God you've got to love Twain.

A funny sacred cow roasting romp through Europe and The Middle East, taking on stereotypes, high society, and decorum with a shotgun blast to the face. However, this is young amused by humanities flaws Mark Twain, not embittered "Fuck the World." Mark Twain. So there's still plenty of room for real wonder and occasional awe.

Plus it has the best reaction to a Mummy you will ever see.

No tengo ni idea de cuando leí este libro pero sí sé que me canso una honda impresión. La agudeza y retranca de Twain brillan en este retrato de la miseria humana en el primer crucero turístico de la historia que lo llevó a Tierra Santa. Ironía, sarcasmo y observación se aunan para disuadirme de participar jamás en un crucero.

We disagree about Florence but other than that this is pure Twain fun.

I enjoyed this most for the mix of Twain's pointed sarcasm and reverent awe. There's a lot of sarcasm, much of it pointed at some of his fellow passengers (who he starts calling "the pilgrims" when they reach the Holy Land) and their habits of scraping away at any religious artifact they find so they have a pebble from St. So-and-so's such-and-such. But that is leavened by the deep impressions Twain has of many locations --- the Sphinx, Pompei, and Athens among them. There are many times when Twain waxes elegantly about understanding the past when it stands right there in front of you.

For modern readers, keep in mind there's a lot of racism, sexism, and anti-Catholicism here. Twain does an extended riff on slave girl markets, there's regular expressions of humor-tinged hatred towards Muslims, and he is ready to use labels of "lazy" and "ugly" for all sorts of people. But I think the read is still worth it to get a sense of what nineteenth century travelling is like and to read Twain's prose.

This is satire, right? Yikes I hope so.

Gotta love Mark Twain for being spot on 100 years later with all of his impressions.

Loved it. Often laugh out loud funny, but mixed with thoughtful observation and realistic takes on what travel is like. Some of the ethnocentrism is distasteful for modern ears, but I have to think that a large part of that is actually satire. Longer review coming later.

4.5/5