There is no nicer surprise for a reader than to discover that an acknowledged classic really does deliver the goods. Mark Twain's Roughing Itread full description
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Jan 14, 2011
Supineny
rated it: 
The first quarter of Roughing It is really great -- the description of his stage coach trip with to Nevada is great travel writing, laced with irony and sly humor. That it is describing a lost world makes it that much more entertaining. Exquisite.
There's just one 'humorous' episode concerning a bull that interjects during this part of the book and it seems disconcertingly false -- kind of corny and cartoonish in a not terribly clever way. Perhaps the sort of thing he could bring life More...
There's just one 'humorous' episode concerning a bull that interjects during this part of the book and it seems disconcertingly false -- kind of corny and cartoonish in a not terribly clever way. Perhaps the sort of thing he could bring life More...
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Dec 25, 2011
wally
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seems like a cheerful bit of writing...heading west w/his brother the secretary and a mr george bemis. i think my mail lady is a bemis....or maybe that's bettis? they had to travel light...just 25 pounds. imagine if the ober-groppen-fuhrers were around at the time? maybe they have their roots here? so no swallow-tail coats and white kid gloves to wear at pawnee receptions.
brief description of their arms...there must be something universal about the idea of an animal (in this ins More...
brief description of their arms...there must be something universal about the idea of an animal (in this ins More...
Sep 06, 2011
Michael
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Maybe my attention span has dwindled over the years or I've lost my taste for 19th century prolix prose, but I had trouble getting through this book. And I was unpleasantly surprised by this since I really enjoyed Twain's other classics, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.
The book's plot is broken up into dozens of short narratives chronicling the narrator's several year journey into the wild west. In theory, this sounds like an exciting premise, but the narratives did not coincide with any c More...
The book's plot is broken up into dozens of short narratives chronicling the narrator's several year journey into the wild west. In theory, this sounds like an exciting premise, but the narratives did not coincide with any c More...
May 16, 2011
Marty
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Mark Twain is one of the main reasons I went into the English Literature field. For many of my students, that probably is cause enough for desecration to his remains, yet it is undeniable that the man hit a chord with me that has never gone away. So, I figured I ought to hark back to the old man for some good ole' nostalgia.
Perhaps these high expectations led to mediocre results; or perhaps, because this was more a collection of mini-essays in chronological order, it lost some of its More...
Perhaps these high expectations led to mediocre results; or perhaps, because this was more a collection of mini-essays in chronological order, it lost some of its More...
Oct 24, 2011
This is a semi-autobiographic novel covering young Mark Twain's years when he rode the stagecoach from Missouri to Nevada and the years that he lived there (1861–1867).
I loved "Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," and "The Prince and the Pauper." On the other hand, I never enjoyed "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," finding it not quaint, but rather simply eccentric yet unin More...
I loved "Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," and "The Prince and the Pauper." On the other hand, I never enjoyed "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," finding it not quaint, but rather simply eccentric yet unin More...
Jan 25, 2010
Adam
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This was the first book I read while on a month long sojourn in northern California. Living with the dog in a yurt in the wilderness, this was the perfect storm from one adventurer to another. Twain's escapades and the accompanying humor made for a good companion to my own experiences. If only in the fact that we were both in a sense "roughing it".
The multitudes of characters and the tall tales they spun in their rough language marked for endless laughter and guffawing. I even f More...
The multitudes of characters and the tall tales they spun in their rough language marked for endless laughter and guffawing. I even f More...
Nov 15, 2011
Cheryl in CC NV
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The memoir itself: Rough. Racist. Much prone to exaggeration. Sometimes funny, but sometimes slang & other issues got in the way of comprehension. Lots of uncredited contributions from others, and even more that were credited. Of special interest to those familiar with the regions he spent time in (I've lived in Carson City for 15 years so it was neat to see the references to this region). Obviously an early work.
This edition: Heavy. Lots of notes & references & pictures. I More...
This edition: Heavy. Lots of notes & references & pictures. I More...
Jan 26, 2009
Asymmetrical
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The good, bad and ugly, all wrapped into one. I loved about a quarter of this book, liked another quarter, and yawned through the rest. The parts about Hawaii seem especially forced, like something by a hired-gun travel writer.
But the good parts make this very much worth reading. I mean, we have here a first-hand account traveling the American frontier by stagecoach. We have Twain getting his feet wet as a writer. The politics and culture of Nevada silver mining, again first-han More...
But the good parts make this very much worth reading. I mean, we have here a first-hand account traveling the American frontier by stagecoach. We have Twain getting his feet wet as a writer. The politics and culture of Nevada silver mining, again first-han More...
Jul 06, 2011
Allison
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Keep in mind: at this point, I think I've been spoiled by reading a concentrated amount of Twain in a very short period. It's like becoming a truffle enthusiast: even amongst a pile of what is arguably the best and most flavorful food in the world, there is bound to be something that is... well, not lesser, but something you're not as likely to prefer. So with that insane metaphor in mind, read on.
Roughing It was good in some parts -- chiefly, the beginning and the end. I'm keen on rea More...
Roughing It was good in some parts -- chiefly, the beginning and the end. I'm keen on rea More...
Dec 12, 2010
Isis
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This is a rambling, entertaining, beautifully written travelogue about places (and ways to get to them) that no longer exist. Twain travels by stagecoach across the plains to what is now Utah and Nevada; his casual references to "back in the States" remind the reader that at the time, these places were frontier territories, barely one step of civilization past wilderness. He works, more or less, in a frontier town, and tries his hand at what passes for silver mining. He takes passag
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Apr 29, 2009
John
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I'd given up on his Life on the Mississippi a while ago, but decided to try this one as a travel narrative. Overall, it held my attention ... barely. The first part, regarding his stagecoach trip from MO to NV, with a stopover in Salt Lake City, wasn't too bad. The middle part, focusing on his time in Virginia City, Nevada (territory) didn't hold my interest completely, but I wasn't surprised; I'm just not that into mining details and lengthy description of horses. The last part on San Francisco
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Oct 22, 2009
Kris
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As any kid with a Missouri education, I'd had plenty of exposure to Twain, but it had always been his more well-known fiction (Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn) that we'd read in class. This book, a nonfiction account of Clemens' trip west with his brother, is decidedly different. Twain was in Nevada during the great silver mining rush, and in San Francisco during one of its biggest earthquakes. He discusses his visits with the Mormon community in Salt Lake City, his newspaper-editor days in the Nevada
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Mar 26, 2011
Gerri
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The American Civil War began in 1861. That same year Orion Clemens became secretary to the governor of the territory of Nevada and had to travel there by stagecoach from Missouri. He took along his little brother, Sam, to keep him company. This was fortunate because it kept both of them out of the war!
The young Samuel Clemens thought it would interesting to travel in the west for the needed 3 or so months the trip would take but it led to 6 years of experiences which helped create More...
The young Samuel Clemens thought it would interesting to travel in the west for the needed 3 or so months the trip would take but it led to 6 years of experiences which helped create More...
Oct 26, 2011
Nathan
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This is the best of the biographies by Mark Twain (well- better than Innocents Abroad - I haven't read them all.)
This stories span his life as a young adult; from the StageCoach between St. Jo. and Salt Lake City, through Nevada Silver Mining, touching on California Gold fields and San Francisco and ending in Hawaii. It is unavoidably full of facts, stories, opinions, and tall tales - which combine to express truths about human nature and the history of his times in an entertaining More...
This stories span his life as a young adult; from the StageCoach between St. Jo. and Salt Lake City, through Nevada Silver Mining, touching on California Gold fields and San Francisco and ending in Hawaii. It is unavoidably full of facts, stories, opinions, and tall tales - which combine to express truths about human nature and the history of his times in an entertaining More...
Jul 18, 2011
Lyn
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Just finished Mark Twain's semi-autobiographical work about the American west in the 1860's. I know that most every student in most every American Lit 301 class is instructed that Melville's Moby Dick is the great American novel, but Twain's works must be high on the list of great American literature. This was like Forrest Gump a hu...ndred years early. Twain meets Brigham Young, works as a silver miner, explores the Nevada territory, visits San Francisco during the earthquake, and then goes off
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Apr 08, 2009
Barry
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I read most of this book about a dozen years ago in college, and while I enjoyed it, I read it with too much of an academic eye and with too much reverence for Mr. Twain, who probably would have scorned such a development. This time around I enjoyed it far more as straight entertainment, though, having been to far more places in the American West than at the time of my first reading I also appreciated it much more as a travelogue.
Twain's digressions are so numerous in Roughing It th More...
Twain's digressions are so numerous in Roughing It th More...
Aug 05, 2011
David
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Mark Twain’s Roughing It is a mostly (somewhat?) autobiographical travelogue. I listened to this as an audio book, and I have to say that the reader was much better than the one who read The Mysterious Stranger!
Like The Mysterious Stranger this book is a mixed bag. Twain ambles along through his adventures, and describes in wonderful detail the characters he encounters and the things he does as a young man newly arrived in the west. From silver mining to sailing to the Kingdom of Haw More...
Like The Mysterious Stranger this book is a mixed bag. Twain ambles along through his adventures, and describes in wonderful detail the characters he encounters and the things he does as a young man newly arrived in the west. From silver mining to sailing to the Kingdom of Haw More...
Dec 28, 2010
John
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With appendices, notes, supplements, maps and illustrations together augmenting the book size by around 50%, this volume is loaded with information. It 'documents' a long trip to what would become the states of Nevada, California and Hawaii during an important time in American history. We have first-hand accounts of the Pony Express, Indian encounters, gold and silver fever, and much more, recounted in the now-familiar Twain style. Based on the huge Explanatory Notes section it is clear that man
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Jan 09, 2011
Daniel
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Twain's sense of humor is uncanny. I am amazed by how much of this book is still funny. And not just funny. It's portrayal of the Old West is romantic and thrilling, yet tinged with ennui. Twain manages to give a realistic portrait of the follies of gold mining and chasing after the American dream, all while exaggerating and making up whole cloth almost every detail of his voyage. In the end, this book inspired me to be more adventurous and to be more appreciative of what I have at the same time
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Aug 11, 2011
Ronald
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Twain's own account of his first adventures away from home in the mid-nineteenth century and, in effect, the story of how he became a humorist writer and lecturer. His search for opportunity takes him to the mines of Nevada and California. He ends up in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). A quick fortune seems to persistently elude him, and he is continually forced to resort to his writing, and eventually lectures, to make a living. I was repeatedly amazed by the hilarious complexity with which he ca
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Apr 04, 2011
Lani
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Alright. I didn't finish this book. After slogging through a hundred pages of crap (after thoroughly enjoying the first 200 pages!) and after reading some reviews, I just decided I'd gotten through the good part and needed to quit while I was ahead.
I hate not finishing books, but I just couldn't do it.
This may be a case where a better Kindle edition could have saved me. Without being broken into chapters it just seemed never-ending. I might have skipped ahead if I had an easy More...
I hate not finishing books, but I just couldn't do it.
This may be a case where a better Kindle edition could have saved me. Without being broken into chapters it just seemed never-ending. I might have skipped ahead if I had an easy More...
Jul 03, 2010
Jay
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An entertaining/satirical/somewhat-based-on-actual-occurrences look at America during Twain's great trip West. One thing that annoyed me was that I read the greater part of Innocents Abroad right after I finished this book and realized Twain tended to recycle some jokes and amusing anecdotes, albeit with different characters. This was the one concrete occurrence that made me face the fact that he completely fabricated portions of his work. I of course already knew this, but before actually se
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Jan 01, 2012
Frederick
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This is a travelogue written by Mark Twain. He spent about 6 years traveling from Missouri to Nevada to California to Hawaii and back home. He talks about the Mormon religion, silver mining, stock swindles, the west, indians, the gold rush in California, and Hawaii. He talks about the strange characters he met along the way. The best part is his description of the Book of Mormon. His cynical take on religion is still fresh today. The narration was done by Norman Dietz, who is a great narrat
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Jun 27, 2011
Clay
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Roughing It, by Mark Twain is one of those great American reading experiences. Following the exploits and experiences of a young Mark Twain, traveling west to seek his fortune in the mid nineteenth century, is pure literature joy. From an arduous overland stage coach journey to prospecting for silver in the Nevada Territory, from writing for local papers to exploring volcanic craters on the Sandwich Islands, from mixing with gun fighters to studying the Mormons of Utah; Twain did it all and ha
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Aug 05, 2010
Bob
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This book is a series of stories about Twain's travels to Nevada, California and Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). Twain covers one story after another, which is o.k. if you have patience and enjoy that sort of thing.
Some of the stories were very good such as pretty native women from Hawaii, urged to attend church by the missionaries, arriving naked. When given clothes, the women used them for decoration in all sorts of odd combinations, having nothing to do with covering their private part More...
Some of the stories were very good such as pretty native women from Hawaii, urged to attend church by the missionaries, arriving naked. When given clothes, the women used them for decoration in all sorts of odd combinations, having nothing to do with covering their private part More...
May 06, 2009
Rishi
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I was a little angry after reading Roughing It, angry, at least, until my friend told me I had to judge an author by his own times. Keeping that in mind...I am still a little angry. There was just too many times where he slammed people different from him, such as in chapter 19, where he goes on a judgmental diatribe against some Native Americans - the 'Goshoot Indians' -
"The Bushmen [of south Africa:] and our Goshoots are manifestly descended from the self-same gorilla, or kan More...
"The Bushmen [of south Africa:] and our Goshoots are manifestly descended from the self-same gorilla, or kan More...
Oct 26, 2008
Rob
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Roughing It is an autobiographical account of Mark Twain's travels across the United States and its western territories. While his story is, at its base, factual, he has clearly added a few "stretchers" to liven the proceedings.
The narrative, like the journey itself, drags heavily near the beginning, as if Twain needed a couple chapters to get his creative juices flowing. But once he gets in his stride, he spins a hell of a yarn. This early work clearly shows that Twain More...
The narrative, like the journey itself, drags heavily near the beginning, as if Twain needed a couple chapters to get his creative juices flowing. But once he gets in his stride, he spins a hell of a yarn. This early work clearly shows that Twain More...
Aug 24, 2008
Baiocco
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This is the first Mark Twain (wouldn't Twayne be a cooler spelling?) that i read besides Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer back in 7th and 8th grade and it was pretty funny but I had to throw in the towel on it. Twain was kind of a famous guy when this was written (pre Tom Sawyer) and back then only Presidents were really famous (writers were not). But he, his wit, and his yosemite sam white moustache managed to be and when the civil war broke out the Union immediately felt that Twain was pro Union sin
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Jul 29, 2008
Heather
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Mark Twain REALLY didn't think highly of Mormons and I hope that someone who didn't know much about Mormon history or theology wouldn't believe what he says about them as being true. The whole books is INCREDIBLY satirical and the parts on Mormons even more so. His stories of Brigham Young and all his problems with wives and children, are hillarious if you realize that they are in NO WAY true. But I could see how someone who didn't know the real history could beleive that it was really like that
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Jun 15, 2008
Chris
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I don't know if I can honestly mark this in the "read" column since I skipped quickly to the back portion for Twain's thoughts on Hawaii before my own Hawaii trip. But time was short.
What I discovered from Twain is that Hawaii has changed quite a bit since the middle-19th century. Duh. But imagine how spectacular it would be to come across Kilauea on horseback and look as if you were the only people in the world there. Nowadays, it's just another site on the bus tour.
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What I discovered from Twain is that Hawaii has changed quite a bit since the middle-19th century. Duh. But imagine how spectacular it would be to come across Kilauea on horseback and look as if you were the only people in the world there. Nowadays, it's just another site on the bus tour.
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