Life on the Mississippi

Curious one this. Despite my love of Twain's writing, I found myself slogging through the second half. This is really two books, as the story of its publication reveals. The first half is a brilliant, witty account of Twain's own piloting days. It's riveting. But the second half, or more accurately the second two thirds, ostensibly Twain's account of a later life journey of nostalgia and rediscovery up the river, seems like a rather general collection of anecdotes and tales only loosely bound by the Mississipi. The individual pieces are at times vintage Twain, but somehow the whole is less than the sum of the parts. Unlike the river, it lacks flow. I'd put it down after one chapter and find I wasn't compelled to pick it up again. But don't overlook it on this account. There is a wealth of interest in here, a portrait of a vanished time, intimately drawn by one of the English language's best writers and most astute observers.

I'd like to give it 3.5 stars, but since Goodreads allows me only integers, I'm compelled at length to round down to 3 rather than up to 4.