pbanditp's review against another edition
4.0
Prince and the Pauper with a Southern America spin. Good historical story with some decent character development.
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Spoilers
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Maybe you shouldn't hand out your fingerprints to just anyone that asks.
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Spoilers
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Maybe you shouldn't hand out your fingerprints to just anyone that asks.
leilaniann's review against another edition
5.0
First time in forever that I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to se what happened next. I loved this book!
haleyashtonpowell's review
4.0
This is not Mark Twain at his "best," if that means perfect, completely organized, and entirely satirical. This is Twain at his most ambitious, and marks the beginning of the "darker" period of his life in which his writing is markedly more cynical. Puddn'head Wilson is more challenging than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it is so much more complex, and areas are left in shades of gray. It is thought-provoking and, of course, laugh-out-loud funny at some points. It's important to note that while some of the plot is muddy-- and some characters and plot points could be taken further (what the heck happened to Rowena? Why don't we talk more about "Chambers"?)-- it is never so out-of-order that it is unpleasant. I just wish Twain had done a bit more with the story, as I know he was so capable.
strrygo's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
not as bad as the other twain i've read but it does really hammer in its themes, to the point where it felt like the first couple chapters already revealed everything that would follow. the last two~three chapters were the strongest for me and i do think i would've enjoyed this for its exploration of identity as a short story maybe..though that would take away from the catharsis of the buildup(and crash) so i can't say that's definitive
introvertedbear's review against another edition
4.0
The language is a bit hard to get into at fast, but then becomes easier once you get into the grove of reading it.
It contains tons of thought-provoking themes on society, especially nature vs. nurture.
For me, "Those Extraordinary Twins" is probably the most hilarious part of the Pudd'nhead Wilson' storyline. That farce is worth a read because it seems quite outrageous and unbelievable. Still, it's stories like those that make me fall in love with Twain's writing.
It contains tons of thought-provoking themes on society, especially nature vs. nurture.
For me, "Those Extraordinary Twins" is probably the most hilarious part of the Pudd'nhead Wilson' storyline. That farce is worth a read because it seems quite outrageous and unbelievable. Still, it's stories like those that make me fall in love with Twain's writing.
omnibozo22's review
3.0
Hadn't read this/these before. Odd, even for Twain. Even more odd was the introduction to that pair of stories, that detailed the plot, almost paragraph by paragraph. Can't say I enjoyed either story much. I thought it odd that none of the reviewers or commenters in this edition bothered to mention that Twin had, twenty-five years previously, published a satirical essay on the lives of Eng and Cheng Bunker, the "Siamese Twins." Both stories were just tiresome.
octavia_cade's review
3.0
This is one of those variants on the Prince and the Pauper type tales, in which a young slave woman in the American almost-South (does Missouri count as the South? I've honestly no idea) swaps her baby with that of the man she is enslaved by. The two boys grow up into each other's place, but the story really has no interest in the white-child-turned-slave, it's all about the slave-turned-white-child, and I'm not sure how I feel about him being thoroughly a bad person. On the one hand, he's cosseted and spoilt by his vacuous purported relatives to an extent which would ruin any child, but on the other it smacks a little too much of the (unfounded, in this case) argument that nature is overcoming nurture. Which is of course bollocks, but which would be absolutely of a piece with the attitudes of the time... attitudes which Twain is admittedly skewering. The final line - which I won't spoil - is so pointed, so vicious and ridiculous at once that it is both the only line Twain could have ended this story on, and worth reading the entire book for. Which seems to give the impression that it's a bad book, now that I think of it, but it isn't. I genuinely liked it, but the sting in the tail is what really makes it.
haleypowell's review
4.0
This is not Mark Twain at his "best," if that means perfect, completely organized, and entirely satirical. This is Twain at his most ambitious, and marks the beginning of the "darker" period of his life in which his writing is markedly more cynical. Puddn'head Wilson is more challenging than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it is so much more complex, and areas are left in shades of gray. It is thought-provoking and, of course, laugh-out-loud funny at some points. It's important to note that while some of the plot is muddy-- and some characters and plot points could be taken further (what the heck happened to Rowena? Why don't we talk more about "Chambers"?)-- it is never so out-of-order that it is unpleasant. I just wish Twain had done a bit more with the story, as I know he was so capable.
prodoehl's review
3.0
This is an engaging story. It took a lot for me to keep going through it though. It seems to be darker than I thought it would be. Still there is plenty of wit and interest to hold your attention and feed your curiosity. It is fascinating to read about life in the 1890s.
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