A True Story Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It

by Mark Twain

“A True Story Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It” is one of the best-known short stories by Mark Twain (pen-name of Samuel Clemens, 1835-1910). First published in 1874, the tale is centered around the hard life of a slave family during the Civil War.

“O, no, Misto C—, I hadn’t had no trouble. An’ no joy!”

The ebook also contains a selection of Twain’s best aphorisms and a biographical note on the author.

Genres: Short Stories, 19th Century

29 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 12, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Reviews

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sweet but also sad about slavery being the way of life back then and how cruel it was.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku:

"Too often not known,
We all pretend to be whole,
To move past our pain."

[رنا مُحسن · Rating 4 out of 5]

like i'm listening to aunt rachel!
very sad ending when she said (I hain't had no trouble. An' no joy!)

[YF Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

ترجمة عربية موفقة لقصة تجمع بين الترقب والغضب والحزن والفرح.

[Margie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay.

Twain presents the story of a former slave woman who appears to be perpetually happy. In the course of the story, we find that she has a lifetime of pain hidden behind her laughter.

The dialect makes the text incredibly difficult to read.
The gratuitous and repetitive use of the N word is not justified by putting it in the mouth of a Black character. As with many older works, the word serves no purpose. Other than demonstrating that this woman has internalized the hatred people hold for her, it doesn’t drive the story forward. It’s used because it was allowed. It’s lazy writing and we need to stop applauding it.

The story played out exactly as I thought it would. Then it ended.

[viola ✨]

"She would let off peal after peal of laughter, and then sit with her face in her hands and shake with throes of enjoyment which she could no longer ger breath enough to express."

One could say, Misto C. you stupid?

[Sohail · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly sad tale that would give you a lot back if you gave it several minutes of your time.

[Sugar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this and count their blessings.

[Habiba Hasabo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really a sad one. A stigma of shame that will never truly leave the Americans and the United States.

[Gr1972 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5

[Mahsa A]

I couldn't read it! like literally it was very difficult to read and understand. DNF

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

The N-word is used many times in this story, so prepare to be offended.

[carson · Rating 3 out of 5]

*read for class
Not the easiest read because of the stylistic choices. It’s largely made up of large swaths of dialogue that are written as a stream of words strung together. The story itself is a good one, however. Very powerful and lends itself to true stories of the time.