A short read that develops at a mile-a-minute. If you're looking for a book to dip your feet into Twain look no further. This book has Twains signature humor and his lovable, yet hateable, characters. The setting is along the Mississippi River as with many of his works. While having been written in his later years this book serves as a wonderful introduction to Twain's writing or just a great short work for veteran Twain lovers. The book examines the social consequences and short-comings of basing a caste system on race. It brilliantly illustrates how poorly thought out the American concept of race is without ever explicitly pointing to it. I figure if Twain can write an incredibly gripping story that's so concise and within it (without ever pausing to make the point explicit) effortlessly disprove our construct of race it must never have been a concept to hold onto. It also weaves a fascinating intertwining crime drama where the relationships of each character are integral to the plot. The story unravels like a mystery though we know the whole time who is ultimately the culprit. The book has so much development in such a small package it's bursting at the seems.
