Complete Short Stories" (which isn't QUITE complete -- there are a few stories missing) is a good way of getting Mark Twain's short stories all in one. Vibrant, sharp and witty.
And in addition to writing articles, novels and travelogues, he wrote a lot of short stories. Everyman's Library's "The Complete Short Stories" brings together all of Twain's short works, from the sublime to the sublimely ridiculous (there's a story called "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"!).
The stories include stories of Jim Smiley and his trained frog, the Capitoline Venus, a missing elephant, the "orneriest-lookin'" cat Tom Quartz, the overwrought romance of Alonzo and Rosannah (via phone), a tragic Inuit maiden, a wild sketch about an odd couple on the Russian border, Captain Elias Stormfield's voyage through the startling expanses of heaven, and countless other tales. It also has some stuff that is not quite as easily classified as short stories, such as the demonic fable "The Mysterious Stranger," a scathing poke at organized religion.
"The Complete Short Stories" has a lot of different kinds of tales in it, from the tragic ("The Esquimau Maiden's Romance") to the hilarious ("The Belated Russian Passport"). But since Twain was a noted humorist, most of the stories have a wry, biting edge -- sometimes it's gentle, and sometimes it's pretty vicious.
Heck, even the romantic stories in it -- such as the tale of Alonzo and Rosannah -- have the vague feeling that you should be laughing at the overwrought emotions and reactions of the lovers.
And that edge permeates all the stories, however they are written. Some are conventional 19th-century prose, with splashes of color and clever wordplay. But he experiments with style at times -- sometimes he's being told a story by a fictional third person, sometimes the story is almost all dialogue, and so on.
Above all, Twain was a brilliant wordsmith, able to conjure up the mundane with as much color as the ethereal and exotic. His stories tend to be brief, but they pack a lot of punch -- even if they're barely more than sketches (like the membranous croup story), they have clever, colorful writing.
"The Complete Short Stories" (which isn't QUITE complete -- there are a few stories missing) is a good way of getting Mark Twain's short stories all in one. Vibrant, sharp and witty.
edward_evjen's review against another edition
3.0
None of the stories stand out, only sections of them do.
The best stories are:
A Dying man's Confession. Not humorous, revenge plot.
The $1,000,000 Bank Note.
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.
The Death Disk. Not humorous, quite sad.
The War Prayer. Not so much a short story as an appeal against war-mongering.
Mr. McWilliams and the Lightning
Journalism in Tennessee
I liked Cannibalism in the Cars, but I can't recommend it. I enjoy people making fun of democracy and politicians. The story was sugar candy for me.
The Worst are:
A Dog's Tale
A Horse's tale
The $30,000 Bequest
The Californian's Tale
A Double-Barreled Detective Story
The worst ones are the longest. The Twain Scholar--Justin Kaplan--admits in a foreword Mark Twain's writing quality decreases with the length. (Foreword to the Signet Classic Book of Mark Twain's Short Stories.) There is no promise of enjoyment at the beginning in the worst ones, then they drag on. Likely clever plots, but I'll never know.
The best stories are:
A Dying man's Confession. Not humorous, revenge plot.
The $1,000,000 Bank Note.
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.
The Death Disk. Not humorous, quite sad.
The War Prayer. Not so much a short story as an appeal against war-mongering.
Mr. McWilliams and the Lightning
Journalism in Tennessee
I liked Cannibalism in the Cars, but I can't recommend it. I enjoy people making fun of democracy and politicians. The story was sugar candy for me.
The Worst are:
A Dog's Tale
A Horse's tale
The $30,000 Bequest
The Californian's Tale
A Double-Barreled Detective Story
The worst ones are the longest. The Twain Scholar--Justin Kaplan--admits in a foreword Mark Twain's writing quality decreases with the length. (Foreword to the Signet Classic Book of Mark Twain's Short Stories.) There is no promise of enjoyment at the beginning in the worst ones, then they drag on. Likely clever plots, but I'll never know.