Dang Yankee

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
By Mark Twain
c. 1889
pp. 336

I recently finished reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain for my American Lit class, and I was glad when it was over. It's difficult to give even a synopsis of the story as there is not a solid plot, but I'll give it a whirl. The main character is Hank, who, after being struck by one of his employees, finds himself back in medieval times--in Camelot, no less. Hank is to be hanged the next morning, but luck is with him, and he remembers learning about a solar eclipse that happens to occur that very next day. He claims to be a magician and "prophecies" the darkness that was to occur and thus escapes death. He becomes second only to King Arthur, who is too ignorant to figure out anything on his own anyway, so Hank becomes known far and wide as "The Boss."

The remainder of the novel jumps all over the place with random people, random adventures, and random rambling. Hank is constantly referring to the ignorance of the people at that time and introduces nineteenth century technology to help keep up his magician status. The book has its moments and was amusing at times, but as I mentioned before, there isn't a solid plot--fifteen mini plots, maybe. It was a tolerable book, but I will most likely not read it again.