Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Modern Library Classics)

by Mark Twain, George Saunders (Introduction)

book data

119,344 ratings, 3.78 average rating, 2,549 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		27%
4		35%
3		27%
2		7%
1		2%

edit

published

August 14th 2001 (first published 1884) by Modern Library

binding

Paperback, 304 pages

characters

Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Jim, Pap Finn, ...more

setting

The United States

isbn

0375757376 (isbn13: 9780375757372)

description

'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 ...more

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | compare prices ($2.84)…

new topic
discuss this book

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: Lists	3144	1430	16 minutes ago
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SUMMER CHALLENGE 2009	3861	4504	19 minutes ago

friend reviews

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

lists with this book

This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists. Add this book to your favorite list »

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 138,265)

sort: default (?) | date
filters: all | text-only

02/09/09

David rated it:

bookshelves: 2009-year-of-american-classics

Read in February, 2009

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...more

Like this review? yes (32 people liked it)

26 comments

08/07/07

Matt rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

Read in October, 1999

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....more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

add a comment

11/11/08

Nathan rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in October, 2005

recommends it for: all

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.

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

add a comment

01/09/09

Dylanb2012 rated it:

(review of isbn 0553041150)

"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 f...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comment

10/02/08

Becky rated it:

(review of isbn 0141321091)

Read in October, 2008

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 Hu...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

08/01/08

Jamie rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

Read in December, 2007

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 ...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)

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comment

01/15/08

Hope rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

Read in March, 2008

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 ...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)

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

4 comments

01/05/08

Mangycat rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

bookshelves: classics

Read in January, 2008

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)

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

08/04/07

Randy rated it:

(review of isbn 0553210793)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in February, 2000

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." ...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

01/22/09

Ericamarie22 added it (review of isbn 0142437174)

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...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comment

10/25/06

Jacques rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

bookshelves: favorites, prose-fiction

recommends it for: Everyone, everyone, everyone

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.

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

05/20/08

Skinnywhitedude19 rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

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. I...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)

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

02/02/08

Rick rated it:

(review of isbn 0553210793)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2005

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 bet...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

2 comments

06/06/07

Mme. Bookling ~ rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

Read in January, 2006

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 b...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)

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

01/23/09

Shayana rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

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 hav...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)

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

01/12/09

Pedr0br2012 rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

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 b...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

01/22/09

Ishaiah2012 added it (review of isbn 0553210793)

Dear reader, see if you can read this!” Doan hurt me don’t, I haint ever done no harm to a ghoas? I alwuz liked dead people, en done all I could for em, you go en git in de river ag’in whah you b’longs, en doan, do nuffin to ole jim’ at ‘ uz alwuz you fren.’’ How would you feel if you had to read this book. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and have to go through this language. I know you would feel the same way as me. Huckleberry is very overwhelming on some par...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

01/22/09

Brittany rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

“It’s a good book.”
“No, it’s not. It was stupid.”
“It was not stupid. It was awesome.”
“I guess. Wait, no. No it wasn’t.”
“Guys this book was both. You can’t say that it was good, but you can’t say that it was awesome either.”
Huckleberry Finn had me conflicted. This book lost me at some parts, and it kept confusing me. This book surprised me, like when a white boy helps a runaway slave. The language in this book could go both ways. The wor...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

01/22/09

Briana2012 rated it:

(review of isbn 0142437174)

This book is so racist, it says the N-word too many times". "Yes it does". "The language s difficult to understand, like did they actually speak like this." "Maybe so." "And…." "This book keeps it real. The
language, the speech, and the character have real characteristics. Which makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn… a real experience.” “I guess so.”

I enjoyed reading the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry because o...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

01/22/09

Kaylam2012 added it (review of isbn 0142437174)

New and Old

Have you ever read a book that was the same old same old, but still brought something new to the table? Well, the story “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain does just that. For this reason I have two different opinions about this book, those opinions are good and bad. The fact that this book is something I can see on the news is one reason why I despise it. The conflict between man verses man, doesn’t really seem realistic to me. On the contrary, I admi...more New and Old

Have you ever read a book that was the same old same old, but still brought something new to the table? Well, the story “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain does just that. For this reason I have two different opinions about this book, those opinions are good and bad. The fact that this book is something I can see on the news is one reason why I despise it. The conflict between man verses man, doesn’t really seem realistic to me. On the contrary, I admire this book. It shows both sides of the fence, and eliminates the idea that the grass is greener on the other side.

For starters, one reasons I absolutely loath this book is because it repeats or restates things that are happening today in the present. In the story Huck joins a gang, like Tom proposes. “Now we’ll start this of robbers and call it Tom Sawyers Gang.”, there are actual gangs in the real world too. The difference between Huck’s gang and the gangs in my neighborhood is that the gangs in my neighborhood really do kill and rob people. The violence in the story is nothing compared to the violence in my everyday life. If I watched the news right now, I can guarantee someone is dead do to violence. When Buck got shot in the story, it wasn’t anything new to my normal life. I know people who got shot; I hear people shooting at each other all the time. I hear gun shots so much, I can tell the difference between a gunshot and a fire cracker. This story brings nothing new to my table called “life”.

The following reason is the resolution to the conflict irritates me. What conflict bothers you? The conflict between Huck and his father, Pap, annoys me to no end. In the story Huck’s father was abusive, neglected and jealous, of and to Huck, but that is not what seems unrealistic to me. “I slipped the ramrod it to make sure it was loaded and then I laid it across the trans barrel, pointing towards pap, and set down behind it to wait for him to stir.”, at this exact moment Huck had the chance to kill his father, but didn’t take it. Any real person would have shot their father if their father was like Pap. I mean, Huck had a chance to get revenge for what his father did to him, and didn’t take it. His father even tried to kill Huck, but Huck still didn’t shoot him. If that was a real person, they would have got their revenge; all people want revenge when someone hurts them. That is why I feel that this story is a bit unrealistic to how people really behave.

The only reason why I actually like this book is for what this books shows. Many stories do not show both sides of the fence like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, does. All I can say while reading this story is “WOW! This author must have been really opened minded while writing this story”. This story proves to be very revealing of how people think and how guilt affects people’s actions. The perfect example is the relationship between Jim and Huck was more of a guilt, then love and compassion. “I got a feeling to mean and miserable I most wished I was dead” Huck said, when he was between a rock and a hard place. Huck believed that freeing a slave was wrong, but Jim made Huck feel guilty by saying he was a great man for freeing Jim. This story shows the two total opposites clashing and cladding all the time. These opposites are not something everyone wrote about back then. By doing this Mark Twain brings something totally new to the table of literature.

Well, that is all I have to say about “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain. The story makes me feel like I already been there and done that before. The conflict between Huck and Pap seems fairy tale like to me. Even with all this said I still have to admit, the story still brings fresh splash of ice tea to my glass of boring water. Remember if you want to read a story that fuels your boredom, but at the same time gives you something new, read “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain. You will only be half asleep reading it!

(less)

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 6913 6914 next »

polls

What frequently challenged or banned CLASSIC book should we read in July?

(We will select two books but you can read either, both or none of course.)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

10 votes 9.2%

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

9 votes 8.3%

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

6 votes 5.5%

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

24 votes 22.0%

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

2 votes 1.8%

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

16 votes 14.7%