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    Life on the Mississippi
    Life on the Mississippi
    Life on the Mississippi
    Audiobook18 hours

    Life on the Mississippi

    Written by Mark Twain

    Narrated by Robin Field

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    About this audiobook

    In Life on the Mississippi, the great American humorist Mark Twain recounts his journeys on the mighty Mississippi river. Covering the beginnings of his career as steamboat pilot, Twain entertains us with his wit, anecdotes and wild stories of the myriad characters and adventures he encounters. From a brief history of the Mississippi we are taken on to a recollection of the river life with its rich history and engaging narrative, newcomers and fans of Twain alike.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristianAudio.com
    Release dateFeb 28, 2015
    ISBN9781633892248
    Author

    Mark Twain

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Missouri in 1835, the son of a lawyer. Early in his childhood, the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri – a town which would provide the inspiration for St Petersburg in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. After a period spent as a travelling printer, Clemens became a river pilot on the Mississippi: a time he would look back upon as his happiest. When he turned to writing in his thirties, he adopted the pseudonym Mark Twain ('Mark Twain' is the cry of a Mississippi boatman taking depth measurements, and means 'two fathoms'), and a number of highly successful publications followed, including The Prince and the Pauper (1882), Huckleberry Finn (1884) and A Connecticut Yankee (1889). His later life, however, was marked by personal tragedy and sadness, as well as financial difficulty. In 1894, several businesses in which he had invested failed, and he was declared bankrupt. Over the next fifteen years – during which he managed to regain some measure of financial independence – he saw the deaths of two of his beloved daughters, and his wife. Increasingly bitter and depressed, Twain died in 1910, aged seventy-five.

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    Reviews for Life on the Mississippi

    4/5

    543 ratings17 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Not the best audiobook for my commute. It required more attention than I could give it and my mind kept drifting off. Had to pull out after 6 discs. But I appreciated what little history and ambience I got about the steamboat culture and the Mississippi River.
    • 4/5
      I have to admit, here, to a bias; a prejudice. It’s a bias that I have fought against a spare few times in my life, but by and large, it has ruled my reading life. The bias is this: It is my perverse nature to avoid books and authors considered to be classics.I know it’s contrary and based on no rational; I just don’t like being told what to do and what to like. Occasionally, the grown-up in me will rear her annoying head and insist that I at least try a classic or two – who knows? I might like it, and I don’t have to finish it if I don’t.This it is why Life on the Mississippi has been sitting on my TBR shelf; that, and the fact that I found a Folio Society copy for a bargain. I grabbed it earlier this month, figuring that I could fulfil my yen for non-fiction and mark off a classic author at the same time.The Introduction to my Folio edition doesn’t fill the reader with optimism. The story of Life on the Mississippi‘s creation is interesting, but finding out that fully half the book was considered ‘filler’ is not an auspicious start. The author of the introduction made it sound like Twain just filled out the second half of the book with a hodgepodge collection of other peoples’ articles and anecdotes. Which he does, but what they don’t tell you is that he folds it all into a cohesive narrative that works fairly well, if a little chaotically.So with this introduction read, I resigned myself and started. What I found was a very time-consuming, but absorbing read, made enjoyable by Twain’s voice and trademark humour. Definitely not riveting, but it draws a picture of life in the late 1800’s that is vivid and brings both a pang of nostalgia for those easier days and a relief not to have been born in that age.Twain gets full marks for making the life of a steamboat man sound romantic; it’s a testament to his talent that he even makes it interesting to read. And while I can’t say I loved it, or that I’ll ever really re-visit it, except for perhaps to randomly dip in and out, I can say that I feel I got something out of it, if only a better respect for the mighty Mississippi as it once was, wild and independent.
    • 5/5
      Written in 1882, Life on the Mississippi is a product of its time but we need this because it shows us where we come from, hopefully getting better but not always. This is Twain's history as well as a history of steamboats, the Mississippi River, and the growth of the U.S. I enjoyed Twain's telling of the history of the Mississippi and steamboats. I enjoyed his reminiscences of his time working on the boats as well as him going back years later and going through the changes to the river and the towns along the river as well as the men he knew then. I liked the Native American stories he told. I liked his cynicism and tongue-in-cheek humor as he tells his story. Worth reading today as it tells a time that has passed.
    • 3/5
      Recently, I participated in a writer's workshop. It took place in an inn that actually floats on the Missouri River. For five days, I was to be hypnotized by the river's ever-flowing current. I thought of Mark Twain, an author whose books I have never read. What better time could there be to acquaint myself with Twain? What better work than one about the river?While the Missouri River is not the Mississippi, it is nevertheless far more impressive than my native Kansas River, a wide stream populated with massive sandbars and piles of driftwood. No ships float down my river. I'm not sure they ever did. In Life on the Mississippi, Twain paints a portrait of a time when many ships paddled lazily up and down the rivers. Full of anecdotes about his time as a young river boat pilot, Twain's love for the river and its boats is evident. Fortunately, I had the pleasure of reading the first half of this book in the days before, during, and immediately after my river sojourn. Aside from Twain's signature humor, Life on the Mississippi bristled with the life of the river—its sounds and smells. I was glad to have this book as a companion during my own exploration of the river. I don't think I would've enjoyed it nearly as much at any other time.The second half of Life on the Mississippi loses its magic. From humorous tales of his own experience on the river, Twain switches to the tales of others, statistics, and random observations. Some of these have to do with the Mississippi. Some do not. Basically, Twain was let loose to follow whatever tangents he wanted in this book and the results were underwhelming. There were some great stories within these pages, but most of it was as dry as the Kansas River.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this one, not only for its description of life along the river at that time, but also for the author's wry sense of humor.
    • 3/5
      This book was an incredible read and a fascinating evocation of time and place.
    • 3/5
      Life on the Mississippi is part memoir, part history book, part excerpts from other works, and part twaddle. (Bonus points because I've never had the occasion to use that word in a review before.) It was a little too much twaddle. I'm guessing that the readers of the 1800s purchased the book based on his other well-written works, and just waded through the useless chapters.
    • 4/5
      I thought that this was going to be a memoir, and it is -- to some extent. However, it is also a collection of stories Twain came across while traveling on the river as well. I shelved this as nonfiction, but it is hard to tell how 'truthful' some of the stories are! Did Twain invent them? Or perhaps he is just recording tales that someone else invented... or perhaps they are true stories. Whether they are true or are fiction, they are mostly engaging and often funny. My biggest complaint is that he jumps from one thing to the next too quickly at times.
    • 4/5
      A memoir of days on the Mississippi when Twain worked on the riverboats before the Civil War. Descriptions abound. You'll witness a younger America, simpler but much more dangerous.
    • 3/5
      Let me break the book down for you:- History of the Mississippi River, including early explorers – 25 pages- Twain as a young man, learning to pilot steamboats as a ‘cub’ under some crusty old men – 107 pages- The passing of 21 years in his life, from the Civil War to his mining, working as a reporter in San Francisco, Hawaii, travel to Europe and then settling in New England – 1 very brief page- Returning to the Mississippi as a passenger on a steamboat, going from St. Louis down to New Orleans, and back up the river again to St. Paul – 226 pagesIn the time that’s elapsed since his return to his beloved river, steamboating has been replaced by the railroad and is a dying industry – so there is a sense of not only fading youth and fading memories because Twain himself is older and in his 40’s, but also because America itself has changed, and is changing so rapidly, so that the job and the industry he held so dear as a child are also fading.In this sense he captures a glimpse of an era through various facts, anecdotes, the writing of others, and memories, so if this time or place is of particular interest, the book may appeal to you as history. As a brief aside, it struck me as ironic that he observed New Orleans to be at the bottom of a dish, surrounded by levees and below the water level, such that “there is nothing but the frail breastwork of earth between the people and destruction”.But I digress. While all it may have been the sort of thing that worked for me, the book was written without a lot of condensing, and unfortunately without a lot of humor. There is a darkness about it that prefetches his later writing, so much so that Raban in the introduction says it might have been called Death on the Mississippi, but I didn’t find that aspect too bad, and sometimes of interest, in portraying just how rough life and attitudes were on what was the frontier of America. However, while in Huck Finn we can forgive the chapters in the latter portions of the book which drag on as the only flaw in his masterpiece because it was so singular, here we cannot. There are lots of details on the nuances and complexities of piloting, which, after the gist is captured, become tiresome. There are of course highlights: he recounts his brother’s death in a steamboat explosion when he was 20 (and Twain was 23) to conclude the first major portion of the book before fast forwarding to the future, and a couple of his memories as a child which return to him when he reaches his boyhood town of Hannibal late in the book are endearing. Unfortunately they are just too few and far between. Three stars may be a little generous. For Twain, stick to Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and A Tramp Abroad.Quotes: just this one, on Andrew Jackson, who should not be on the $20 folks:“The war had ended, the two nations were at peace, but the news had not reached New Orleans. If we had had the cable telegraph in those days, this blood would not have been spilt, those lives would not have been wasted; and better still, Jackson would probably never have been president. We have gotten over the harms done us by the War of 1812, but not over some of those done us by Jackson’s presidency.”
    • 5/5
      Mark Twain enjoys the distinction of being one of the wittiest and most charming of American authors, and this book is one of his best, perhaps up there with Huck Finn and Roughing It.

      It starts off with history, then meanders through biography, anecdotal stories of his youth and travels on the Mississippi, descriptions of steamboats and the countryside, the Civil War, New Orleans, cemeteries, Mardi Gras, and all in between. If I may make a bold and yet now-hackneyed comparison, this book IS the Mississippi - Wide, deep, circular and long, a centuries-old part of our history.

      The obscurest details are made illuminating, and this story shines with humor and charm. Recommended to all fans of Twain, or laughing at books.
    • 4/5
      Mark Twain describes his youth as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi, then takes readers along on a return trip up the river he made twenty-one years later, after a great deal had changed. The narrative meanders almost as much as the river itself, offering snippets of biography, glimpses of history, colorful character sketches, thoughtful reflections, tall tales, travelogues, and anecdotes ranging from the tragic to the hilarious. The early chapters did go into the specifics of steamboat piloting in more detail than I really cared to know, but given that it's an occupation that was already dying out when the book was published, it's hard to fault his desire to preserve it for posterity.It's not difficult to see why Twain is still popular today. His writing is highly readable, and his characteristic wit is very much in evidence here. It doesn't exactly sparkle out from every page, though; instead, it sort of lies in wait and sneaks up on you. I'm sad to say that my own first-hand experience of the Mississippi consists entirely having crossed it once, without stopping, in a car. Reading this has made me very much regret that fact. I'm now feeling a strangely powerful urge to pack up and head out for a river cruise.
    • 3/5
      The book is an autobiographical account of Mark Twain’s growing up along the Mississippi river and becoming a pilot of a steamboat. After being departed for over 20 years he heads back to the river to take a tour of the place he once knew so well. He reminisces back 20 years over his childhood, his early years as an apprentice on a steamboat to becoming a pilot, leading up to the present day (at least when written) and what has become of the river since. Through his dealings with the river he chose his pen name; a term used on the water that basically meant safe clearance for travel. Not his best work but interesting none the less.
    • 4/5
      Considered a classic it described a long gone way of life in the mid and late 19th century book ending the Civil War. An almost frontier life looking back from "modern times" of the late 18th century. It made me realize the amount of non-fiction written by Twain. Not the easiest read at times but certainly enlightening.
    • 5/5
      Life on the Mississippi is not really about the river itself, but the people and places on and around it. The first chapter introduces the river and gives various facts and statistics about it, as well as "historical history". The book continues with Mark Twain's personal experiences with the river, starting with his early steamboating days, when he was training to be a pilot. Twain also writes of his trip up the Mississippi years later.The stories here have a loose sense of chronology: they follow Twain through his pilot training and up the river on the trip he takes later, but are often interrupted by stories and anecdotes, as well as Twain's memories and his views on various subjects. The book is often humorous. There were many passages that I wanted to write out, if I was the type of person who writes out passages from books. At one point, Twain argues that Sir Walter Scott is responsible for the Civil War. There are many other stories that are quite funny, it would be impossible to list them all.Something I had trouble with was all the steamboating jargon that went unexplained. I suppose at the time of the books' publishing, people generally knew more about boats and would not be puzzled. Some footnotes would have helped, though.Life on the Mississippi is, overall, a very interesting portrait of 19th century America. It wasn't a period I knew much about, apart from the Civil War.
    • 4/5
      I picked this up several months ago and read the first 150 pages. Twain is a marvel. What a style! And how quickly he moves from tall tales and nonsense to a boiler explosion which kills his brother. Notable also for his recounting of pre-fight banter that prefigures Ali and Ric Flair. To understand America, read Twain.
    • 5/5
      Every time I look at a river, I think of Mark Twain and his adventures on the Mississippi. His writing, always funny and warm, tells us first of the history and stories of his beloved river, and then of his experiences learning the steamboat trade. I found his description of being a steamboat student very similar to being a medical student: two-hundred years later and in completely different trades, route memorization and gradual responsibility for people’s lives still have much in common. This book made me want to travel the Mississippi, not as it stands today but as it appeared to Twain in his youth. I feel the same way about Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his Magdalena river. I think it is amazing how these inspired authors can make me love a river I have never seen.