The Innocents Abroad

The Innocents Abroad – by Mark Twain

I bought the “Entire Works of Mark Twain” for my Kindle for some ridiculous price like 99 cents.  This thing will probably take me my entire life to complete.  I decided to start from the beginning of the compilation, and not go through and try to cherry pick something I might like.    This, the very first piece, was a non-fiction account of a “cruise” he took along with several other passengers.  I kind of wish I had started with something else.

Now, I must state that when I look back on reading this with not many great memories, it must be said that I am in the minority.  Most people consider this book a classic, and most love it for what it is – an extensive travel log highlighting many locations in Europe and Asia with emphasis on the Holy Land.  I just thought it was too overwhelming – especially by 21^st century standards.

Imagine that you have a friend that comes back home after a one month vacation.  You would probably be polite and ask them something like “How was your vacation?”  If you’re like me, you wouldn’t mind if the person spent a few minutes giving you the highlights of their trip.  Nor would you mind if they took out their smart phone and shared a dozen or so pictures of some of their favorite moments.  If you’re like me, what you probably would not like, is to have your friend spend several hours detailing every nuance of every activity that they partook.  Nor would you want to have to sit still while they showed you every one of their 2,000 to 3,000 pictures that they took of everything and anything.  I would get bored very quickly.

Sadly, this is what this book came across as.  There was simply too much.  I imagine, however, that if you love to write as Mr. Twain did, and there was nothing else to do at night after the sun went down except to put a pen to paper by candlelight and journal, that such meticulous account should be expected, and probably even welcome by someone on the receiving end of all of these details.  So this book was probably enjoyed better by a reader in 1870 than in 2015.

It might have helped if I took my time while reading it as well.  Because I read so much, and seem to have an ever multiplying list of works that I wish to peruse, I tend to try to move through the pages at a faster pace than most.  This, I confess, probably hindered my enjoyment somewhat.  Again, a reader in 1870 didn’t have distractions such as Netflix, Facebook, or PlayStation 4 to compete for their limited spare time.

I also felt I would have enjoyed the book more had I been a contemporary of the particular period.  It’s much easier to relate to people and places when one can imagine them existing how they are today and not over 150 years ago.  When Twain would start to describe the streets of Paris, I would subconsciously think of a place with automobiles, modern street goers, and even the Eiffel Tower in the background.  I would then suddenly shake my imagination after remembering that no such things existed, and I would then try to place myself on the same streets before electricity was even in use.  That was hard for me to do.  All of this to say that if a contemporary writer was to partake in the same journey as Twain did today, I would probably enjoy the reflections and the tales much better.

Still, Mark Twain is Mark Twain, and his many observations are very humorous.  Whether he’s detailing the idiosyncrasies of his fellow travel companions, or visiting the many cathedrals in Rome, his wit is amazingly humorous.  My favorite episode was when he finally (his words) gets to visit and experience the joys of a Turkish bath.

So my advice to you if you want to try this one is to read it slow, respect the day and age, and maybe (as I did) just skim some sections and allow yourself the enjoyment of selected episodes throughout this very lengthy journey.

Perhaps if I live to 110, I’ll somehow have time to read this one again.  If I do, I’ll go a bit slower the next time.