Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

read book* *Different edition

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain, George Saunders (Introduction)

3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 · rating details · 699,883 ratings · 7,489 reviews

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway wrote. "It's the best book we've had." A complex masterpiece that spawned controversy right from the start (it was banished from the Concord library shelves in 1885), it is at heart a compelling adventure story. Huck, in flight from his murderous father, and nigger...more

Paperback, The Modern Library Classics, 244 pages

Published August 14th 2001 by The Modern Library New York (first published 1884)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

The Best Books Ever Written

30th out of 49 books — 51 voters

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams

YA Books That Start With the Letter A

169th out of 178 books — 53 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Apr 09, 2013 Nathan Eilers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all

Shelves: fiction

Hemingway said American fiction begins and ends with Huck Finn, and he's right. Twain's most famous novel is a tour de force. He delves into issues such as racism, friendship, war, religion, and freedom with an uncanny combination of lightheartedness and gravitas. There are several moments in the book that are hilarious, but when I finished the book, I knew I had read something profound. This is a book that everyone should read.

57 likes · like · see review

Mar 04, 2010 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

After reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I realized that I had absolutely nothing to say about it. And yet here, as you see, I have elected to say it anyway, and at great length.

Reading this novel now, at the age of mumble-mumble, is a bit like arriving at the circus after the tents have been packed, the bearded lady has been depilated, and the funnel cake trailers have been hitched to pick-up trucks and captained, like a formidable vending armada, toward the auburn sunset. All the fun has...more

151 likes · like · see review

Jan 08, 2011 Manny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: strongly-recommended, well-i-think-its-funny, blame-jordan-if-you-like

One of my absolute favourite books, which I have read multiple times. A major classic. If at all possible, get an edition with the original illustrations.
___________________________________

(Expanded review based on conversation with JORDAN)

Here in Switzerland, l'affaire du mot N hasn't quite had the high profile it's received on its home territory. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that I hadn't even heard of it until Jordan gave me a few pointers earlier today. So, no doubt all this has been sa...more One of my absolute favourite books, which I have read multiple times. A major classic. If at all possible, get an edition with the original illustrations.
___________________________________

(Expanded review based on conversation with JORDAN)

Here in Switzerland, l'affaire du mot N hasn't quite had the high profile it's received on its home territory. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that I hadn't even heard of it until Jordan gave me a few pointers earlier today. So, no doubt all this has been said before, but I still can't resist the temptation to add my two centimes worth.

In case you're as ignorant as I was about hot topics in the literary world, the furore concerns an edition of Huckleberry Finn in which the word 'nigger' has been systematically replaced with 'slave'. My initial response was plain surprise. One of the aspects of the book I enjoy most is Twain's appallingly exact ear for dialogue. He's reproducing the language actually used in the American South of the 1840s, and this, above all, is what gives the novel its force; so why on earth would anyone want to change it? For example, here's Huck's Paw in full flow:

"Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful. Why, looky here. There was a free nigger there from Ohio -- a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane -- the awfulest old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think? They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could vote when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where they'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never vote agin. Them's the very words I said; they all heard me; and the country may rot for all me -- I'll never vote agin as long as I live. And to see the cool way of that nigger -- why, he wouldn't a give me the road if I hadn't shoved him out o' the way. I says to the people, why ain't this nigger put up at auction and sold? -- that's what I want to know. And what do you reckon they said? Why, they said he couldn't be sold till he'd been in the State six months, and he hadn't been there that long yet. There, now -- that's a specimen. They call that a govment that can't sell a free nigger till he's been in the State six months. Here's a govment that calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment, and thinks it is a govment, and yet's got to set stock-still for six whole months before it can take a hold of a prowling, thieving, infernal, white-shirted free nigger.

I'm sorry, but I'm honestly unable to see how anyone could think the above passage was racist or might be improved by substituting 'slave' for 'nigger'. It's incidents like this which create the popular European myth that Americans don't understand the concept of irony.

If you're curious to know more about the tradition of improving great works of literature by removing dubious words, you might want to take a quick look at the Wikipedia article on Thomas Bowdler which Jordan and I were giggling over. Bowdler, it turns out, had acted from the best of motives. When he was young, his father had entertained him by reading aloud from Shakespeare; but

Later, Bowdler realised his father had been extemporaneously omitting or altering passages he felt unsuitable for the ears of his wife and children. Bowdler felt it would be worthwhile to present an edition which might be used in a family whose father was not a sufficiently "circumspect and judicious reader" to accomplish this expurgation himself.

He undertook to create a suitably amended version. Or, to be exact, he got his sister to do it and then gave out the books under his own name. Again, his reasons were unimpeachable: it would have reflected badly on her to admit that she had understood the naughtier passages.

I won't criticise Dr Bowdler or his equally well-meaning modern followers. I just think it's a shame Mark Twain never had the opportunity to write a story about them.
(less)

24 likes · like · see review

May 28, 2010 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those inclined to 'light out for the territory'

"I about made up my mind to pray; and see if I couldn't try to quit being the kind of boy I was, and be better. So I kneeled down. But the words wouldn't come. Why wouldn't they? It warn't no use to try and hide it from Him. Nor from me, neither. I knowed very well why they wouldn't come. It was because my heart wasn't right; it was because I warn't square; it was because I was playing double. I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all. I wa...more

58 likes · like · see review

Sep 18, 2011 Themis-Athena rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century-american-lit

Celebrity Death Match Review Elimination Tournament Review: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (13) versus To Kill a Mockingbird (20)

The scene: on the banks of the Mississippi, early morning. Mist is rising from the river and spreading over the meadows. In a grove formed by a group of moss-covered trees, the people of St. Petersburg are gathered in a circle around a makeshift outdoor court setting jointly presided over by Judges Taylor and Thatcher. Atticus Finch has left his table on one side o...more Celebrity Death Match Review Elimination Tournament Review: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (13) versus To Kill a Mockingbird (20)

The scene: on the banks of the Mississippi, early morning. Mist is rising from the river and spreading over the meadows. In a grove formed by a group of moss-covered trees, the people of St. Petersburg are gathered in a circle around a makeshift outdoor court setting jointly presided over by Judges Taylor and Thatcher. Atticus Finch has left his table on one side of the court setting and is pacing back and forth, addressing the jury that is sitting in a box next to the judges. At a table opposite to the one Atticus has risen from, Huck Finn is lounging back in his chair, slid halfway under the table, chewing and occasionally spitting out watermelon seeds. The case, it would appear, concerns the disappearance of a sum of money that Huck is accused of having "borrowed" from the Widow Douglas, who is now sitting at the table Atticus has left, looking at Huck with a supremely grieved expression (Huck having protested that he'd never borrowed anything other than cornstalks and watermelons in his life, and he'd even given up on the cornstalks considering that then borrowing watermelons wasn't going to be so bad no more).

"But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal," Atticus is holding forth. "That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest court in the land, or this honourable court which you serve."

"Oh, come to the mourners' bench! come, black with sin!" is heard from a group of black spectators, standing in the back of the crowd, segregated from the white folks by a barrier. "AMEN!" answer others from their group. "Come, pore and needy, sunk in shame! (A-A-MEN!) come, all that's worn and soiled and suffering!"

Huck lets out a yawn and exchanges a glance with Tom Sawyer, who is sitting in the first row of the audience next to Aunt Polly and Becky Thatcher, while Scout Finch is amusing herself somewhere in the distance, playing hide and seek with Jim.

"I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system," Atticus continues. "That is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard and come to a decision. In the name of God, do your duty."

Atticus makes his way back to his table, keeping his eyes on the jury even after he has finished addressing them, to emphasize the last point he has made.

"Come with a contrite heart!" echoes the chorus behind the barrier. "Come in your rags and sin and dirt! the waters that cleanse is free, the door of heaven stands open --oh, enter in and be at rest! (A-A-MEN! GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH!)"

At the words "the door of heaven stands open," Huck exchanges another glance with Tom, who surreptitiously advances his left foot by just a few inches. Atticus (eyes still on the jury) stumbles and, with a shout, crashes into a hole that had been covered up by a makeshift layer of grass and dirt spread out over a blanket and secured by a few rotting planks. Chaos ensues, while Atticus is heard complaining that the hole is full of snakes, spiders, rats and the like. Under cover of the turmoil that is surrounding the crowd's joint efforts to rescue Atticus from the hole, Huck makes his escape by way of a rickety boat moored nearby, courtesy of Jim who'd also been using that boat as his most recent hiding place in his game with Scout. Tom is prevented from following them by Aunt Polly's iron grip on his arm and by a reproachful look from Becky Thatcher's eyes, under which he turns bright red.

As the boat floats down the river, the judges squabble over whether to declare a mistrial or consider Huck's flight an admission of guilt and convict him in absentiam. Atticus however, finally rescued from his hole, dusts off his clothes and, with the Widow Douglas's grudging consent, resolves the issue by graciously admitting defeat to an opponent who has simply outsmarted him.(less)

9 likes · like · see review

Apr 03, 2013 Eric rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mark Twain scholars

Recommended to Eric by: Audible.com

Shelves: classic, audiobooks

I really liked parts of this book -- Huck's escape from his father, the floating house, the Grangerford-Shepherdson feud, the Royal Nonesuch, and meeting Colonel Sherburn. However, a Reason.com deconstruction better explains how I felt about the end than I could:

So what's the problem? Only this: Twain's acknowledged masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, inspires almost universal ambivalence among its biggest fans. "It's the best book we've had," pronounced Ernest Hemingway in 1932. "A

...more

9 likes · like · see review

Mar 08, 2013 K.D. Oliveros rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2012)

Shelves: 1001-core, 501, classics, adventure, childrens

Very funny children's book with great lessons. Great being an understatement.

My earliest memory of this book was when I was in third year high school. My eldest brother who was already in college was vacationing at home. One day, he asked my other older brother who was in fourth year high school to read this book aloud to him. I think this was to coach my other older brother on his accent because he was to enter college in the city and join my eldest brother. People in our province pronounce wor...more

19 likes · like · see review

Sep 29, 2010 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, particularly-drunk-reviews

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In coincidental honor of Banned Book Week!

Huck Finn is miles weightier than Tom Sawyer, and it's almost the Great American Novel it's called. Tom Sawyer was all fun and games - Don Quixote, as he points out himself, "all adventures and more adventures." Huck Finn's a different person; he's concerned with doing the right thing. He spends most of the novel helping a runaway slave escape, and he brilliantly represents a person judging the morals of society against the morals he's come up with hims...more In coincidental honor of Banned Book Week!

Huck Finn is miles weightier than Tom Sawyer, and it's almost the Great American Novel it's called. Tom Sawyer was all fun and games - Don Quixote, as he points out himself, "all adventures and more adventures." Huck Finn's a different person; he's concerned with doing the right thing. He spends most of the novel helping a runaway slave escape, and he brilliantly represents a person judging the morals of society against the morals he's come up with himself, and ending up in the right place. That's why Huck Finn isn't a racist novel: Twain means to show us how a person who approaches life honestly will come out against racism. He's not subtle about it.

And Twain pulls off this wonderful reversal near the end of the book: Sawyer suddenly reappears on the scene, pulling the same hijinks he always has, but now we see it through Huck's and Jim's eyes, and it's maddening. Huck wants to find the most direct solution to the problem of freeing Jim, who's been recaptured. Tom wants to complicate things, as he always does; rather than just pulling a loose board out and making off, Tom insists on digging under the wall, and loosing bugs into Jim's prison so he can be properly prisonerish, and finally warning the family about the impending escape to make the whole thing more dangerous.

While Sawyer did horrible things in his own book - most notably faking his own death so his Aunt Polly could about die of sadness - we forgave him then because the book was a lark, told through his eyes, and we understood that it was all about fun. Twain takes a leap in Huck Finn, showing us an adult world and then showing us what real stakes look like when Tom Sawyer gets a hold of them, and it's devastating to watch Tom toy with Jim's life this way. This radical flip is one of Twain's best moves, and it elevates Huck Finn considerably.

But Jim, for all his humanity, is still problematic. He never drives anything forward himself, and his passivity makes me uncomfortable. He's certainly shown to be kind, and we're allowed to see him weeping for his separated wife and children, and we get to see his heavily allegorical refusal to allow Tom to throw rattlesnakes into his prison to make it more realistic. We're allowed into Jim's humanity, yeah, but he never gets to drive the plot. At the end, when he realizes that he'd been a free man all along, and Huck didn't know it but Tom did and Tom was just playing...I wanted a moment of anger from him. Didn't he deserve it? Shouldn't Jim have had a moment when he said, "What about my wife and children?"

In making Jim the co-lead but giving him no action, Twain failed Jim, and in failing Jim, Twain failed to write the Great American Novel - because the Great American Novel is about black people, too, and they're not just along for the ride. Almost, Twain!(less)

15 likes · like · see review

Jul 11, 2012 Alex added it · review of another edition

You know what would make this boob better is if it was about zombies instead

Like "Huckleberry Finn and Zombies"

you know, like that other book? There was this other book that was like something and something and zombies and it was cooler

you should read that

they should do all the classic books with zombies

here, I will do some

Old Man and the Sea and Zombies

oh noes zombies ate my fish
I am teh fail

Merchant of Zombice

nom you, do you not bleed?

give me my pound of flesh to nom

lol you barely even have...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 17, 2012 Quang Nhật rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nếu có ai đó hỏi tớ thích một nhân vật chính diện hơn hay ưa một nhân vật phản diện hơn, thì tớ sẽ không lưỡng lự mà chọn ngay nhân vật phản diện.
Vì thế mà đọc "Cuộc phiêu lưu của Huckleberry Finn" tớ lại càng thêm thấy hấp dẫn.

Hấp dẫn trước hết bởi vì được theo dõi những sự kiện, dự định của Tom, của Huck. Là kế hoạch về cướp của, giết người với đúng kiểu ... trẻ con của Tom. Hay là những ứng phó nhanh của Huck mỗi khi gặp sự cố trên chuyến đi. Và còn là "Cuộc giải cứu kỳ diệu" với những cách...more Nếu có ai đó hỏi tớ thích một nhân vật chính diện hơn hay ưa một nhân vật phản diện hơn, thì tớ sẽ không lưỡng lự mà chọn ngay nhân vật phản diện.
Vì thế mà đọc "Cuộc phiêu lưu của Huckleberry Finn" tớ lại càng thêm thấy hấp dẫn.

Hấp dẫn trước hết bởi vì được theo dõi những sự kiện, dự định của Tom, của Huck. Là kế hoạch về cướp của, giết người với đúng kiểu ... trẻ con của Tom. Hay là những ứng phó nhanh của Huck mỗi khi gặp sự cố trên chuyến đi. Và còn là "Cuộc giải cứu kỳ diệu" với những cách bày trò của Tom, lên kế hoạch đủ kiểu để khiến cuộc giải cứu này trở thành một sự kiện "danh tiếng lẫy lừng".
Nhưng kế hoạch của Tom, hay dự định của Huck không bao giờ diễn ra một cách suôn sẻ cả. Những sự cố luôn xảy đến như là những gia vị bắt buộc cho một chuyến phiêu lưu. Cái hay ở chỗ sự cố đó xảy ra rất tự nhiên, càng đẩy cuộc phiêu lưu vào giai đoạn cao trào hơn, hấp dẫn hơn.
Đọc cuốn này mà tớ không khỏi so sánh với "80 ngày vòng quanh thế giới". Với cuốn của tác giả Jules Verne tình tiết xảy ra rất nhanh, cảm xúc không được nhấn mạnh mà chủ yếu là tác giả cho ta thấy sự tự tin của nhân vật, cũng như những phản ứng đầy "tốc độ" của ông. Cũng là một sách về phiêu lưu, nhưng cuốn của Mark Twain, tớ lại đọc rất thoải mái. Giữa những sự kiện cao trào lại là những khoảng lặng, những giây phút thoải mái cho nhân vật thả hồn với sông nước, với những ngôi sao, và cả tranh cãi về nguồn gốc của mấy ngôi sao đó, dù tranh cãi cũng chẳng đến đâu. Và đây chính là nơi tác giả thể hiện khả năng miêu tả phong cảnh, mà tuyệt vời nhất chính là cảnh mặt trời mọc ngay ở chương 19 của tác phẩm.

Hấp dẫn còn là ở 2 nhân vật "quận công" và "ông vua" đã góp thêm vào hương vị cho cuộc phiêu lưu của Huck và Jim. Hai nhân vật này cho thấy những thực tế của cuộc sống, những lừa lọc, những suy ngẫm ích kỷ. Còn thấy được cả những phản ứng của đám đông như thế nào với mỗi trò lừa lọc của 2 nhân vật này.

Hấp dẫn còn bởi vì những suy nghĩ, những trăn trở của Huck với việc đã giúp tên da đen là Jim bỏ trốn, và dần dần sau này còn là những suy nghĩ, tình cảm về bạn bè, về người dì Sally. Diễn biến tâm lý của Huck chính là một trong những điểm đẹp của tác phẩm. Dưới ngòi bút của tác giả, đó là cuộc đấu tranh giữa một bên là bản chất thuần hậu, và bên kia là lương tâm, mà với Huck thì "thường choán chỗ nhiều hơn tất cả những thứ khác trong lòng mỗi con người, nhưng nó chẳng giúp ích được chút nào".

Kết thúc cuốn sách là một kết thúc có hậu đúng kiểu ... trẻ, chắc là kết thúc hiếm hoi trong mấy cuốn mình đọc đầu năm nay. Nên đọc xong cảm thấy rất nhẹ nhàng, thoải mái. Thực sự phù hợp cho những ai cần chút hương vị cuộc sống giữa 2 đợt thi như tớ.

PS: Cuốn sách vẫn còn một số lỗi gần cuối sách, âu cũng là một điểm trừ về học thuật. Nhưng biết đâu đó lại là ngụ ý của người biên tập, mà theo như BS Đỗ Hồng Ngọc đã từng nói, là để cho "độc giả có cái thú tìm ra được ít nhiều lỗi". Tùy cách nhìn nhưng tớ thì vẫn thích cách nhìn lạc quan của BS Ngọc hơn.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 25, 2006 Jacques Bromberg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone, everyone, everyone

Shelves: favorites, prose-fiction

Ever hear people talk about wanting to write the "Greak American Novel"? Well, it's already done, and this is it. This novel is one of my longest standing favorites. It's a profound meditation on the nature of freedom, full of clever Southern folk wisdom, deeply sensitive and insightful.

10 likes · like · see review

Nov 26, 2011 Anne Nikoline rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everybody who is into classics

Recommended to Anne Nikoline by: book club

Shelves: childrens-litterature, classics, own-a-copy, social-issues, read-in-2011

When Ernest Hemingway said: ""All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." he doesn't overreact. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is indeed a brilliant piece of classic literature everybody should read at least once in their life time. Especially kids. At least I'll be reading this when I've kids.

The writing style and the way the narrator communicates with his audiences is just outstandingly brilliant. Huckleberry is a great male lead and his controve...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 09, 2009 Dylanb2012 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"There was things which he stretched, but he mainly told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another..,"

Do you believe that the narrator is creating a meaning in the beginning of the whole story? I really can't say, but "that ain't no matter". mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" gives an authentic tale about the main character, Huck Finn. This young boy takes matter in his own hands and sets out to escape from his homeland, be a freeman, and becomi...more

6 likes · like · see review

Oct 04, 2008 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Twain, Mark. 1884. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

This was my first time to voluntarily read Huckleberry Finn. (Also my first time as an adult.) I think both of those are good reasons why I enjoyed this one so much. We first met the character of Huck Finn in Mark Twain's novel, Tom Sawyer. Sawyer makes for an entertaining narrator. All humor, little substance. But good fun. Finn, on the other hand, is a narrator with a bit more depth. (Okay a lot more depth.) The Adventures of Huckleberry Fi...more

11 likes · like · see review

Aug 01, 2008 Jamie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've never read much of Mark Twain's stuff. I vaguely remember reading A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in college and I think I was probably SUPPOSED to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at some point in school, but this was the first time I had ever picked up what's supposed to be his greatest work, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I wish I had done so sooner, because it was great.

If you're somehow unfamiliar with the basic premise, Huckleberry Finn follows the adventures of the epony...more I've never read much of Mark Twain's stuff. I vaguely remember reading A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in college and I think I was probably SUPPOSED to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at some point in school, but this was the first time I had ever picked up what's supposed to be his greatest work, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I wish I had done so sooner, because it was great.

If you're somehow unfamiliar with the basic premise, Huckleberry Finn follows the adventures of the eponymous country boy from Missouri as he encounters trouble at home and then decides to run away via the mighty Mississippi River. Along the way he pairs up with an escaped slave named Jim and encounters all kinds of murderers, thieves, aristocrats, and swindlers. The plot summary sounds kind of like a pulp adventure story, and I admit there is a lot of that. I can see why kids --especially boys-- would be attracted to this book.

But the mark of a really good book is that it has so much literary machinery whirring and grinding below the surface that you're constantly thinking back on it, days or weeks or months after you've finished reading it. The most striking thing to me after the authentic representation of dialects was what a master of irony Twain was. It's everywhere in this book: from Tom Sawyer telling Huck that he had to let his foster parents civilize him before he could join Tom's (imaginary) band of cutthroat robbers, to Huck's saying that he's sorely disappointed in the quality of Tom's morals after the other boy agrees to help Huck free the captured runaway slave Jim. It's the same kind of juxtaposition and stinging irony that modern writers of shows like The Daily Show employ. The book is rarely laugh out loud funny, but I sure grinned a lot.

I also really love the character of Huck Finn, and I can see why he's so timeless. Huck is undoubtedly a thirteen year old country boy --he's uncouth, he's uneducated, and he's lazy. But he's also really intelligent, kind, clever, independent, and has no problem following his own moral compass even when it leads him against the grain of society and those supposedly better than him. Well, eventually. Like any thirteen year old boy he gets swept up among the actions of his elders, but he rarely hesitates for long before correcting his own course.

I also loved how Twain contrasted the characters of Huck and Tom Sawyer. Both are young boys who are smart and clever, but beyond that Tom is everything Huck is not. Tom needlessly complicates everything while Huck is much more pragmatic and direct. Tom adheres zealously to the rules governing any situation --gleaned in his case from adventure stories about pirates, robbers, and prison escapees-- while Huck is willing to question authority and come around to his own decisions about what's right. Tom lets his adherence to the rules and his desire to do things "right" lead him into inadvertent cruelty, while Huck will actually endanger himself and break the rules in order to help other people directly. It's great stuff.

So, you probably don't need me to tell you that this is an example of some of the best American literature to date given its status and how ingrained it has become in our culture. But don't let that dissuade you from checking it out.(less)

10 likes · like · see review

Mar 03, 2008 Hope rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So - this review is just a whole bunch of my thoughts about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The first two paragraphs are somewhat cohesive, and the third paragraph sort-of means what I want it to,and there are definitley parts of it that could have been explained better, but from there...its just a mess of my thoughts. So anyway,I'm just warning you.

I had to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for school, and i really hated reading it. In fact, I didn't even read some of it - I looked up...more So - this review is just a whole bunch of my thoughts about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The first two paragraphs are somewhat cohesive, and the third paragraph sort-of means what I want it to,and there are definitley parts of it that could have been explained better, but from there...its just a mess of my thoughts. So anyway,I'm just warning you.

I had to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for school, and i really hated reading it. In fact, I didn't even read some of it - I looked up what happened on the internet. I just couldn't read any more of it....it was so bad. The story was so ...long. And boring. I was really perplexed as to why it is referred to as "The Great American Novel".

But, thats not the point. Even though i hated reading it, I ended up loving the book, if that makes any sense...? Anyway, the book had so many important themes, but one that stuck out to me was religion. I found that everything in this book could be tied to every aspect of every different religion. For example, the characters represented different types of religions, and the land and the river represented heaven and hell because everything good happened on the river and everything bad happened on land. But then again, this is still not my point.

Looking at Mark Twain's(the author) life, I found that he saw Christianity differently from most Christians. He saw that we're judgmental and hypocritical, even though we see God with a "Big Stick". Mark Twain saw how we talk about and judge coworkers behind their backs, yet we say we're not judgmental.He saw how we see God with a "Big Stick". What I mean is, how we see God having a "Big Stick" about sinning, and how much he hates sin. Now, don't get me wrong - God does discipline us for our sins,and he does hate sin, but what I mean is....we see God too rigidly, and we forget how much he loves us. When I think about how much God loves us, I think about the song "Praise You in this Storm" by Casting Crowns. There is a line in that song that says "And every tear I cry, You hold in you hand". I think that line is a perfect example of God because he does give us trials and tests (hence, the tear) but he holds those hardships in his hand.

I realized that meaning of Huckleberry Finn is about all of that. I think what Mark Twain was trying to get across was that we all need to take another look at how we live our lives while claiming to be Christians, and how we see Christianity.

More thoughts....
Because of the always visible theme of religion in Huckleberry Finn, it made me start to think about how I see Christians. I saw what Mark Twain saw.I kept seeing Christians talking about fellow coworkers behind their backs, and speculating about them and being so judgmental. They would even make small remarks like "I know I shouldn't be talking about her", and it's like it went right over their heads, because they didn't stop.

I think that as Christians, we don't notice that kind of stuff as much as non-Christians do, and I think that is what turns them away from Christianity. They see how much we Christians think of ourselves, and then they see how hypocritical we can be. Imagine if a non-Christian overheard the scenario above? What would they think?

Anyway, I found out why this book is called "The Great American Novel".
(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 25, 2008 Mangy Cat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

Now, I'm not normally a fan of dialect, but I tell you, Mark Twain has given a fine example of the right way to do it. He is consistent in the spellings of the different words he uses and shows different ways of speaking for each of the characters. That is, they don't all sound alike. So it feels authentic. I really like that aspect. The language that Twain uses for Huck Finn's voice is absolutely delicious. It's so rich and wonderful you can cut it with a knife. He keeps up the quality of his m...more Now, I'm not normally a fan of dialect, but I tell you, Mark Twain has given a fine example of the right way to do it. He is consistent in the spellings of the different words he uses and shows different ways of speaking for each of the characters. That is, they don't all sound alike. So it feels authentic. I really like that aspect. The language that Twain uses for Huck Finn's voice is absolutely delicious. It's so rich and wonderful you can cut it with a knife. He keeps up the quality of his main character's voice throughout the entire novel, staying consistent and making the story so much more sweet than it would be otherwise.

One thing I noticed is that though Huck's grammar leaves something to be desired, he actually has quite a good vocabulary. I wonder how that worked out? I suppose it had something to do with the fact that he lived a lot of his life "uneducated" then went to school once he was living with the widow. He used a word like "frivolous"--which you wouldn't think a kid who uses "weren't" instead of "wasn't" would know.

I wish I'd read through Huck Finn with a highlighter in hand, because there are so many amazing passages that are supremely wise and/or are worded in such a way as to express some simple, great truth or lesson through Huck's incredible narration. One of the bits that stands out in my mind is this one. Huck is having dinner with a big group, and the women who cooked are talking about the food:

Mary Jane she set at the head of the table, with Susan alongside her, and said how bad the biscuits was, and how mean the preserves was, and how ornery and tough the fried chicken was--and all that kind of rot, the way women always do for to force out compliments; and all the people all knowed everything was tiptop, and said so--said, "How DO you get biscuits so brown and nice?" and "Where, for land's sake, did you get these amaz'n pickles?" and all that kind of humbug talky-talk, just the way people always does at a supper, you know.

Just writing that out makes me hunger for more. This is definitely one to re-read in the future, if only just to savor the taste of it once again.
(less)

11 likes · like · see review

Mar 13, 2008 Randy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

For a book that's supposedly the source of "all modern American literature," there's a lot you can pick on. Like the careening plot, or the last ten chapters of the book (which is kind of like eating Sour Patch Kids after a chocolate souffle). I can just see Mark Twain paging anxiously through the first thirty-one chapters and muttering, "I can't take any more of this literary merit--if I don't bring in Tom Sawyer to screw things up, I'm going to have a freaking aneurysm."

In the end, though, thi...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jun 07, 2007 Mme. Bookling ~ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How does one go until age 28 before reading this? I have no idea--but I was delighted WAY beyond expectation and learned so much when I read this and taught it to my students.

Tom Sawyer was Twain's children’s "adult" book with no real social message; Huck Finn was his adult "children's" book, therefore--I enjoyed it much more than Tom Sawyer. Rich with social awareness, it was fascinating (especially, and it's a must) to read the Norton Critical Edition of the book which highlighted how Twain lo...more How does one go until age 28 before reading this? I have no idea--but I was delighted WAY beyond expectation and learned so much when I read this and taught it to my students.

Tom Sawyer was Twain's children’s "adult" book with no real social message; Huck Finn was his adult "children's" book, therefore--I enjoyed it much more than Tom Sawyer. Rich with social awareness, it was fascinating (especially, and it's a must) to read the Norton Critical Edition of the book which highlighted how Twain lost his train of thought for years and years. It also highlights some deleted chapters from the original manuscript--which poses for a very thought-provoking discussion.

It's easier if you read it from wikipedia--but it's all the stuff I learned and love!!

“Twain initially conceived of the work as a companion to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that would follow Huck Finn through adulthood. Beginning with a chapter he had deleted from the earlier novel, Twain began work on a manuscript he originally titled Huckleberry Finn's Autobiography. Twain worked on the manuscript off and on for the next several years, ultimately abandoning his original plan of following Huck's development into adulthood. He appeared to have lost interest in the manuscript while it was in progress, and set it aside for several years. After making a trip down the Mississippi, Twain returned to his work on the novel. Upon completion, the novel's title closely paralleled its predecessor's: "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade)" [1]”

It is commonly said that the beginning and ending of the book, the parts in which Tom Sawyer appears as a character, detract from its overall impact. Others feel Tom serves to start the story off and to bring it to a conclusion, and that Tom's ridiculous schemes have the paradoxical effect of providing a framework of 'reality' around the mythical river voyage. Much of the boyhood innocence and romantic depictions of nature occur in the first sixteen chapters and the last five, while the middle of the story shows the harsh realities of antebellum society.”

(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Dec 03, 2009 James rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, u-of-chicago, study-group, sunday-morning, banned

Huckleberry Finn, like other classic works of the imagination, can provide every reader with whatever he is capable of finding as he reads. The well of the narrative runs as deep as the Mississippi River. Thus the book may be enjoyed by young boys and adults as well. It also means that the book can be and is a foundational document in American literature influencing many writers who have followed in its wake. The story is both epic and intimate. Over the years the excitement of Huck's adventures...more

6 likes · like · see review

Jun 26, 2012 Eric marked it as might-read · review of another edition

Note: This review is specific to the "Robotic" edition.

In a travesty of errors, Goodreads has made the decision to combine this book, in which Jim is a robot, with the authentic editions of Huckleberry Finn. Apparently GR considers the change of a major character from human to robot to be comparable to a translation or abridgment.

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 22, 2009 Ericamarie22 added it · review of another edition

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, thumbs up or thumbs down? I rated this novel with a thumbs down for several reasons. My reason consist of boring, difficult, and too much.

Starting off, I found this book boring. I just couldn't get into it. The parts about Miss Watson always telling Huck what to do, just didn't make me want to read more. Another part that i found boring was when Huck was supposed to run away. Instead he decided to play with his friends one last time. " Don't gap and stretch li...more

11 likes · like · see review

Jun 11, 2012 Susanna marked it as not-for-me · review of another edition

Make the burning stop! (This Comment solely about the "Robotic Edition.")

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 20, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The controversy last year (or whenever the hey-hah it was) about removing the n-word from Huck Finn or order to protect the sensitive squishy minds of college students everywhere gave me a swift kick in the butt about re-reading this.

But I didn't. The kick, it was not swift enough. Also? I read this in middle school and HATED it. This was back when something like personal preference about not liking to read dialects still influenced my opinions of a work as a whole (this is still how it is [for...more The controversy last year (or whenever the hey-hah it was) about removing the n-word from Huck Finn or order to protect the sensitive squishy minds of college students everywhere gave me a swift kick in the butt about re-reading this.

But I didn't. The kick, it was not swift enough. Also? I read this in middle school and HATED it. This was back when something like personal preference about not liking to read dialects still influenced my opinions of a work as a whole (this is still how it is [for I am still 12]). Yes, my friends, it's true. I eye-rolled and huffed my way through it not because I didn't like the story or the characters, not because there were too many commas and not enough paragraph breaks, but simply because reading a written accent gave (gives) me a headache.

AUDIOBOOKS TO THE RESCUE! Why didn't I think of this a bajillion years ago? I'm from the south, baby, and no audible drawl will make me flinch! What genius! So. Off to the library I trudged, and into the CD player went the Twain. Success! I HEART IT'S FACE! Right? It's so sarcastic, how could I not love it? I will admit that driving around town listening to a loud CD that kept saying the n-word over and over (without the accompanying heavy beat that somehow makes it ok) made me a little self-conscious, but I got over it.

ANYWOOT. Thing I Did Not Like: Uh, the end? I felt like it trivialized slavery, and Jim's separation from his family and desperation to see his family, to have Huck and Tom f*ck around for weeks and weeks trying to recreate the escape from The Count of Monte Cristo. Of course, this just showed how desensitized the children were to the evils of slavery (and how ridiculous the "kind master" crap is), but I really just wanted to take them out back and make them pick a switch, if you get my drift. And I think you do (MY DRIFT IS THEY NEED A SPANKING).

Things I Did Like: Everything else. The King and the Duke parts were especially entertaining, probably because they reminded me so much of a Dickensian group of characters (the King, Duke, and victims). In fact, the whole thing sorta gave me an Oliver Twist Down on the Mississippi feeling, what with the grotesquely absurd villans and the not-so-hidden moral and the resourceful, scrappy, classless and lovable main character. In fact, I would say Twain is an excellent alternative for those who want classic social satire without the length, and with more sarcasm.

Summary: crazily funny, Dickens for the lazy, those boys need a beating, listen to the audiobook

Four stars out of your mom(less)

2 likes · like · see review

May 20, 2008 Skinnywhitedude19 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is about a young boy, Huck, in search of freedom and adventure. The shores of the Mississippi River provide the backdrop for the entire book.

Huck is kidnapped by Pap, his drunken father. Pap kidnaps Huck because he wants Huck's $6000. Huck was awarded $6000 from the treasure he and Tom Sawyer found in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck finally escapes from the deserted house in the woods and finds a canoe to shove off down the river. Instead of...more The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is about a young boy, Huck, in search of freedom and adventure. The shores of the Mississippi River provide the backdrop for the entire book.

Huck is kidnapped by Pap, his drunken father. Pap kidnaps Huck because he wants Huck's $6000. Huck was awarded $6000 from the treasure he and Tom Sawyer found in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck finally escapes from the deserted house in the woods and finds a canoe to shove off down the river. Instead of going back to the widow's house, he decides to run away. He is sick of all of the confinement and civilization that the window enforces upon him. He comes across Jim, Miss Watson's slave, and together, they spend nights and days journeying down the river, both in search of freedom.

While traveling on a raft down the river, Huck and Jim have many adventures and during many long talks, become best of friends. They find a house with a dead man. They end up stealing many things from the house. They find a wrecked ship, and go on it, only to be mixed up with murderers. They get away with money and some other goods. They get separated from each other in the heavy fog, but eventually find each other. A steamboat crashes into their raft and Jim and Huck are separated again. Huck has a run-in with the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, two families at war with each other. He is reunited with Jim shortly after this. Then, they meet the King and the Duke, and get into a good deal of trouble performing plays. The King and the Duke pretend to be Peter Wilks' long lost brothers from England and try to steal all of the money left behind in his will. They escape before they are caught. Huck finally gets rid of them, but is left to search for Jim, who gets sold by the King. He ends up at Tom Sawyer's Aunt Sally's house, where Tom and Huck rescue Jim.

Through all of the adventures down the river, Huck learns a variety of life lessons and improves as a person. He develops a conscience and truly feels for humanity. The complexity of his character is enhanced by his ability to relate so easily with nature and the river.(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Feb 02, 2008 Rick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Hadn’t read this wonderful book in a couple of decades, though I used to read it every few years. The book begs to be read aloud. The dialect sings with natural beauty. The descriptions of the Mississippi, small town life and the rural landscape are poetry. The humor is stand-up comic funny and so skillful you admire the jokes with the same wonder you admire the descriptions of storms on the river, which is as if you were witnessing them, rather than reading about them. And there isn’t a better...more

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 04, 2008 Charity rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: lovers of great American lit

Shelves: 1001books, faves

When I read this as a child, I really enjoyed it. But, since it had been around 20 years since I cracked the spine, I thought I would pick it up again. Upon rereading now, I've discovered:

This is not a book for children. Just look at the first line of the Duke's hapless attempt to recite Hamlet's soliloquy: To be or not to be, that is the bare bodkin. Obviously, the jokes in Huck Finn are aimed at adults. So are the life lessons -- about following your conscience and questioning the status quo a...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 26, 2007 Kecia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: booksireadinthe80s, classics, audio_books, banned-books, 1001-books

July 2007 - Had to drive from St. Louis, MO to Joplin, MO and back the next day. I decided this would be the perfect book for a trans-Missouri trip...and it was. Since I knew the story it was easy to keep up with and it kept me chuckling, but it has been 25 years since I read so it was new again at the same time. I wanted to cry at the end...and give Tom Sawyer and good smack too!

It was required reading in high school. I tried to be a good teenager and hate it. Somehow it has stuck with me all t...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 23, 2009 Shayana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Have you ever had to read a book for school and there wasn’t any if, ands, or buts about it? Well let me tell you the truth I have, the book was called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.I really didn’t like this book, you know when you’re reading a book and you really can’t understand the grammar or language because there’s a lot of slang. Another reason why I didn’t like this book was the characters like a book can have its main characters but you can’t tell...more The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Have you ever had to read a book for school and there wasn’t any if, ands, or buts about it? Well let me tell you the truth I have, the book was called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.I really didn’t like this book, you know when you’re reading a book and you really can’t understand the grammar or language because there’s a lot of slang. Another reason why I didn’t like this book was the characters like a book can have its main characters but you can’t tell who is who. Furthermore my reason last reason on why I didn’t like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the book was just plain on confusing to me when something can be happening then just like that something else can happens. My first reason why I didn’t like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, because I had a hard time understanding the grammar and or language for example in chapter 8 I Spare Miss Watson’s Jim “Doan hurt me-don’t! I haint ever done no harm to a ghos.”see what I mean from reading this, there was a tongue twist. My second reason was the characters the first character was Miss Watson in this book slave’s weren’t able to learn how to read or write just because Jim wanted to know how to read and write there’s nothing wrong with that she didn’t want him to know because no one in his family knew how so she made him stop. The second character was Huckleberry Finn father Pap he was a junky all he did was drink and then try to kill Huck “he chased me round and round the place with a clasp-knife, calling me the Angel of Death, and saying he was going to kill me, and then I couldn’t come for him any more. I begged and told him I was only Huck; but he laughed such a screechy laugh and roared and cussed, and kept on chasing me up.” Last character was Huckleberry Finn if you talked about Pap you have to talk about Huckleberry Finn. He was confused about if him and Jim were best friends or not one minute they were, then the next minute they wasn’t. At one point he was going to tell on Jim. “then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on;s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up, would you felt better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d fell bad-I’d feel just the same way I do now. “Well, then says I, whats the use you learning to do when its wrong its troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and wages is just the same? I was stuck.” My final reason was this book was just plain confusing. To many parts in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would happen at once, you could be reading about a character then next thing you know you’ll reading about a different character also why this book was confusing I couldn’t tell which character was who. Sometimes I would think that Huckleberry Finn was Jim when Jim is black and Huckleberry Finn was white, when I was really confused every time they brought up the name Tom Sawyer.
(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 12, 2009 Pedr0br2012 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Have you ever read a book so confusing, that when you started to read it, you would like it, but maybe later on you wouldn’t? Well, Huckleberry Finn is one. The author was so conscious about slavery issues; he made the first African American hero book. Mark Twain made millions of people love it. However, it was so controversial that some people hated it. Because it has so much bad language, crazy accents and so many confusing words. I'm not sure if I like it or not.

What makes the book so confusi...more

1 like · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Is Huck fun, or what?!!	4	46	May 11, 2013 04:05am
Where do you download pdf books from,not ebooks just pdf's?	142	1821	Apr 25, 2013 08:11am
Opinions on Huck Finn	31	212	Apr 21, 2013 07:17am

combine
Other Editions (595)

More editions...

Genres

Classics

9,774 users

Literature

903 users

Young Adult

797 users

Historical Fiction

739 users

Academic > School

675 users

Adventure

628 users

Novels

346 users

Childrens

312 users

Literature > American

298 users

Academic > Read For School

296 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also work...more

More about Mark Twain...

Books by Mark Twain

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Adventures of Huc...

91 trivia questions
6 quizzes

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Adventures of Huck...

“All right, then, I'll go to hell.” — 281 people liked it

“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR
per
G.G., CHIEF OF ORDNANCE” — 134 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
avg rating	preview: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Goodreads rating: 3.77 (699883 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2960.Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337456573l/2960.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2960.Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain[/url]

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website