While I was in Hungary, I actually read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn for the first time, and I loved both of them. They were books that I had always meant to read, but never quite got around to it. I read a lot of classics in Hungary, as they were the cheapest and easiest to find books printed in English.
So I recently bought Pudd'nhead Wilson, and I enjoyed it just as much. It's a bit different from the other two, because it's more of a mystery story, but it is set in the same time frame, and slavery plays a big part in all three stories.
David "Pudd'nhead" Wilson, who got his nickname from something stupid he said years earlier, is an accountant, lawyer, and fingerprint collector, and actually does not play a central part in the story until the latter half.
The story begins with a 15/16 white slave woman, Roxana, giving birth the same day as her owner's wife, and switching the two baby boys during their infancy to save her own baby from a lifetime of slavery. As they grow older, her birth son is raised as a spoiled white boy and becomes a well-educated but selfish, irresponsible man with a gambling addiction. He is unaware of what Roxana did until he is grown and she must use the information as leverage against him.
These three characters, as well as a pair of charming Italian twins that come to town, all become involved in a murder that takes place in the town, and the subsequent trial of the accused.
Although the reader can tell most of the events that will happen next throughout the book, it remains entertaining by leaving plenty to be figured out. The ending is satisfying and very funny. It's a short book, a quick and easy read, and highly enjoyable!
1 comment:
I had a uncle named Pudd'n...he was a sweet guy...really well rounded. He was at my house once, although he didn't stay long. You see, uncle Pudd'n wasnt actually my uncle at all...he was real Pudd'n so he was eaten...sad...real sad!
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