I can't agree that Keillor was "scathing" in his review, but any one might feel disappointed, depending on expectations.

I thought he had it mostly right.

There will be many folks this Christmas who will be given this volume, and it will go right onto their shelves in a conspicuous spot, without much more than a skimming sort of read, because they too had expectations.  

The skimming will not even have to look for the reference to Paige's testicles caught in a vise, since Keillor cites it.  I wonder how many people bought the book because they think that there will be lots of similar passages in a volume supposedly suppressed for 100 years?

Such is the way of the world, with the trail of the serpent over all.


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum on behalf of Scott Holmes
Sent: Sat 12/18/2010 8:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Garrison Keillor on the autobiography
 
Much as I was a fan of Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion", I'm a bit
disappointed in his appraisal of this volume.  I have to think that Mr
Keillor is a reader of the New Yorker and has taken his clues from
therein.  As Twain says, "...the latest review of a book was pretty much
to be just a reflection of the earliest review of it; ".

For myself, I enjoy what amounts to the character development (of Mark
Twain) afforded by the "stream of consciousness" approach and do not
expect the deliberate structure required of a novel or travelogue.

On Fri, 2010-12-17 at 12:11 -0800, Arianne wrote:
> Here's the link:
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/books/review/Keillor-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
> 
> Arianne Laidlaw
> 
> On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 7:44 AM, Jerry Vorpahl <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > The front page of today's NY Times features a long and scathing review of the Mark Twain Autobiography by Garrison Keillor that's sure to annoy Twainophiles for some time come,