The Cannibalism in the Cars

by Mark Twain

“Cannibalism in the Cars” is a humorous short story by Mark Twain (pen-name of Samuel Clemens, 1835-1910). First published in 1868, the tale is centered around a snowbound train and its hungry passengers...

The ebook also contains a selection of Twain’s best aphorisms and a biographical note on the author.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Humor, Audiobook, American, Satire

Audiobook

First published January 1, 1868

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Reviews

[Majenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last 59% consists of Aphorisms. As for the first 41%....I was reminded of SOME OF US HAD BEEN THREATENING OUR FRIEND COLBY (Donald Barthelme).

[Coleccionista de finales tristes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Todos conocemos a este escritor estadounidense por Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer, las de Huckleberrry Finn, El príncipe y el mendigo, etc. Sin embargo en mi
opinión son sus relatos breves los que ofrecen maravillas que, a pesar de la sonrisa, pueden revelar los espacios más oscuros de lo humano.

“Me gustó mucho Harris. Sin duda, hubiera podido estar mejor cocido, pero con toda justicia debo reconocer que ningún hombre me agradó nunca tanto como Harris, ni me procuró semejante satisfacción”

[Gabyal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este para que vean si que me impactó un poco más, el sólo pensar que se hace un consenso para ver quien es el siguiente que te servirá de alimento mientras llega la ayuda puff. Manejó para mi gusto el humor negro de una forma genial. El final donde te deja en ascuas el saber si sucedió realmente o no me gustó

Cafeteria de Audrey La isla perdida 2 parte

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy tenebrosa la forma de narrar la historia, sobre todo ese pequeño chiste, para hacernos duda sobre lo que leímos y dejarnos con la intriga.

[Richard Dominguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story, although I didn't find anything funny about it. I did like the plot and how
"civilized" everything was handled.

[Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Twain!

[Ben Denison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little short story by Twain about a group of “survivors” on a train car stuck in the snow , resorting to voting/electing their next meal.

[Majka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gasped, I laughed, then I was too stunned to speak.

[Cassandra Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I realize this short story is satire, so obviously it's not going to be completely realistic. But the lack of verisimilitude was pulling me out of the piece until the last several paragraphs when it was revealed that the congressman who was speaking was insane. Then things started to make sense.

Realistically, if a train got caught in a blizzard, everyone would be out looking for it the moment it didn't make it into the train station on time. Also, with it happening so close to the Christmas holidays, I'm sure the families would be pressing the authorities to go out searching for the men. Furthermore, as someone who lives in the Midwest, I can tell you that although we get blizzards, they do not last for days and days on end. The blizzard comes in, dumps the snow, and moves on.

Then there's the nasty business about preparing the...ahem...food. How did they butcher and cook it? If the train didn't have a dining car, as the narrator implies, then they wouldn't even have the tools to resort cannibalism, at least not in the manner the congressman describes.

As I said, once the congressman is revealed to be insane, the story makes sense. But there's a lot of WTF moments before that occurs. I would say the best part of the story is when the entire train of politicians create a makeshift congress to vote on who will be the sacrificial lamb going to the slaughter. It's not unlike how our current congress behaves. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to discover that many of our current members of congress are...insane. Well, what did you think I was going to say?

[Angel Torres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh man! This story was really funny and eerie, I really liked it.

[ola! · Rating 4 out of 5]

only real gentlemen play politics before eating each other

[Squire Whitney: Hufflepuff Book Reviwer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my review of only the individual short story Cannibalism in the Cars, as opposed to the whole anthology:

Cannibalism in the Cars provides the reader with a heaping dose of Mark Twain’s signature, anti-climactic short story weirdness, along with a generous sprinkling of creepily dark overtones. Overall, I am not amused. Out of the five Mark Twain short stories that I have read, this one has likely emerged as my favorite.

[Jenny Jaramillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Atrapados en un tren durante una terrible tormenta de nieve, 24 pasajeros deben elegir cuál de ellos debe sacrificarse para que el resto sobreviva". Cuando leí esta frase en una reseña, además de ese título tan sugestivo, no pude resistir la tentación de leer este libro que resultó ser un cuento muy corto (lo leí en 15 minutos). Es una historia sarcástica y crítica, pero también intrigante y hasta cómica.

[Keenan Crone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fucking wierd in the worst way.

I probably need a literature professor to explain to me the merits of this story because I don't see how it is worth reading for any individual. I suppose there is some sort of humour here that is lost to me, but I just found it repetitive boring and disgusting all at once.

[Paloma orejuda (Pevima) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pues... Me ha encantado. Al principio no entendía nada con tanto nombre... pero la resolución, ha sido perfecta, magnífica. Me he echado unas muy buenas risas porque me encanta esa clase de humor, aunque no sé si se puede calificar como humor negro.
Chapó, señor Twain.

[Kassra · Rating 3 out of 5]

ترغیبم کرد بقیه داستان‌های مارک تواین رو هم بخونم.

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a bit more dark and disturbing than his usual!

[Gr1972 · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 out of 5

[annaspratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

some of the language was a little difficult to understand but so cool and fun and eerie nonetheless!!

[Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one really got me LOL

[Inés ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird so weird

[Micaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars but only cuz he didn't own to the canibalism at the end

[Соня · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ну таке
Прочитала тільки тому, що потрібно було на сесію, сама б - ніколи. Не уловила ні іронії, ні гумору, а просто фє.

[Diya · Rating 4 out of 5]

He says it was "like romance" but really it was hungry men playing politics

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cannibalism in The Cars by Mark Twain



Can you combine horror, cannibalism and…humor?

Looking at the title, we must expect ghastly, descriptions of gore, humans at their worst.

But the name of the author suggests another approach, as we wouldn’t expect the author of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Jumping Frog and other humorous tales to engage in a saga of blood and humans eating men’s flesh.

The story begins with an innocent, if puzzling introduction, with some talk on political activities, which engage the attention of a character who stars his story within the story-

A group of politicians had been travelling on a train, in the winter snow. They get stuck and this is where their ordeal starts. They spend days in the snow, without food- the snow provides them with water.

As in other stories we have read or seen as films, the issue of eating one of them arises. The fact is that now we get such stories in the news, albeit not every day, there are few people eating each other literally. Figuratively speaking, the Russians are eating up the Ukraine, slowly and with its supposedly willing Russian speaking militias.

There is the infamous case of the South American airline which crashed in the mountains with a group of survivors having to eat human flesh to survive. In that case the people eaten had been dead, killed by the crash and their flesh helped the surviving party to come back home alive, over the mountains and after a very tough journey.

The politicians make their death game funny by turning the “election” of breakfast and supper into an uproarious enterprise with votes, expression of fondness for the good bodily weight of one and disillusion of the apparent toughness of the meat on the bones of another.

The narrator expresses delight at the meal made from one colleague and disappointment at the taste of some other congressman. We are both repelled and entertained by this “Hunger Game”.

It was puzzling to read about them repeating so often and cooking so many of them. I expected a brake of at least a few days between sacrifices, but once started the culinary show went on uninterrupted. Or didn’t it?

There are some issues which cast some doubt, but I will not talk about what happens towards the end, only to say that the finale is entertaining and in a degree surprising.

It is an impressive feat to be both hilarious and scary. It happens in this very short saga, without the popular vampires of today.

[April Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark — and I do mean DARK — short story. Here, a young man finds himself traveling with another man, who shares a horrifying story about another journey he took when he was stranded in a train during a blizzard. The clue is in the title. There's a bit of a twist at the end but it's up to the reader whether they want to believe it.

[Sinta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made me feel ill, but an amusing observation of what horrors can be committed under the veneer of ‘civilisation’

Why do we all have the urge to dress up the truth?

[Chara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yani.. Sanırım bir deliden daha fazla detay beklerdim.

[Tojuan Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

what the fuck😭

[Mrs. Robin_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good plot twist.