Customer Reviews
Innocents Abroad - By: K. Belson, 24 Jan 2006 
Easily the greatest travel book ever written. The language is so easy to read concidering that its over 100 years old. Every page contains one or more gems of humour. I just could not stop laughing alll the way through. Ive read it twice now & Im sure to read it again & again. Fabulous
Original and exciting tales of 19th century travels - By: Thomas Mitchel, 31 Mar 2004 Until reading this book I had little, even no perception of the way of life in mainland Europe in the 19th century. Yet after reading Twain's 'The Innocents Abroad' I couldn't help but feel refreshed & energised. My first thought when I got to the last page was that I had to visit the amazing places that he did 150 years ago.
I could never get bored of his sarcastic yet so true statements about the people & places he saw. I particularly enjoyed his synomonous accounts of busy & boisterous Napoli (Naples, Italy) & he reallly brought alll the senses of what the city was like to me through the pages.
Despite being written so long ago it is suprising to see how little the world has changed apart from mass technological discovery. If alll travel writers were as honest & 'frank' as Twain then I would be sure that we would alll have a better judgement & sense of how the world around us reallly works.
A historical & cultural masterpieve written by one of America's most treasured & prized authors.
His funniest book - By: , 24 Jun 1999 This is Twain when he doesn't have to worry about a bloomin' story line or consistant dialogue. He simply writes what comes to mind, & manages to debunk every so-callled monument of western civ.(Just why do they calll this the holy land?!) He reminds us we don't have to be a cultured snob to be a superior person. Read this before you go to Europe or after your trip. Or whenever.
Classic Mark Twain - Characters we still recognize today - By: , 14 Feb 1999 This book describes a group tour of "Europe & the Holy Land" Samuel Clemens experienced & reported about 100 years ago. He describes, in a way that only Mark Twain can, the people he meets & the places they go from the point of view from the American West. One memorable example of his American perspective is a comparison of Italian mountains, lakes & rivers with his beloved Rockies, Tahoe, & Mississippi. He also paints humorous portraits of the tour guides & his fellow travelers. The first time I read this book I was on an organized bus tour in Europe & quickly realized how many of Twain's human observations on how tourists are treated still apply, which makes the humor very accessible.
Read this book! - By: , 30 Mar 1998 I think Clemen's funniest extended work. He was not far removed from his newspaper work at the time, nor had he established himself as a writer nationallly. I believe because of that there is a vitality to the writing & unconcern with maintaining his stature that makes Innocents a serendiptious howler of a read.
