The Innocents Abroad

Rating:
Summary: Brutally honest, politically incorrect travel adventure
Review: It took me all summer to read this novel, not only because of the dense descriptive writing and banal Biblical references during Twain's travels in the Middle East, but also because of the repeated claims of racial and ethnic superiority by the author. Twain refers to everyone, from the Portuguese to Arabs and even some Italians as savages. The modern reader should be 'understanding', recognizing that this is written in a time when political correctness and the reasons behind it were unheard of, but I couldn't help twinging over Twain's predjudices. Nevertheless, I rarely start a book without finishing, so I kept on, motivated by laugh-out-loud scenarios Twain vividly describes, bold cynicism, and what turns out to be, quite simply, a really good story. It's easy to see why this is not included on most school reading lists, but it has some entertainment value nonetheless. Plus, Twain's writing is superb, like nothing you'll find on today's bestseller lists.