Rating: 
Summary: Contrived, Curtailed and Quaint. But Delightful.
Review: This was my third Twain novel, after Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Although this is a much later work, the similarities are striking: the contrived plot (we have to believe that two babies, entirely unrelated and one with some African heritage, are so alike that even their father cannot tell them apart), the device of having a male character disguise himself as a woman, the cruel treatment by a boy of his adoptive parents, and so on."Pudd'nhead Wilson" is Twain's shortest novel and shows signs of having been pruned. Some characters, -- Rowena, for example -- play a significant part early on, then disappear. Wilson himself plays no part throughout most of the story. My guess is that Twain originally intended a much longer novel, with more incidents and secondary plotlines. The fingerprint aspects of the story will seem quaint, and often downright inaccurate, to the modern reader, but at the time they must have been quite startling. The technique had not yet been officially adopted by law enforcement. Some of you may remember an episode of "Alias Smith and Jones" in which Hannibal learns about fingerprinting from this book. A (perhaps the chief) delight of the book is the selection of aphorisms from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar", appended to each chapter heading. It's a great excuse for Twain to peddle some marvelous quotables. Every reader will choose a favorite; mine is "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry". The Bantam Classics edition has a very poor introduction by Langston Hughes, consisting mostly of a plot synopsis (fine if you want to remove all suspense from your reading experience) padded out with generous quotations from the text. Some editorial notes would have been nice too, to help out with a few unfamiliar phrases; this novel is after all more than a hundred years old. I'm sure there must be better editions out there.
Rating: 
Summary: One Great Story
Review: This was the first book that I ever had the chance to read by Mark Twain. I really enjoyed the storyline and thought that the characters are very humorous. If anybody wants a good book to read that was written by Twain, this is not one to miss.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: To the 12 year old who wrote the review giving it one star. I am very surprised, but not entirly. At your age a book such as this would obviously not make since, if an adult reads this book you are gaurenteed to roar with laughter. Mark Twain does not write with the slapstick humor which today's youth find so very funny. It is true that the first chapter is mainly description, but that is only setting the stage of the story and by the end of the chapter Twains humor has already emerged, i highly recomend Pudd'nhead Wilson. "nothing in life is harder to deal with than the annoyence of a good example" -Pudd'n Head Wilson
Rating: 
Summary: Twain goes Detective
Review: Twain's easy reading style makes this book a quick read at just 160 pages. The story is about two boys who look exactly alike born on the same day. They are both cared for by a very light skinned negro slave named Roxy. Fearing that her son may one day be "sold down the river", Roxy switches the boys identity at an early age and their lives are changed forever. The new "free" child grows to be an ungrateful man who causes trouble for all around him - including Roxy. The story reads more as an observation and commentary than it does for specific character development. For instance, there is little mention of the wrongly enslaved child and his life and relationship to his "new" mother Roxy. The ending reads more like a detective story, though it is still enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Biting southern scandal for intense reading
Review: What an intrigueing book, this Puddn'head Wilson. It's appauling to me that it's not Twain's most famous novel, not even well known. Twain tells a beautiful story with a complex web of characters and all the elements of suspense, a murder, an identity dilemma, a bitter election, reputations at stake, silent witnesses, and a will. It's a marvelous book, and should be on everyone's shelves.
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