Play Audiobook Sample
The Mysterious Stranger Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(4.00) - 2,952 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
The Mysterious Stranger is a novel by the American author Mark Twain. It tells the tale of three boys, Theodor, Seppi, and Nikolaus, who live relatively happy simple lives in a remote Austrian village called Eseldorf in 1590, and their meeting with a handsome stranger who, unknown to the boys, is Satan incarnate.
Download and start listening now!
"Twain knows how to tell a good story. This story was one his last written and is very dark. The story involves a group of young boys who chance a meeting with Satan (he claims to be the nephew of the actual Satan, but it is left to the reader to decide). Satan shows them all the ways that humankind are the most base of creatures and yet the boys really love him and his company. It's a very interesting story, a bit philosophical and extremely grim but still enough of a tale told well to keep it interesting."
— Thorin (4 out of 5 stars)
The Mysterious Stranger Listener Reviews
-
" I liked No 44. I thought it had a lot of interesting and important ideas expressed, but the story just wasn't as interesting to me as my favorite's of Twain's. "
— Krista, 2/13/2014 -
" A must read. Potentially life changing. Fundamental lessons in human nature. I'd say more, but why? The story itself is only like 60 pages. "
— Toni, 2/11/2014 -
" Some very interesting concepts, and as always, very quotable wisdom. Would have loved to know how Twain himself would have finished it. "
— Kristin, 2/7/2014 -
" uuuuuhhhhhhhh . . . this book is odd. Like, interesting and thought-provoking odd, but odd nonetheless. It's very different than Twain's other works. By the end, I was thinking "there is no spoon!" I really liked it, though. "
— Jen, 2/6/2014 -
" I loved Twain's lucid and unflinching look at organized religion. "
— Kathy, 2/3/2014 -
" Great, but the couple of chapters leading up to the last chapter were hard to follow. "
— J, 1/22/2014 -
" Twain goes existential. One of my favorite Twain novels. "
— J., 1/15/2014 -
" Anyone who cant get into Twains full-size novels should take a few hours to read this. Its enough to know why hes Americas greatest author. "
— David, 1/13/2014 -
" very well thought out, not one of Twain's most popular works but definitely worth a read for anyone who likes to ponder the human condition "
— Peter, 7/23/2013 -
" I hate reading books looking for the meaning. That may be the reason I sometimes avoid some of the classics. I knew what I was getting into with this book though- most of the message was pretty obvious. Entertaining but not one that will mean something deeper to my life! "
— Denise, 6/3/2013 -
" This book shook me to the core. Its definitely makes you think. I read this book over eight years ago and I still remember every detail. "
— Jaimee, 3/20/2012 -
" This is the best Twain book (followed closely by Joan of Arc). Be sure to get the university edition so you can read it the way he wrote it -- not the edited version. "
— Becky, 7/27/2011 -
" A younger cousin of Satan, also called Satan, shows some boys who live in a Village in Europe, the hypocrisy, irrationality, and madness of the human race. This book reminds me of Twain's other novel, Letters from the Earth. The author's views are well illustrated and similar to my own. "
— Steven, 7/1/2010 -
" One of my favorites by Twain. Especially if you're into religious philosophy. "
— Tim, 11/10/2009 -
" I bet Chuck Palahniuk read this before he wrote Fight Club. So good. "
— Emi, 7/5/2009 -
" Great story :) no reason not to read this short novel. About as much punch as 120 pages can pack. Well worth the time it took to read (which was less than a day) "
— Nicholas, 5/27/2009 -
" All I can say is that I once began crying during reading this because of how dismally it paints the human condition and the conflicts that Man faces both in others and within himself. This story will take hold of you and stay with you long after its reading. "
— Breathefever, 10/13/2008 -
" Recommended by my husband who is currently on a Mark Twain binge, this book surprised me with its modernity. "
— Ms, 6/3/2008 -
" Good right up until the very end, at which point Twain indulges metaphysical nonsense. Unfortunately, this occurs exactly when the reader wants the author to frame the preceding content, and instead Twain chucks the preceding content right out the window and into the stars. "
— J., 5/18/2007
About Mark Twain
Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel L. Clemens (1835–1910), was born in Florida, Missouri, and grew up in Hannibal on the west bank of the Mississippi River. He attended school briefly and then at age thirteen became a full-time apprentice to a local printer. When his older brother Orion established the Hannibal Journal, Samuel became a compositor for that paper and then, for a time, an itinerant printer. With a commission to write comic travel letters, he traveled down the Mississippi. Smitten with the riverboat life, he signed on as an apprentice to a steamboat pilot. After 1859, he became a licensed pilot, but two years later the Civil War put an end to the steam-boat traffic.
In 1861, he and his brother traveled to the Nevada Territory where Samuel became a writer for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, and there, on February 3, 1863, he signed a humorous account with the pseudonym Mark Twain. The name was a river man’s term for water “two fathoms deep” and thus just barely safe for navigation.
In 1870 Twain married and moved with his wife to Hartford, Connecticut. He became a highly successful lecturer in the United States and England, and he continued to write.