The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Adventures of Tom and Huck #1

by Mark Twain

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

‘Now he found out a new thing – namely, that to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing.’

An idyllic snapshot of a boy’s childhood along the banks of the Mississippi River, Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the author’s work that comes closest to his boyhood experiences of growing up in Hannibal in the 1840s.

Mischievous and full of energy, Tom enjoys childish pranks and pastimes with his friends, Huck Finn, the town outcast and Joe Harper, his best friend. However, at the town graveyard, Huck and Tom witness a murder, carried out by local vagabond Injun Joe. They vow never to tell a soul about what they have seen and so begins their journey into adulthood as Tom wrestles with his own morality, guilt and anxiety.

A ‘coming of age’ tale, it is through Tom’s adventures and relationships with others that he becomes more responsible and more aware of his own inner conflict. Through the central characters of Tom and Huck, Twain satirises the moral rigidity of society and adult hypocrisy, whilst at the same time giving a nostalgic portrayal of a young boy’s journey into adulthood.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Literature, Childrens

215 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1876

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Reviews

[Nataliya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was five and a half years old when my mother gave me The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a New Year's gift (she is a literature teacher, and I have been reading novels since the tender age of four or so, and so it seemed appropriate).

Being a diligent and serious¹ child (neither of those qualities have stuck with me, unfortunately), I opened it to page 1 and started reading. I even took it with me to kindergarten, where other kids were learning letters and I was mercifully allowed to read hefty tomes, having obviously achieved full literacy by that point.

¹

Me (age 5) and Mom. The diligent seriousness is *all over* this picture.

This book initially left me quite confused, but I was undeterred - after all, the world was a confusing place, full of adults and rules and great books - even those without pictures. (And I was very proud to own books without pictures, after all). But his one was just too strange - its beginning did not quite fit with the rest of the quite fun story - it was odd and dry and incomprehensible for the first 40 pages or so, and it even was about some other guy (Samuel Clemens?) who was not Tom Sawyer.

A few years later I reread my early childhood favorite (I probably reached a ripe old age of eight or so, still diligent but a bit less serious already). It was then that I figured out what seemed strange about the beginning of this book when I was five.

You see, I diligently slogged my way through the most boring academic foreword, assuming that was the first chapter. What amazes me that I managed to stay awake through it. Good job, five-year-old me! Excellent preparation for that painfully boring biochemistry course a couple of decades later!

After that foreword, slogging through any classic was a comparative breeze. Yes, I'm looking at you, War and Peace! You know what you did, you endless tome.

Also, as it turns out, when you include two characters named Joe in one book (Injun Joe and Tom's classmate Joe Harper) that can cause a certain amount of confusion to a five-year-old who assumes they have to be the same person and struggles really hard to reconcile their seemingly conflicting characters. And, as a side note, I have always been disappointed at Tom Sawyer tricking his friends to do the infamous fence whitewashing. A *real* kid knows after all that painting stuff is fun. Five-year-old me was a bit disapproving of the silliness.

I have told bits and pieces of this book to my friends on the playground, while dangling from the monkey bars or building sandcastles (in a sandbox, that in retrospect I suspect was used by the neighborhood stray cats as a litterbox - but I guess you have to develop immunity to germs somehow). We may have planned an escape to an island in a true Tom Sawyer fashion, but the idea fizzled. After all, we did not have an island nearby, which was a problem. Also, we may have got distracted by the afternoon cartoons.

Someday, I just may have to leave this book within a reach of my future hypothetical daughter - as long as I make sure it does not come with a long-winded boring introduction.

[Federico DN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn conquer the world.

Mississippi River, 1840’s. Two young little rascals get together after school. Hijinks ensue on every turn. Pranks, adventures, fence painting, murder.

An innocent novel, an immortal classic. I just wish there was more Tom and Becky.

Classics are often difficult, but this one was on the whole fairly enjoyable and easy to read.

It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.

Still remaining, the movie (1938).

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1876] [244p] [Classic] [Recommendable] [Easy to read] [Iconic fence painting] [Plentiful misfchief] ["To make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.”]
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★★★☆☆ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
★★★☆☆ The Prince and the Pauper [2.5]

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Tom Sawyer y Huckleberry Finn conquistan el mundo.

Río Mississippi, 1840. Dos pequeños jóvenes bribones se juntan a la salida de la escuela. Sobrevienen travesuras en cada esquina. Bromas, aventuras, pintadas de cerca, asesinato.

Una inocente novela, un clásico inmortal. Sólo desearía que hubiera más de Tom y Becky.

Los clásicos son a veces difíciles, pero éste dentro de todo fue bastante disfrutable y fácil de leer.

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.

Queda pendiente, la película (1938).

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1876] [244p] [Clásico] [Recomendable] [Fácil de leer] [Icónica pintada de cerca] [Abundantes travesuras] ["Para hacer que alguien desee alguna cosa, sólo es necesario hacerla difícil de conseguir."]
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[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Sawyer was so young… I was so young… I envied him… Such a romantic life…
Every step ends in the adventure… Even whitewashing the fence brings joy…

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence, nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden.

No need to worry… All the fun is about to begin…
And such a great river is just around the corner… And such a great bosom friend…

Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard. Huckleberry was cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town, because he was idle, and lawless, and vulgar and bad – and because all their children admired him so, and delighted in his forbidden society, and wished they dared to be like him. Tom was like the rest of the respectable boys, in that he envied Huckleberry his gaudy outcast condition, and was under strict orders not to play with him. So he played with him every time he got a chance.

Whatever is around is wonderful… And even the cave full of secrets is near… And of course it keeps its mysteries for Tom.

“Who’s ready for the cave?”
Everybody was. Bundles of candles were produced, and straightway there was a general scamper up the hill. The mouth of the cave was high up the hillside – an opening shaped like a letter A. Its massive oaken door stood unbarred. Within was a small chamber, chilly as an ice-house, and walled by Nature with solid limestone that was dewy with a cold sweat. It was romantic and mysterious to stand here in the deep gloom and look out upon the green valley shining in the sun.

Every young boy dreams to be a hero in the book.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, published by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, (Mark Twain) in 1876, is a most engaging children’s book. It describes an American boy’s childhood in a rural Southern town in the 19th century. I read this many years ago, and always promised myself that I’d read it again, and you know something? It didn’t disappoint. There’s a reason that it’s a classic. Just lovely.

[Rowan MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Dear Rowan,
You are a big boy now so I hope you will enjoy these adventures.
Love Mrs Hammond.
Christmas 1997"

Growing up, I lived the opposite end of the state to my grandparents. I missed their everyday presence. Next door lived an elderly couple – The Hammonds. They despised each other, yet were always friendly to us. Their grandchildren lived interstate, and because of this, we filled a void in each other’s lives. Mrs Hammond often made appearances on birthdays or Christmases with a small gift. For Christmas 1997, I received The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

It has taken me 28 years, but I have finally read this book, and experienced Mark Twain for the first time. I’m not sure why it took me so long – but know the language would’ve been too difficult for me back then - despite Mrs Hammond’s best intentions! It confused me even now.

But that wasn’t a problem. I had greater issue with how redundant large sections of the story were. It was a slog. Twain himself, perhaps best described my reading experience:

“Tom counted the pages of the sermon; after church he always knew how many pages there had been, but he seldom knew anything else about the discourse.”

It took considerable time for something resembling a plot to emerge, and once it did, characters were soon bored or plagued by melancholy – much like myself. I never want to see or hear the phrase “by-and-by” again, nor do I want to be subjected to racist language. I anticipated this product of the times, but it was another thing seeing it on the page.

Twain did, however, accurately capture the sense of adventure that accompanies youth. I enjoyed reminiscing about aspects of childhood. I particularly related to Tom’s immense dislike for school, and trying to avoid it at all costs.

“He canvassed his system. No ailment was found, and he investigated again. This time he thought he could detect colicky symptoms, and he began to encourage them with considerable hope.”

Another highlight was Huckleberry Finn – one of the most memorable introductions of any literary character. I enjoyed the back-and-forth banter between Tom and Huck and the book felt at its best when their rapid dialogue was front and centre.

“Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard.”

Twain succeeded in making me laugh numerous times. Some of my favourite scenes included the boys listening to their own funerals, and the pinch-bug, dog, and the church. I even learned that ‘spunk-water’ apparently cures warts!

There’s no doubting the impact Twain had on American literature and all those who followed. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to ensure my enjoyment of this classic.

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update All we need now is a "lost" manuscript by Twain to be found by some lawyer with the story being about an adult Tom Sawyer and this book being the one the editor "forced" Twain to write. I know you are probably thinking that is taking Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman to far, but what if that was just the beginning of a new initiative from publishers. It could be the latest fashion now no-one is interested in vampires any more?
__________

What happened to Tom after he grew up was asked in a review by a friend. Thinking back on the times, his character and the author, I've come up with three possible ideas.

1. He became a bank manager and magistrate in a very small town. He married Becky and both put on a lot of weight. They had no children but three yappy toy spaniels whom they doted on. Mas Thomas Sawyer allowed no leeway with naughty boys and the cane was much in use.

2. Tom with Huck and Jim found a treasure trove and were given a big reward. Aunt Polly invested it until Tom was 21. Tom, Huck and Jim bought a steamboat together, converted it into a casino and plyed the Mississipi offering Black Jack and Jack Daniels at every stop.

3. At 18, Tom ran away to New Orleans and took up with a beautiful Creole woman with pale coffee skin and became a preacher in a loudly charismatic church. He and his wife had a whole brood of multi-coloured kids whom they named for the virtues, Abstinence, Doughty, Chastity, Patience, Industrious and Worship. In later life he met Marie Laveau and went to the dark side, a confirmed believer in Voodoo.

Or...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, my daughter just started reading Tom Sawyer for the very first time, and I am jealous of her!

First of all, she can read it in original, while I read it in translation as a child. Second, I wish I could still have that immediate, surprised response to the silly situations. About every five minutes, she comes into my room, reading out loud some funny quotes, making the scenes come alive in my memory again. The fight between the two boys threatening with their fake big brothers, followed by the famous selling of the honour to take over Tom's Saturday chore -the fence white washing, and so on, and so on. All that humorous content is being quoted in a voice broken by giggles. Her favourite new expression is "the terms of the next disagreement agreed upon", as used in the context of the deadly serious war games that Tom Sawyer engages in.

She's completely mesmerised, and she hasn't even got to the scary parts yet, or to the budding love affair.

There is magic in a children's classic that can make mothers and daughters laugh together at the silliness of naughty boys, and at the fact that very little has changed in the dynamics of childhood friendships, despite the time that has passed since the novel was written.

It has just the right mix of exotic, historical appeal and universal human behaviour to make a perfect introduction into world literature.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and spring in every step. The locus trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation, and it lay just far enough away to see a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting. Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank…”
- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of the most beloved novels in American history. Mark Twain’s semiautobiographical tale of growing up in antebellum Missouri is filled with unforgettable characters, iconic scenes, and a keen sense of place. It’s one of those books that you can absorb almost by cultural osmosis. Even if you haven’t read it, you recognize it. That’s probably the reason it took me so long to finally pick it up. I figured I already knew it. This tends to happen when you visit Hannibal at a young age, and your parents make you pretend to paint a picket fence while wearing a straw hat with a dozen other people wait to take a turn.

Having finally gotten around to it, I can confidently put The Adventures of Tom Sawyer into the category of classics that deserve the description. I really liked it, from first page to last.

Despite its enduring stature, however, I was struck by the smallness of the novel’s scale. There is a lot going on, and at times, the stakes are nothing less than life or death. But this is not a weighty meditation on the universal themes of life. It does not contain profound observations or indelible insights. In short, it does not feel like the stuff of which masterpieces are made. Instead, it’s a book about children intended for children. Nevertheless, it has stood time’s test.

***

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an episodic novel, so that it defies any meaningful plot summary. Suffice to say, it involves the whitewashing of a fence, the wooing of a girl, a murder in a graveyard, a surprising funeral, and some time spent in a cave. This is all probably ringing a bell with you, so I’ll spare you any further recitation.

Unlike its more grownup sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is told in the third person, allowing Twain to provide differing perspectives and a few omniscient interjections. For the most part, though, we stick close to Tom, a burgeoning delinquent with a Walter Mitty-like penchant for flights of fancy. Tom drives things forward with his penchant for getting himself into and out of trouble.

As far as characters go, Tom Sawyer is deceptively simple. He is a truant, but smart; good-hearted, but also something of an asshole. Typically, he does the right thing, but it sometimes takes him a while to get around to it. More than anything, he is a fantasist, a boy whose imagination knows no boundaries, and who finds himself in the unexpected position of having some of those imaginings come true.

***

Perhaps the most striking thing about The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the particularity of its setting. Tom and friends live in the fictional riverside village of St. Petersburg, famously modeled after Twain’s Hannibal. This basis in lived experiences shines through in the traditions and beliefs of its residents; in the idiomatic expressions and patterns of speech; and in the fine details of geography, especially the woods, the caves, and the mighty Mississippi, upon which float steamboats firing cannon in the hope of bringing drowned bodies to the surface. Twain really captures the place, so much so that you can almost feel the oppressive Missouri humidity clamped over your face.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is also genuinely funny. Tom’s ability to psychologically manipulate his companions is a running gag, as are the boys’ ornate superstitions and rituals. Twain may have died 115 years ago, but his writing feels incredibly modern.

***

Published in 1876, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer takes places at some undefined point before the American Civil War. This is a world in which slavery is legal. More than that, it is a world in which slavery is so ingrained in daily life that it is barely mentioned. Owning humans is simply part of the background.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer does not deal with the implications of slavery, either directly or obliquely. It is mentioned in passing, but nothing more, something that is unnoticed by the characters. Given the nature of the proceedings, I can accept this. After all, this is meant as a boyhood romp, not an exploration of America’s original sin. Still, it is hard to ignore this malign institution lurking at the corners of all the charm, humor, and hijinks.

While on this topic, it is worth mentioning that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer does employ the N-word, though far less than in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This is an accurate reflection of how people spoke in nineteenth century Missouri, a demonstration of the era’s reflexive, unexamined racism. It is unpleasant, and jarring, but unfortunately not untrue. Sadly, many people still speak this way in the twenty-first century, long after all excuses have run out.

***

When I pick up great literature, I’m often expecting something big. A big page count. A big subject. Great scope and penetrating depth. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer does not fit those descriptions. This is a low-key hang.

For all the excitement that brims in these pages, my favorite section involved Tom, Huck, and Joe Harper just hanging out on Jackson’s Island. They fish and swim and pretend to be pirates. Tom and Joe learn to smoke, with variable success. This extended interlude truly captures the fleeting perfection of childhood, when everything is up ahead and everything is possible, but all that is for another time, because you’ve found absolute contentment just lying next to a river in the sun.

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adventures of Tom Sawyer is laugh out loud hilarious!

My favorite scene is when Tom shares his medicine with Peter the Cat, and the cat knocks over everything in the room. When his Aunt asks him about what happened, he says oh that’s just how cats are.

My second favorite scene is when Tom blurts out the first two disciples.

This book induces feelings of nostalgia, back to simpler times, filled with innocence, when children are filled with self-confidence. They haven’t yet become self-conscious, don’t care how they look, and bravely take on challenges.

Adventures of Tom Sawyer oozes with vitality – to the extent that the reader can almost envision these characters.

Suddenly the minister shouted at the top of this voice: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow—SING! —and put your hearts in it!”

Tip: Consider a copy with illustrations. Published in 1876, the illustrator did not cut any corners. These illustrations are stunning! When they say, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” this is it. Right here.

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – A First Edition Library copy from a set of 19 FEL books that I bought for $500 at an estate sale.
Audiobook – Free through Audible

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[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well though--and loathed him."

"No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government.
Always hopeful, yet discontent
He knows changes aren’t permanent –
But change is"



Well, what is there to say about this one? It's one of those novels that is so prominent in pop culture that even if you have not read it you likely know scenes from it (Tom convincing others to paint a fence has been recreated and parodied how many times?). It’s a book that modern readers know going into it pretty much exactly what they're getting. As such I was very unsurprised that I liked it.

More surprising is that I actually hadn't read it already. I knew many people who were assigned this in classes and indeed I was assigned a Twain novel back in Highschool… but it was Huckleberry Finn, not this one (which was actually one of three novels I remember actually really liking of my assigned reading).

Now I must say, there is something about this one I did not expect. Many reviewers who read this later in life say that they wished they would have read it when they were a kid as they think they would have liked it more. I will be the voice against this. While the book was obviously intended for a younger audience and indeed can be read by them with possible great delight, I'm glad I read it in my thirties rather than pre-teen years. Why? Because Mark Twain is a cynical curmudgeon and I would not have appreciated that anywhere near as much in my younger days. The best parts of this book are not Tom and Huck's antics, they are the scenes where Twain just describes things in his conversational smartass way.

Some of my favorite examples:

"The congregation being fully assembled, now, the bell rang once more, to warn laggards and stragglers, and then a solemn hush fell upon the church which was only broken by the tittering and whispering of the choir in the gallery. The choir always tittered and whispered all through service. There was once a church choir that was not ill-bred, but I have forgotten where it was, now. It was a great many years ago, and I can scarcely remember anything about it, but I think it was in some foreign country."

Or take for example another great moment after Tom recovers from the measles:

"During two long weeks Tom lay a prisoner, dead to the world and its happenings. He was very ill, he was interested in nothing. When he got upon his feet at last and moved feebly downtown, a melancholy change had come over everything and every creature. There had been a “revival,” and everybody had “got religion,” not only the adults, but even the boys and girls. Tom went about, hoping against hope for the sight of one blessed sinful face, but disappointment crossed him everywhere. He found Joe Harper studying a Testament, and turned sadly away from the depressing spectacle. He sought Ben Rogers, and found him visiting the poor with a basket of tracts. He hunted up Jim Hollis, who called his attention to the precious blessing of his late measles as a warning. Every boy he encountered added another ton to his depression; and when, in desperation, he flew for refuge at last to the bosom of Huckleberry Finn and was received with a Scriptural quotation, his heart broke and he crept home and to bed realizing that he alone of all the town was lost, forever and forever."

There's such a cynical and sarcastic nature that Twain, not any of his quirky side characters of leads, is the most entertaining character of the book. Would I have appreciated this commentary as a kid? Maybe some of it, but nowhere near as much as I appreciate it now.

Overall this was a fun little classic to spend some time with. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it, and am looking forward to reading more Twain with my own cynical eyes. 4/5 stars

[Always Pouting · Rating 3 out of 5]

My coworker and my boyfriend made fun of me when I was reading this because apparently it's written for children and they both read it when younger. I have nothing to say in my defense, I didn't know I don't know most things if that isn't obvious by now. On a related note I probably would have enjoyed this more when younger. It wasn't bad, it was okay but I wasn't really itching to keep reading it and didn't have that usual urge that I get when reading a really enjoyable book to give up even going to the bathroom in favor of continuing to read. I did really enjoy at the end though when Huck runs away and then Tom finds him and Huck talks about how he's just not cut out for being rich and polite society like same Huck. Tom tricking people into painting the fence for him was also A+. Anyway now I can pretend to be somewhat cultured since I finally read some Mark Twain which is what clearly matters the most here.

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, the Show Me State showed me.

Showed me how you do it. How you write stories so colorfully and so well-crafted, you could almost cry from reading them.

Paulette Jiles took me all over the state of Missouri this week, in her 2002 publication of Enemy Women, a historical fiction novel that takes place in 1864, and then Mark Twain took my daughters and me to St. Petersburg, Missouri, to the real world of 1876.

And what's in that world of 1876 Missouri?

Well. . . riverboats, wagons, poor white boys, overprotective aunts, pretty girls, adventures in caves. . . and talk of orgies, knives, guns, pipe smoking, and a frequent use of the “N” word.

As the narrator of this novel to my daughters, these qualities necessitated an immediate discussion at the start of the book. We needed to talk about this, before we went any further in this read.

Here's the deal: I don't use the “N” word, and I don't hang out with people who do.

I made my boundary clear right as we started. I am clever enough to read ahead and say what needs to be said without making myself uncomfortable by using language that twists my intestines.

However, I made something else clear to my girls: just because an author depicts their characters authentically does not make them a racist, nor does it make the book racist.

My children have a writer for a mother. They know more than they want to know about the writing process, and they've also watched their mother eavesdrop on more than her fair share of conversations. They know by now how obsessed I am with authentic dialogue. I can't stand any writer sugar-coating or contriving what they hear.

But, as a mother, would I have enjoyed either of my girls reading the “N” word, over and over again, in this book?

No.

As the narrator and the mom, I chose to leave out all references to the “N” word, skip over the boys' curiosity about “orgies” and leave out about half of the talk about smoking.

And focus on the good.

The best parts for me: watching my daughters laugh at what a drama queen Tom Sawyer is, and being reminded of how many “death scenes” Tom conjures up in his mind, so he may convince himself that he's a good person, when he visualizes how many people will mourn him! I loved watching my girls cover up their faces in disgust when Tom, Huck and Joe stripped down to their birthday suits on the island, doing handstands and sword fights and whatnot. I couldn't help but be reminded of Out Stealing Horses. My middle child mumbled, from behind the hands covering her face, “boys are so repulsive.”

Yes, this is a boy's world for sure. These barefooted boys with the ringworm on their scalps and rings of dirt around their necks are a bunch of river rats.

But I must give Mr. Twain the credit he deserves here, for bringing these authentic characters to life, though I do understand the difficulty we face reading some of these classics. They are snapshots of how people behaved (how some people still behave), and sometimes those are painful reminders.

[Justin Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite knowing this story front-and-back, it was nice to finally read the unabridged words of one of America's finest storytellers. The scene with Tom lost in the cave is notably incredible, but Twain's folksy prose is a delight throughout. I'm not as familiar with the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Can't wait to start that one soon!

[Ahmad Ebaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

عن مغامرات الطفل الشقي توم سوير وأصدقاءه
The adventures of naughty little boy, Tom Sawyer and his friends.
You won't believe it wrote 150 years ago,
as Mark Twain's procedure is simple and fluid.
He do not show off with language techniques or dictionary's vocabulary.
just adventures and events, no silly metaphors
an enjoyable novel that i have read at one session
On starting reading "Huckleberry Finn", I knew that it was the second part of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", so I went back to the first part, since I have a spare time

لن تصدق أن هذه الرواية كتبت قبل 150 عام تقريباً
فأسلوب مارك توين سهل سلس
ولا يستخدم تلك الأساليب اللغوية التي تقوم على الاستعراض بمدى إلمام الكاتب بمفردات القاموس
مغامرات وأحداث، لا استعراض للتشبيهات اللفظية،
رواية مسلية جدا، أنا قرأتها في قعده واحدة تقريباً.

عندما بدأت في قراءة مغامرات هاكلبري فين علمت أنها إنما كانت تعد الجزء الثاني لمغامرات توم سوير، فاستحسنت أن أبدأ بقراءة الجزء الأول مادام لدي المتسع من الوقت.



وهذه هي آخر كلمات الجزء الأول قبل أن يخطر له كتابة جزء تاني عن صديق بطل الجزء الأول، فلم يعط الجزء الأول نهاية لعله يلقانا ثانية:

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of the first literary classics I read. Mark Twain will make us laugh and think with this novel's satire, comedy, and folk narrative.

The story of Thomas Sawyer, Aunt Polly, Sid, cousin Mary, and his friend Huckleberry Finn will be one of the first adventure books that most of us must have read. We all might have had a friend like Tom Sawyer in our childhood, who was very irritating but will make us smile when we think of our childhood memories with them.

I remember carrying a copy of this book wherever I went when I was young. Despite this, it took a long time for me to finish reading this book. It is because I preferred to read this book only when I was feeling stressed. This is one of the few books that was a real stress buster for me and prevented me from burning out at a younger age.

This is one of the best classics that we can give the younger generation to read.

[Debbie W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I chose to listen to this audiobook:
1. I've owned a book titled Companion Library: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / The Adventures of Tom Sawyer for several years but never got around to reading it until now. I decided to "split up" these stories by listening to separate audiobooks;
2. this is available as a free loan through Libby; and,
3. February 2024 is my "Classics" Month.

Praises:
1. it warmed my heart to hear of 12-year-old Tom and his friends' various adventures and hijnx as they whitewash a fence, flounder through Sunday school lessons, form schoolyard crushes, run away to become pirates, and even hunt for buried treasure. Creeping around graveyards in the middle of the night and getting lost in a cave are part and parcel of this boy's life. These kids sure knew how to have fun, long before "screen-time" ruined creative play;
2. Tom is quite the emotional young fellow as he hilariously envisions dramatic pinings and death scenes; and,
3. narrator William Dufris skillfully creates distinct voices and seamlessly invokes dialogue true to the written word.

Niggles:
1. this may not seem like an issue when reading the print copy, but the frequent use of the phrase "by and by" started sticking in my craw every time I would hear it; and,
2. the reading of the female students' eloquence compositions during examinations were too long and had NOTHING pertinent to do with Tom or any other character!

Overall Thoughts:
I can't believe I've never read this story before!
At times reminding me of Anne of Green Gables, I adored Tom's characterization. Although clever, adventurous, and mischievous, he radiates an innocence that is quite endearing.
Like many readers, I too would cringe whenever I heard the "n" word; however, as this was published in 1876, author Samuel Clemens as Mark Twain's writing style feels historically accurate and reflects the times.
I highly recommend listening to the audiobook! Truly, a classic that I thoroughly enjoyed!

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

My all-time favorite work of fiction. I usually read this every summer.

As a fourth grader I read this book and took it very seriously. It was my dream to build a raft and go adventuring. Actually I did build the raft, but there was not enough water in the creek.

My other great ambition was to come marching into my own funeral. I still think that would be fun.

When I read about Tom taking a licking for Becky Thatcher in school and sharing his cake with her in the cave, I thought that was incredibly chivalrous and how things ought to be. Because I read this book when I was young & before I understood much of the humor, I think it shaped the way I think in many ways.

As an adult, I have re-read this book several times and love its timeless humor. The descriptions of a little kid at church are totally relevant today. I have learned that this book is primarily a light-hearted book written about children, but for adults.

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mark Twain's world famous novel on the adventures of a boy, Tom Sawyer and his pals Huck Finn, Ben Harper and Becky Thatcher. The book is centred around To Sawyer indeed a representation of a wayward but typical youth of the day, who comes across almost has an anti-hero to my today reading sensibilities. One thing that this book really captures well is the 'alternate reality' that children create and live in, a feat that many writers before and since struggled to convey. They are plentiful racist terms, references, ideas etc around Native Americans and African Americans, but they were common ideologies and parlance of the day, and if anything, are a testament to how the word has evolved since. I still struggle to give this more than a Two Star, 4 out of 12, as ultimately the only reason to read and reread this is its literary historical context.

2023 and 2009 read

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

when i was in high school i used to carry beat-up used paperback classics around with me and read them every time i had a spare even 45 seconds.

it's a wonder i had any friends at all.

this book is good, though.

part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knows, he may grow up to be President someday, unless they hang him first!
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ~~~ Mark Twain



Selected by Kenny for August 2021 Big Book Read (In August I am reading the entire Tom & Huck Series as well as Life on the Mississippi & Huck Out West

Buddy read with Aesaan

Random thought: I love returning to Mark Twain’s Mississippi Universe. I grow to love it more with each repeated reading.

Another thought: Tom Sawyer is so different than Huck Finn. This requires a very different review.

A third thought: This must be my fourth reading of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It's fun revisiting childhood books.



Tom Sawyer ~~ like every boy of his time ~~ just wants to be free, adventurous, moral, and intelligent. Born in the heart of the South, in Missouri, Tom, an orphan, lives with his Aunt Polly and cousins. He loves to play hooky so he can go fishing.

His aunt ~~ bless her heart ~~ tries her best to tame him, dragging him to church and punishing his rebelliousness. But she never breaks the boy's spirit.

Mondays are the worst for Tom because a week of dull education looms before him. If Tom is late, like he is so often, he will undoubtedly be the recipient of the switch, laid gustily upon his back by the bore of a schoolmaster.

That is how we have been taught to think of Tom, but there is so much more to him.

Mark Twain is a master at weaving words with wit. Here, Twain tells the story of the young Tom Sawyer. Throughout The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, you will sense the moral, psychological and intellectual growth of Tom, Huck and Joe. A beautifully written story, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer presents the past in such a way that readers will personally identify with Tom. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer speaks of life on the Mississippi River where Twain himself spent his youth.



The genius of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is to have the reader on Tom's side all the way through. Despite the third-person narration, the reader is drawn into the small real world and larger imagined worlds of a boy in a town on the Mississippi River in the mid-1800s. It's as though we are recalling our own wayward childhoods when the world seemed huge and full of potential adventures, full of possible lives we could live, regardless of whether we grew up in a world remotely like that of Tom's life.

We laugh when Tom lures his friends into running away to an island to become pirates, steal food and plan bloody raids ~~ we could imagine ourselves at least wishing we could do something like that when we were kids. We squirm a bit when the boys realize their loved ones thinks they have drowned ~~ remember thinking they'll regret it when I'm gone. We cheer at their staged reappearance at their own funerals ~~ I'll show them! And then we melt when Tom's Aunt Polly, who raises him, convinces herself the boy means well and loves her.

There is also plenty of death in the novel ~~ when you count the bodies that pop up among the boy's adventures. One serious overarching plot tangled up with the episodes in this very episodic novel involve a violent gang whose leader has it in for Tom. The boys' games have a way of spoiling Injun Joe's criminal endeavors ~~ their cemetery plays leads them to witness a murder. Or when their comical efforts to find buried treasure brings them to uncovering the gang's actual stash.

This merger of playacting and real-life drama throughout Tom Sawyer lets Twain make fun of the fantastic adventure stories of his time while still deriving the entertainment value of those stories. Tom and Huck actually win great riches at the end of the novel, just as in any potboiler of Twain's day.



In the early pages, Joe Harper is set up as the Tom's best friend, though he has little personality beyond a proclivity for going along with whatever Tom suggests. Huck though adds something interesting as he develops in the course of the book from a loose member of Tom's group to his bosom buddy. The barefooted boy is basically growing up alone, impoverished, an outsider to the town's decent folk. But he's got a heart as big as Tom's, if less calculating. And his honest responses can give vent to Twain's disdain ~~ without cleverness or meanness ~~ for the norms of upright ~~ or is it uptight ~~ society.

In the last chapter Huckleberry has become the most intriguing character of the novel, the moral center of this world. It's Huck who, with his discomfort at being pressed into civilized living, undercuts the too neatly wrapped up happy ending. It's no wonder Twain wants his voice for their next three adventures.



The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an unforgettable read. Tom and Huck squirm right into a person’s imagination and heart. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer shows the joy of childhood as well as the acceptance of change. But most of all it reveals that we all have a little Tom Sawyer in us.

[Sean Barrs · Rating 2 out of 5]

How many people get to crash their funeral?

Is it sort of weird that I want to do this? I mean it would be such a fun surprise for people or bad depending on what they thought of you. Imagine going to the funeral of your sworn enemy and then he bursts through the door, you’d be so disappointed or as equally amazed if you just buried your best friend and he turns up to say hi.

It something to ponder at least, other than that this book is pretty shit. I mean the narrative structure is a mess, the dialogue is appalling (please note I said dialogue, and not dialect,) and the characters are pretty flat. This book really isn’t all that. The plot is very up and down; it doesn’t flow like a well-structured novel should. It’s like Twain ran out of steam at certain points and had to push in some awkwardly clunky event to get the plot moving again. It didn’t feel like a natural course of events. And this brings be back to the dialogue. Tom’s aunty, I forget her name, had some real terrible sections that were so packed full of pointlessness. It was dull, so very dull. I really didn’t get a lot out of it.

Tom Sawyer, so called bad-boy of American literary culture, your story was disappointing.

[Blaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.

Even if you’ve never actually read this book, it’s influence is so vast that you are almost certainly familiar with the character of Tom Sawyer on some level. His ploy to entice his friends to help him whitewash his Aunt Polly’s fence is one of the most famous scenes in all of literature. Remember when Ferris Bueller explained how to fake being sick so he could stay home from school? Ripped off from this book. Remember in A Christmas Story when Ralphie gets his mouth washed out with soap and he imagines going blind and his parents never forgiving themselves for punishing him? Inspired by a scene in this novel.

While there is a loose plot, the book is more a series of vignettes. There’s taunting and scuffles between boys. Little brothers who tattle. Playing and trying above all to avoid work. Puppy love. Crazy superstitions and rituals and blood oaths. Pretending to be robbers and pirates and searching for buried treasure. There are even caves and funerals and a murder trial. Was life ever truly like what’s presented in these pages? It reads now like a boyish fantasy about living as a rebellious 12-year old boy. Indeed, these boys’ ideal form is shown in the description given of Tom’s best friend, Huckleberry Finn:

Huckleberry came and went, at his own free will. He slept on doorsteps in fine weather and in empty hogsheads in wet; he did not have to go to school or to church, or call any being master or obey anybody; he could go fishing or swimming when and where he chose, and stay as long as it suited him; nobody forbade him to fight; he could sit up as late as he pleased; he was always the first boy that went barefoot in the spring and the last to resume leather in the fall; he never had to wash, nor put on clean clothes; he could swear wonderfully. In a word, everything that goes to make life precious that boy had. So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg.

Tom Sawyer’s presentation in this novel is the triumph and glorification of street smarts and guile over book smarts and hard work. He usually deserves a much greater punishment than he receives. He skates through life on charm and optimism and a bit of luck. He’s like a penny that always lands on heads. And yet, you can’t help but root for him. He has a genuinely good heart, protects his friends, and even risks his life to do the right thing. Tom Sawyer is a uniquely American literary character; I can’t imagine another culture presenting such a flawed character so charmingly and heroically.

If you’re looking to be transported to simpler times, or long for the simplicity of youth, you can’t go wrong with this book. It’s a classic for a reason. Recommended.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can you say about Tom Sawyer? Classic Mark Twain! I think a lot of people already know many parts of this story – whether it is from reading the book, watching old Disney movies, pop culture references, etc. Raise your hand if you think of Tom Sawyer every time you see a white fence?

I enjoy Mark Twain’s downhome storytelling. When you read this is it not hard to imagine that you are sitting next to the fireplace or around a campfire (a fire of some sort!) while your Grandpa tells you tales that might be true or might be tall. It’s like a warm bowl of stew or chicken soup in book from. It just warms the soul!

I enjoyed the audiobook of this as narrated by Nick Offerman. I am pretty sure that Nick Offerman was born to narrate Mark Twain books. I noticed that there are several other Twain books narrated by him and I will definitely be checking those out!

And, now for the mandatory “Times – they were a different” disclaimer. The content of this story is based in the late 1800s. Things were different back then and that comes through in the writing. Doesn’t make it right, but it is just how they were. In this case, I feel like they are generally minor compared to other books from Twain and the era, but it is worth noting going in if you are bothered by culturally insensitive language and stereotypes.

Now, with that out of the way . . .

If you need a nice, easy to read book to curl up with on a cool fall day and you want to check another classic off your list, you cannot go wrong with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

[Matthew Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

82nd book of 2020.

This is a great story that took me, particularly their time on the island as ‘pirates’, back to my days in the Sea Scouts. Every year, save a few where we went elsewhere, we camped in Marlowe, right on the bank of the river Thames. We slept in tents, went sailing on calm river mornings, looked at the mansions that flanked the water and dreamt up imaginary lives for ourselves, living in them with beautiful wives, long shadows from the trees lay across the still water, we had campfires, we lined each other’s tents with alcohol gel and set it alight for a ring of fire, we tied each other to trees, we played takedown bulldog, we used rope to heave one another’s kayak up a tree, we pushed each other in the lake, we got bored washing up and slapped each other with soapy hands, we ate jam on bread all day, we swam in the freezing cold water, we whipped each other with towels, we wrestled, we shouted, we punched and kicked, we helped one another when someone capsized their boat, we told ghost stories, we played manhunt at night, we lay on our backs and looked at the blue skies, we took each other’s washing off the line and threw it in the river or up on branches, we got homesick, too, we comforted each other, we cried sometimes, we missed our parents, but we also had ultimate freedom for a week, we could swear, we could stay up late, we could spit in the water, we could lick our plates, we could eat breakfast with our feet in the water, we could sunbathe with no homework, we could, above all, relish in the fact that we were all young and free, and happy.

I’m surprised to see so many poor reviews of this. A lecturer of mine once said, “People don’t like Tom Sawyer because it isn’t Huckleberry Finn,” and that may be so. I’ve seen people say it’s written for children, but the issue is this: it is complicated or boring for children, and not interesting enough for adults. I don’t know about the former, but I disagree with the latter.

And in fact, there is one paragraph that perfectly matches an observation I myself have had, and I myself have even written about. I realised that no matter what boisterous boy behaviour occurred on camp, there were times that nature prevailed over us. I won’t describe every memory, but several stand out, to illustrate my point, and then Twain’s observation too. At times, normally on the water, we were quiet. The river had the power, where all adults failed, to subdue us. Even the most wild Scouts were still, melancholic even, under the river’s trance. The same happened at night sometimes, in woods, where the trees that stood around us lulled us to thoughtfulness. I have profound (I believe them to be very profound moments in my life) of looking at boys in these moments. One friend, who particularly enjoyed hitting us, and I once took a sailing boat out one morning, a little one. I lay on the front of the boat on my back and he sailed. The whole time I wondered when he was going to hit me, or else tip me off the boat, but he didn’t. And when I glanced over my shoulder, I caught him staring intently, sadly, at the water rippling and parting under the boat, lost in some deep and personal thought. For me, it was like I had seen a whole new side to his character, a whole deeper understanding of him. After that, we became very close friends, we still talk, infrequently, today. So, it swelled my heart, and moved me, to read these few lines from Twain:

The stillness, the solemnity, that brooded in the woods, and the sense of loneliness, began to tell upon the spirits of the boys. They fell to thinking. A sort of undefined longing crept upon them. This took dim shape presently – it was budding home-sickness.

And apart from this beautiful moment in the book, the rest is enjoyable and humorous – Tom, Huckleberry and Joe have a great adventure together, being pirates, gate-crashing their own funeral and playing Robin Hood. These entertaining moments do not distract from the melancholic ones though, the stillness of the boys and their inevitable climb towards adulthood, like us, never to return again to those years of childhood wonder and freedom, like how I will never again experience being twelve years old on camp again, which saddens me.

[Fabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been a while since Huck Finn, & I finally got around to reading this, a certain preparation text for the Mississippi River classic. This one is considered far inferior, & it is. Although, I must admit, the opening is stronger and the adventures are more varied. There is substantially more comedy in this, more of a dabbling with the picaresque—far more enjoyable then. But Huckleberry Finn has a more pervasive pathos than this one: overall, a stronger sense of the loneliness experienced one lazy Sunday afternoon in the deep gone-now South...

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review
4+ out of 5 stars for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a classic novel written in 1876 by Mark Twain. Another book where there are likely tons of reviews, each covering the plot, summary, characters, writing and themes. I'll try not to do that, but instead a few quick hits on what made me like this one so much. An author's job is difficult. You undoubtedly have hundreds of ideas and images swimming around inside your head. You may want to try to correct a wrong in society. You could be highlighting all the things that people should be aware of. It might be an opportunity to share a dream or wild imagination with readers. Mark Twain is all of those things tied together with a big, beautiful bow. He understands how to write. He knows how people read. He doesn't care about either enough to worry what he does in his novels. And I don't mean that in a critical or accusatory way. I mean that it all just pours out of him regardless of his audience, as he just naturally builds a wonderful story full of memories. With a setting like the Mississippi River, characters like Tom and Huck, messages like "how do you grow up to be a good man" threaded throughout the story, it couldn't possibly fail. I'm not even covering the themes around slavery and freedom, men and women, skin color, age, relationships... it's purely a theory on how to live your life so that you know what to expect, when to expect it and how to react. So much more I could say... but the best I could leave you with is... this is the kinda book everyone needs to read as we will all take something very different from it. Sometimes we will be angry that Twain didn't do enough, considering how brilliant he was, to help support the causes going on at the time he wrote this. Others praise him for shining a light on what was happening. It's controversial, diverse and thought-provoking. That's why to read it -- to engage in a discourse where you can feel free to share your opinion and understand every else's feelings, too.

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.

[Paul Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tribute to the charm and adventure of boyhood!

Little wonder that Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, Aunt Polly and Injun Joe have been elevated to the status of icons of American literature and culture.

Who among us, as playful children, did not scramble over a fallen down tree pretending to be swashbuckling captains of an English privateer scanning the Spanish Main for easy pirate loot? Who among us does not recall the first embarrassing onset of puppy love for a young girl in our class and the steadfast internal decision to not let our young male friends know about any such foolish feelings? Who among us does not recall playing hookey for a day, laying in a sunlit field staring at the moving clouds with a blade of grass between our teeth? Who among us does not recall running away from the yoke of parental supervision and realizing, probably within the hour, how lonely and frightened we really were? Who among us does not recall swearing blood oaths of eternal friendship with our closest mates and swearing to keep secrets even under pain of the direst torture? Who among us cannot recall the trepidation and almost overwhelming fear of overhearing an adult conversation to which we were not supposed to be privy? Who among us does not recall ever escalating games of "dare ya!" and "double dare ya!"?

While we all can recall, in some distant sadly fogged fashion what we experienced when we were children, only a master wordsmith such as Mark Twain could place us right back inside the mind of a young boy and so brilliantly re-create the charm and delight that was boyhood in frontier North America! No ... never mind that! THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER was set in frontier North America but there are some things that are timeless and universal. The experience of boyhood is one of them.

If, like me, you are one of those deprived, unfortunate few who somehow went through school without experiencing the joys of THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, I cannot suggest strongly enough that you rectify that oversight at the earliest possible moment. Highly recommended. If you only read it as a child yourself, you owe it to yourself as an adult to re-read it and experience the joy again from an entirely different perspective.

Paul Weiss

[Francesc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clásico de la literatura norteamericana de aventuras.
Tenía curiosidad por saber cosas sobre el amigo Tom Sawyer.
Interesante, aunque, a ratos, se me hizo bastante pesado.

Classic of American adventure literature.
I was curious to know about my friend Tom Sawyer.
Interesting, though, at times, I found it quite heavy.

[Em Lost In Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* a good, funny story.

[J.L. Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred”



It was interesting to revisit what amounts to a collection of childhood adventures in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Amusing and episodic, they almost effortlessly transport the reader to another time and place, and, probably without any intention from Mark Twain, prepare the reader for his more important achievement, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck was clearly the most interesting character in Tom's story, and I thought a lot about Huck's later exploits as I read this. Through Tom's eyes, the world is almost idealized; it will be through Huck's perspective that we are able to challenge assumptions about race and the structure of the world.

“Huckleberry came and went, at his own free will. He slept on doorsteps in fine weather and in empty hogsheads in wet; he did not have to go to school or to church, or call any being master or obey anybody