Received religion was one of Mark Twain’s favorite targets. These two short stories, bound together in one handy edition, retell chapters two and three of Genesis. The book is printed and bound to allow the reader to begin with one or the other. Was it just masculine pride that led me to start with Adam’s version, or was it the logical decision since Adam was created first?
Whatever the reason, the sardonic tone confirmed my prior expectations. But when I reached the end of Eve’s diary and read the moving words Adam spoke at her grave, I realized that Eve’s story was also a love letter, albeit cantankerous, to Twain’s wife, Livy. A quick internet search confirmed that this was written shortly after her death. Forget Updike’s misplaced, pre-feminist assessment that these stories are paradigmatic for the relationship between men and women. There is too broad a variety of the ways men and women relate to each other for this to be generalized. Instead, I read the conclusion of Eve’s Diary as the testimony of one grieving man, whether Adam or Mark Twain, who possibly wishes he would have said these words while his wife was still alive. ( )

En teoria un libro gracioso. Entiendo que tiene cierto humor. Adam pensando que Eva habla demasiado. Eva pensando que Adam no tiene sentimientos, etc. Pero al final no son mas que unos cuantos topicos de hombres y mujeres puestos juntos. Nada interesante ( )

I simply love this tiny book, it's charming. Five stars. ( )

Mark Twain y su época. Un libro que siempre quiso escribir. ( )

1906 first published, hillarious account of how Adam feels when Eve enters paradise ( )