This might come as a surprise if you know me, but Jimmy Buffet is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I grew up on a steady diet of his music, and it remains what I like to call “comfort music,” which serves about the same function as comfort food, except with fewer calories and more storytelling. His biggest hit songs – “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” for instance – are one thing, but my favorite Buffet songs are the ones you may not have heard of: “Peanut Butter Conspiracy,” “Far Side of the World,” “Delaney Talks to Statues,” and the reason I’m talking about Jimmy Buffet in a book review for a Mark Twain novel, “That’s What Living Is to Me.”
The song starts with a short, narrated tribute to Mark Twain, referencing how the author took a trip around the world and wrote a book about it, Following the Equator, which has a dedication that forms part of the song’s chorus: “be good, and you will be lonesome.” That line, which I have heard hundreds of times listening to that song, was enough to finally prompt me to read Following the Equator, which is available for free on Project Gutenberg. Now that I’ve read it, I rather think I could have stopped at the dedication.
Following the Equator is a memoir of sorts, consisting of Twain’s thoughts and reflections on his trip. As with most things Twain wrote, they are witty and incisive in their observations and style, easy to read, but unlike Twain’s classic novels, herein the writing is just less significant. Oh, he at times writes of significant matters, but too many chapters are filled by inane diary entries and games played aboard the ship. There just isn’t enough substance to the book to make it worthwhile, especially at some seven hundred pages.
It’s rather a shame, in truth, since I usually enjoy Twain’s writing. When I went on a classics kick in grade school, it focused primarily on Verne, Wells, and Twain, including some of his lesser-known works, like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and I appreciated both the stories and the writing. Started off with that dedication, which has been significant to me for a very long time, I figured the book would be full of insights on par with the idea of “be good, and you will be lonesome.” And there were some insights, some interesting observations, and pieces of history I could pull from the text, but they weren’t enough to sustain the read.
IGC Publishing 