Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Innocents Abroad: Or, the New Pilgrims' Progress by Mark Twain

2 reviews

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

adventurous informative slow-paced

2.25

My least liked book by Mark Twain thus far. The travel aspect was appealing, but the writing is richly saturated with historical and Biblical stories that relate to the group's travels by location of where they visited and the story settings. I feel like the narrative could have benefited from more anecdotes about the travels of Twain and his companions and even time on the ship or who the other travelers were. This nonfiction travel log /part history book is very much a product of its time as much as Twain was a product of the world in which he lived. The most interesting parts of the book was learning how attitudes towards different people and cultures have changed over the past more than decade. I listened to the Blackstone Audio edition narrated by Grover Gardner, and his storyteller voice kept me going. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Classism

Minor: Slavery and Colonisation

troxelm's review against another edition

I really wanted to like this book, but it felt like Mark Twain went to Europe determined to dislike everything he saw: French women are ugly.  Italians don’t know how to bathe.  Lake Como is okay, but Lake Tahoe is much nicer.  (Except for the name, that stinks.).  The book was constructed well, and the pacing was probably the only thing good about it, but the tone is so condescending and almost xenophobic that I DNF’d halfway through Italy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation