Roughing It: Vol. 1

by Mark Twain

Shortly after his inglorious "military career" in a Confederate militia, as related in "A Private History of a Campaign That Failed," Mark Twain "lit out for the Territories" when his brother was appointed secretary to the governor of Nevada. The result was one of the greatest books in the literature of the American West, full of first-hand accounts of cowboys, miners, roughnecks, and assorted colorful characters as only Mark Twain could describe them.

Genres: Fiction, Classics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

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

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The insightful, observational humor of Twain in a travel book covering Nevada, California, and Hawaii--what could be more fun? I loved identifying with Twain, the narrator, who seemed to be almost as big a camping wuss as I am! I can see his influence on Bill Bryson and Sarah Vowell, two of my contemporary favorites. Reading Twain's comments about the Sandwich Islands seems historical but yet not dated. He uses a kind of naïveté in describing the surprise of going to sleep during a rain and being awakened to a flash flood. His observations about the natives in Hawaii allows the reader to judge for herself just who was more civilized, the newcomers from mainland America or the islanders. Once again, Twain shows respect for his subject matter by feigning shock at their supposed lack of culture. This is a younger Twain with a very optimistic outlook.

[Darcy]

My edition includes volumes 1-3 I believe. It's a free downloaded copy from Project Gutenberg. Since reading Roots by Alex Haley I have been interested in my family's history and I am hoping to get an idea of what life was like in early California since my mom's family came to California in the mid 1800 as miners.
The book starts out with Mark Twain and his brother traveling by stagecoach from Missouri to Sacramento (1,900 miles in 15 days) where his brother has been elected to some official government position. They are traveling hundreds of miles packed in a stagecoach with tons of mail bound for San Francisco and other outlying towns along the way. So far so good.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his youth, Mark Twain traveled the West. He held assorted jobs in between idleness. He was an avid journalist, even then, thank goodness. When they left St. Joseph, MO, he said, "We have left the United States." I never thought of it that way before. To hear his descriptions of Lake Tahoe, the Rockies, and Hawaii's Mt. Kilauea in their virgin state, as we could never see them, was amazing. Of course he is often funny and prone to tall tales. Some parts were too long for me and sometimes what is politically incorrect language today was jarring, but overall a fine read. I never knew what he did before he was an author.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year I have been reading a lot of older books I missed. Mark Twain's Roughing It was most enjoyable. He starts out as a very young man traveling west to Silver City Nevada and tells many tales along the way. Give insight to his life and times in Nevada, California and Hawaii.

[Cornelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my second read of the book after almost 30 years and I loved it as much as before. I guess that is why it is goes in the "classics" catagory.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one....a nice mixture of his humor, facts and some somewhat (I suppose) tall tales.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first thing that I have ever read written by Mark Twain. His storytelling is amazing. It is a bit descriptive for me, but brilliant. I intend to soon read Huckleberry Finn.

[Sapphira Solstice · Rating 2 out of 5]

4/10 I suppose I need to stop reading books my Dad has recommended as we just have different tastes. I feel bad saying this wasn’t a great book, the same guilt I have felt with other acclaimed writers but I suppose books are very subjective and I’m entitled to say that in my humble opinion, this was not a very good book.

The overall premise appealed to me - a travel diary from 150 years ago and there were some really interesting parts i.e. the silver mining, means of travel, alkaline lakes but other parts bored me, such as the extensive details about the mormons. The main issue was that Twain just went on and on too much. I’d say he needs to learn to edit better but he himself proclaimed at the beginning of the book that it was an indulgence to have included so much and he cannot claim any justification for this.

Storyline; meandering and just not exciting enough. Characters; reasonably entertaining, Twain himself seems like a good chap. Setting; Nevada and elsewhere - quite evocative and enjoyable. Ending; zoned out, writing style; probably the best feature of the book in descriptive and humorous terms NOT in editing ability.

I suppose it was the content that was the problem as opposed to the writing so I really should give one of his novels a try but I can’t say I’ll be rushing to do so.

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course, Roughin' It is extremely humurous which makes up for the fact that after 100 pages you are ready for it to be over. I mean, how many stories about failed minning experiences can there be? I love Twain, yet reading him sometimes feels like torture, but less-so than reading Dickens.