The Diaries of Adam and Eve

by Mark Twain

Book Overview

In this witty, charming work Mark Twain retells the Garden of Eden story in the first person, presenting the separate perspectives in diary form of the legendary father and mother of the human race. In Twain's version Adam comes across as the original couch potato, grumpily uninterested at first in the new long-haired creature with the different shape who keeps pestering him with her new ideas. Eve, by contrast, is the talkative, ever-curious experimenter...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573928275
• ISBN13: 9781573928274
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Humorous Story

I liked the Diaries of Adam and Eve. It is a humorous short story that gave the first man and woman a personality that differs from the well known bible version of them. Adam is annoyed by Eve, at first, and Eve trys to figure out why. This version is slightly different than other versions in the fact that it doesn't have some excerpts that other versions do, but I used it for school work so this version was just fine. I'd definitely reccomend this book to someone who'd like a laugh.

One of the best

This is one of the funniest studies on the differences in the ways that men and women see and think of the world. Mark Twain is truly the greatest American writer and this is another one of his stories that shows why he is considered so. It is set up like two diaries, one of Adam, and one of Eve. The brilliance comes in the different writing styles between the two: Adam is more logical and attempts to understand the world, and for the life of him cannot seem to get Eve and her actions, while Eve is running around naming things and does not understand why Adam seems so confused about everything that she does. It just gets sillier and sillier as the stories go on, only to finally come ot a sweet and soft ending. If you like this, also check out the Will Vinton claymation film "The Adventures of Mark Twain". They act out this story creatively.

A loving good heart

Twain long had an interest in Adam and Eve. His renewed focus on Adam and Eve in 1893 was touched off by his writing calendar maxims for Pudd'nhead Wilson, in which the Edenic couple appear. After that novel, he began Extracts from Adam's Diary, and followed that with Eve's Diary. Now Don E. Roberts has collected these writings along with four others by Twain that concern the Edenic pair in one narrative. For many readers familiar only with Twain's tales about mischievous boys or cranky characters, this work, one of the great love stories of all time, will come as a real surprise. Whether you're interested in Twain or not, if your heart hasn't atrophied, you will love The Diaries of Adam and Eve. Roberts's profound love of the art of the book is evident in every detail, from the illustrated dust jacket, which features a rare 1902 Thomas Marr photograph of Twain at Quarry Farm on the back; to the Smythe sewn binding in gold-stamped Kennett cloth; to the high-quality printing on acid-free paper; to the eight beautiful illustrations commissioned specifically for this volume. I have the book and the CD. If you are just going to get one I would suggest the CD because of Betty Buckley's superb performance reading Eve's part. Twain translated Eve as saying "a loving good heart is riches, and riches enough". After reading this fine volume I'm inclined to agree with her.

A Warm Odysssey of Togetherness

Mark Twain creates a fascinating experience of a man and a woman discovering each other, learning to live together in the real world, growing up toward being a whole being.Throughout the entire delicious epic of the story, the two characters grow from unaware children to mature humans, able to make a living together through all difficulties.Adam, on one side, starts regarding Eve in a critical way that reminds the rigorousness of an engineer and ends warmly with the calm passion given by a lifetime of togetherness. Eve, on the other, depicted here as the essential expression of the womanhood, appears as a living miracle of contradictions. She is so playful, sunny, innocent and wildly alive, that Adam finally realizes he's happy to be sentenced to love her forever. It is worth saying that even the Sin is reconsidered here rather as an abuse of Eve's ingenuity than an assumed trespassing...The friendly, optimistic approach to life, the art of putting strong, fundamental feelings into everyday's words, the gentle humor far from cheap melodrama, the subtle metaphor of the joy of living arising from each chapter made me to consider this novel the most touchy love story ever written.

This recording is a real delight!

"The Diaries of Adam and Eve" is a sweet, humorous and romantic piece and it had me laughing out loud one minute.......and crying the next. Mandy Patinkin and Betty Buckley are outstanding in their "reading" of Twain's words; actually, it's more a theatrical performance than a simple reading. Their expressive voices give life to Adam and Eve and provide us with complex characters full of wonder, innocence, wisdom, joy, and sorrow. There are so many wonderful passages throughout this book that I find something new to marvel at each time I listen. This recording will touch your heart.