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Dec 05, 2007

Grace rated it:

I usually have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to fiction. In television and movies, I can handle most anything and am not really bothered by violence, gore, or abuse. Because I don't see pictures when I read, this is even more the case with books than with visual media--give me the nasty stuff, I can take it.

Jon Cinch's Finn, however, bothered me. The book is not supremely graphic in its gore, but it does contain multiple murders, one of which includes body dismemberment, and More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Izetta Autumn rated it:

I am not even sure where to begin in rating Finn by Jon Clinch. First you should probably ignore my star rating, because this isn't a book whose rating, will give any true indication of the love/hate relationship you may have with the book.

You'll love it, because without a doubt, Clinch has a talent as a writer. He feels like a modern-day Faulkner. His language is fluid, poetic, evocative, and then in an instant, sparse and nearly mechanical it its accuracy and sharpness.

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0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2007

Wendy rated it:

The story of Huckleberry Finn's father, but no light-hearted jaunt down the Mississippi. Dark, but pure poetry to read. Beautifully written. You hate Finn and you know he's going to die, but you root for him, nonetheless. I think this is the REAL story of Huckleberry Finn. A must read for anyone.

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Chris rated it:

I had this book recommended to me by a friend when I told them that I was reading "The Adventures of Huck Finn" by Mark Twain for the first time. I'm kind of into these books that give an alternative view of a popular world if done well, and having just finished Mark Twain's story it seemed like as good a time to give it a shot as any, so I picked up the book.

At first it reminded me a lot of The Road, which I had also just read. Gone is the first-person speaking style of Hu More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jun 28, 2007

Jim rated it:

When I was in the seventh grade, St. James’s drama department put on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and I was cast as Alfred Temple, Tom’s competitor for the attention of Becky Thatcher. Tom and Alfred come to blows over her affections and on opening night, Tom tackled me and pinned me to the stage. The violence of Tom’s rough attack caught me off-guard. Needless to say, it hadn’t gone quite like that during rehearsals.

On the second night, I punched Tom Sawyer in the face, and it was More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Matthew rated it:

Using Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a blueprint, particularly the scene where Jim and Huck discover Pap Finn's body, Jon Clinch elaborates on the life of Huck's alcoholic and abusive father, giving him a whole novel to himself. While some scenes from Huckleberry Finn are touched upon again (as when Finn kidnaps - or frees, depending on your attitude - Huck from the Widow Douglas's house), and while Clinch populates this world with an interesting supporting cast (notably: Fin More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2011

Teresa rated it:

The prose of the omniscient narrator is abundant and colorful, and is counterbalanced by the spare, realistic (I like how the characters interrupt each other) dialogue, or is it that the dialogue offsets the narration? Regardless, it works, even if the characters do say "I know it" quite a bit.

One scene in a book already full of violence reminded me of the scene in "Pulp Fiction" (in the car) that is funny despite it concerning a death. Here, it's a well-done, sl More...

19 comments like (7 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2008

Spuddie rated it:

This is the story of Finn, the infamous Huckleberry’s father, as mean and despicable a fictional character (or a real one, come to that) as ever graced the pages of a book, I think. His character was eluded to occasionally during the telling of Mark Twain’s classic tale, but this is his story—the tale of his upbringing, his adulthood, his relationships, his prejudices, and how Huck came to be as well. If the author is attempting to elicit sympathy for Finn—and I honestly don’t think that was his More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Nicole rated it:

Outstanding. I tend to read 'literary fiction,' but I don't particularly aim for books with a lot of darkness - but this book is pitch black. No heroes, no light, no redemption. What an incredible book. It has been a really, really long time since I felt truly sad when a book was over, but when I turned over the last page of Finn I was actually bummed out for a minute because it was over. The author stays within the time frame created by Twain, but creates a backstory for minor characters that a More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2007

Melody rated it:

Mesmerising imagining of Pap Finn, Huck's drunken racist pig of a sire. Violent, horrific and astonishingly well-written, Clinch's first novel rushes in where no one's ever dared go. What Clinch has accomplished here is nothing short of breath-taking. Finn's a bad man who isn't the least bit likable, which makes this novel even more remarkable in its humanity and even tenderness. The tone is just remote and scholarly enough to keep one a step away from Finn, but I could certainly smell him. High More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Kate_ev rated it:

Having not read “Huckleberry Finn” I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to understand this book. As it happens I thought it worked perfectly well as a standalone book, I probably didn’t get some of the references but it certainly didn’t detract from my understanding of the story.
What struck me most about this book is the way the author is able to bring a character to life with very few words , he can use a simple smell and it easily conjures up a picture of a character in your head. I l More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 21, 2008

Suzanne rated it:

In Twain's Huckleberry Finn, Huck's father is a menacing drunk who crops up throughout the novel, often making trouble for Huck. John Clinch's Finn takes the father as the main character and describes just how Finn became so cruel - with many of the scenes intersecting with those of the original novel. What I really liked was that Clinch did not try to imitate Twain's use of dialect, rather, he creates his own version that is original yet convincing.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2007

laura rated it:

I love Mark Twain and was a little skeptical about fiction in 2007 reimagining the life of Pap Finn. I was wrong. On top of it all, it imagines Huck Finn a mulatto. The racism and shame of miscegenation is a powerful force throughout this novel leading Pap to kill his love. I read it in a night and so can you.....
Oh and by the way, this was everything that March was not. See earlier review of that book.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2007

Sue rated it:

I learned that evil is what we create amongst ourselves. The pain we inflict on others richochets back to us after a time. What we hate in ourselves is what we hate in others. The darkness of human existence knows few bounds.
Clinch creates a world of evil and humanity in this minor, but now very important, character in Huckleberry Finn.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Tom rated it:

A very innovative and captivating approach to the Huck Finn prequel. The author's imagination is well outside the box in the telling of Pap Finn's life and relationships. A dark novel that meshes perfectly with the much lighter Huckleberry Finn. Congratulations on a great first novel!

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2007

[riley] rated it:

Weeks later and I still can't get the images out of my head. Finn was a mesmerizing read that I recommend to any Mark Twain fan.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Ruth rated it:

The best book I read last year. This guy can WRITE!

R

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2011

Amanda rated it:

Well, I'm not really sure what to say about Finn. I can't say that I loved it, nor can I say that I hated it. I wish that I had read Huckleberry Finn before reading the book so that I could make more comparisons between the two, and I would have known more about the storyline that inspired Clinch. I admire that Clinch didn't try to imitate Mark Twain's writing style; to have done so would have robbed his portrayal of Finn (who I understand, even in Twain's work, was hinted at being a dark, m More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 14, 2008

sally rated it:

I was torn whether to give this a 3 or 4 star... I read huckleberry finn and the adventures of tom sawyer probably six or seven times each when i was little so I'm torn between being excited that Clinch added another book to the plot, and offended that he would presume to write it :)

I loved that Clinch dove right into the issue of race and slavery, and I thought Huck's lineage was totally believable and in keeping with Twain's spirit. I almost felt that Twain could have written this More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2008

Zach rated it:

The premise sounds like some sort of "fan fiction", however the book has received strong reviews--I expected it to be similar to Rozencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead--a retelling of a classic story from another perspective. It is not. Huckelberry Finn is almost a minor character, and other than a few characters from the original (Judge Thatcher, the widow) crossing paths with Pap Finn, there is very little direct connection with the two stories. Pap Finn does come nosey around for More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2008

Terry rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 16, 2008

jacky rated it:

I really enjoyed this novel that gives Pap Finn's back story. It followed the details of the original text very well and explains all the items founds at and circumstances surrounding Pap's death. I was only let down once, and that was that there was barely anything about Huck's "murder" and, in this version, Pap does not go on the ferry which tries to raise Huck's body. However, all the other details were right on and several other Twain characters make appearances. The story jump More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 27, 2007

Alex rated it:

This is an enjoyable read. It inspired me to go back and read Twain's Huck again - which was also fun. One of the pros of this book is the prose, which, although it goes too far once or twice, is excellent. One of the cons of this book might be that it subverts a theme in its source. In the original, Twain offers up an escape clause in the intro to avoid the fervor his liberal stance would otherwise stir up. Never-the-less one of the reasons it endures as a classic is because it has a very stron More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 28, 2007

Erin rated it:

One of the most interesting discussions I have with my students about Huck is about his moral formation. In what ways has his abusive and alcoholic father "formed" his conscience? Perhaps Twain never expected us to look psychologically into his novel, but it's impossible not to reflect on Huck's formation, when we read about the racist, hog-like, monstrous Pap. So that's why I think this novel was an incredible idea!
I was skeptical, but I really liked this "prequel" to More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Cathy rated it:

It has been a spell since my last Huckleberry Finn read, but it all came back as I read through "Finn". I'm a big fan of books that expound on the curious characters that authors leave in the shadows but I'm leery of books that appear to be trying to capitalize on some greater novel that came before. This story was told so well you'd think Mark Twain himself was reading it to you, but at the same time, it doesn't attempt to compete with the original story. It was clever. It was insight More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2007

Donyatta rated it:

This is an unrelentingly dark tale of a violent man and his impact on the world around him. It portrays Huck's father as a racist who lusts after black women and "steals" Huck's mother, keeping her a virtual prisoner, although in truth she has nowhere else to go. All of this is overseen by his family, much to the disgust of his even more racist father, "the Judge" and the sorrow of his brother. Although Finn is the more outwardly repulsive the novel slowly revels that the Jud More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 26, 2008

Mark rated it:

Take Clemens' god awful father of Huck and explore the depths of his depravity. I mean, really go deep and then some. Be miserly when you add little kindnesses and fragments of human yearnings. Then you've got Finn.

Difficult to read because the evil of the title persona, someone who Clinch imagines into a full blown character is so immense.

The novel relies is recursive in its own structure as well as in how it meshes with Clemens' narrative. I was always impressed by More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 19, 2008

Gordon rated it:

A solid book. The main character is not likable, nor is he understandable, even to himself. Unlike so many modern novels, this one takes a minor character from the masterwork, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and weaves a world that would create Pap Finn and traces what he would have done outside of the novel that Twain shares with us. This is not a novel for children. It is a novel about adults and for adults. The elder Finn is dark and damaged, damaged by his harsh father and his awful worl More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Corri rated it:

I had a difficult time getting into this book -- the first several chapters took me weeks to finish -- but by the end I was engrossed and finished the final 2/3 of the book in a day.

The end of the book also helped somewhat to resolve my major complaint with the book, which was that the relationship between the Judge and Finn was not sufficiently fleshed out. I still think that the story needed more explanation of the roots of Finn's brutality. His relationship with his father was t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 26, 2008

Amber rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)