Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed Dangerous Water: A Biography of the Boy Who Became Mark Twain on + 1183 more book reviews
This biography of Twain covers events experienced by Samuel Clemens that led to his eventually becoming one of the most revered writers in America, Mark Twain. The book seems to focus mostly on events that rather traumatized young Clemens including several deaths in his family and citizens of his boyhood home, Hannibal, Missouri but it also includes the exhilaration of Twain's youth and the friends who were immortalized in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The book begins with the westward journeys of his grandparents and parents and the arrival of the Clemens family in Missouri just before Twain's birth in 1835. It then follows Twain's days in Hannibal and then on to his experiences as a riverboat apprentice and then towards the end the tragic death of his younger brother, Henry, who was burned and blown into the river after the boiler on a riverboat exploded. Sam's young life was filled with difficulties. His father was distant and moved closer and closer to bankruptcy as he pursued dreams of wealth. His father also owned a slave and slave life was a source of solace to young Sam who enjoyed their stories and songs. Of course this was later used as source material for Huck Finn. "Powers regularly draws convincing links between Twain's early life and events and characters in his fiction, locating Twain's greatness as a humorist in the dynamics of his family, the tragedies that surrounded him, the literary currents of the time and a lifelong love for the varieties of spoken language."
I enjoyed reading this biography of Twain's early years and I thought Powers did a very good job of portraying how Sam Clemens became Mark Twain. There were some parts of the story that were somewhat tedious, however. Powers seemed to focus too much on Twain's hardships and the savagery of mid-nineteenth life in the south. He often used the word "demimonde" (which I had to look up) meaning "a group of people considered to be on the fringes of respectable society." I guess he felt that Twain was frequently among these types of people which he used to formulate much of his story lines including humor. I now feel like I need to read some of Twain's classic works that I've never gotten around to including Life on the Mississippi and Roughing It.
I enjoyed reading this biography of Twain's early years and I thought Powers did a very good job of portraying how Sam Clemens became Mark Twain. There were some parts of the story that were somewhat tedious, however. Powers seemed to focus too much on Twain's hardships and the savagery of mid-nineteenth life in the south. He often used the word "demimonde" (which I had to look up) meaning "a group of people considered to be on the fringes of respectable society." I guess he felt that Twain was frequently among these types of people which he used to formulate much of his story lines including humor. I now feel like I need to read some of Twain's classic works that I've never gotten around to including Life on the Mississippi and Roughing It.
