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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

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What Members Thought

Sep 09, 2017 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: kids, humor, classics, free, audible-us, philo-psychol, 2017-read

What is it that makes this book special to me?

This is my second read; I enjoyed it very much as a 10-year-old and still very much now. It is a book for all ages. I am referring to both the age of the reader and the age in which they are living. Published in 1876, it was written 141 years ago and it is till enjoyable to read. Now that is a classic and what being a classic is all about.

I couldn't possibly have understood many of the satirical swipes Twain passes at religion, government, etiquett What is it that makes this book special to me?

This is my second read; I enjoyed it very much as a 10-year-old and still very much now. It is a book for all ages. I am referring to both the age of the reader and the age in which they are living. Published in 1876, it was written 141 years ago and it is till enjoyable to read. Now that is a classic and what being a classic is all about.

I couldn't possibly have understood many of the satirical swipes Twain passes at religion, government, etiquette and human behavior. Humor on many different levels. Kids will see humor in one line, adults in another, but we are all going to laugh at something.

Twain captures childhood, both the lure of adventure, discovery and freedom as well as the restraints of parents’ rules and school and church and even their friends. We are there in Tom’s world with his buddies – as pirates, alone on an island, discovering treasure, catching bandits and even at one’s own funeral. There is a bit of Peter Pan here; the book is a celebration of what childhood holds.

Not just boys will appreciate this; isn’t there a bit of tomboy in all girls too? Who says adventure only appeals to boys? There is plenty on friendship here too. There is a sweetness and a tear drop in the eye when loved ones worry. All of this is part of childhood, for many of us, and it is fun to remember. Twain helps adults remember and kids dream.

Tom and his friends are constantly up to mischief. Or we could say they are living their child’s life to the full. They curse and they smoke and they play hooky. Can you give a book such as this to a child? Of course you can. It is a parent’s duty to give guidance. Books for kids shouldn’t be there just to teach proper behavior; they are also to let their imagination take wing. And by the way, why do you read books of adultery and crime and suspense? When I read this as a ten-year-old I certainly understood when Tom and his friends were crossing the border between right and wrong. The intelligence of kids should not be demeaned. A word or two from a parent is of course not wrong. More on this subject below.

I highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Grover Gardner. The performance is totally, totally fantastic. Twain’s dialogs are priceless, and Gardner delivers them with a flair. Five stars for the narration.

OK, I guess I better add this. The word nigger was part of the language of that era and that place and it is used here. Twain is basing the book on his own childhood experiences growing up in Hannibal, Missouri. Remember, as I stated above, parents are there to guide. Why have kids if you’re not interested in raising them?! ...more

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May 15, 2019 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it liked it

Shelves: adventure, childrens, read-in-2022, read-in-2019, american-lit, classics, 60-before-60

Although I have been familiar with the storyline of this classic I have never read it. Two years ago I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for the first time and was enchanted. This one I enjoyed, but not nearly as much as Huck Finn.

Tom Sawyer was published in 1876 and set in the 1840s. The era is vividly seen as the language is so different than the English we speak today. The games the children play, the chores they do, the way the adults speak to - and about - the children, are all so dis Although I have been familiar with the storyline of this classic I have never read it. Two years ago I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for the first time and was enchanted. This one I enjoyed, but not nearly as much as Huck Finn.

Tom Sawyer was published in 1876 and set in the 1840s. The era is vividly seen as the language is so different than the English we speak today. The games the children play, the chores they do, the way the adults speak to - and about - the children, are all so distinctive. And yet the kids are silly, precocious, and sassy in the same ways of today's children. The book is accessible and fun to read. I love the way he described Huck in one quick, beautiful sentence. The reader immediately knows that this friendship will lead to trouble.

"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."

Mark Twain shows his wit throughout both books, and in this one I most enjoyed the little snippets where the narrator breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience. In those moments I picture Twain's face and see him speaking directly to me with a knowing grin. The last two lines are a perfect example as he tells me that there is more to the story, but he will probably write that later so he cannot tell me now! This made me smile and think that I may need to read Huck Finn again.

"When one writes a novel about grown people, he knows exactly where to stop – that is, with a marriage; but when he writes of juveniles, he must stop where he best can..."

One of the things I liked best in any book is when an author writes about a setting in a way that transports me to the time and place. In this book Twain did just that. I found myself in a beautiful, hot, summer on the Mississippi river. For example:

“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 a spring in every step. The locust-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 seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.”

The book can be read in a day. The chapters are short and this would be a great book to read to children -- but please go with the unabridged!

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Mar 14, 2008 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: banned-books, classics, children-ya

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the novel Tom Sawyer has several adventures, often with his friend, Huck. One such adventure, Tom's whitewashing of a fence, has been adapted into paintings and referenced in other pieces of popular culture. Originally a commercial failure the book ended ...more

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Jul 30, 2015 Douglas Beagley rated it really liked it

I really liked this. A lot. Huckleberry Finn was fine, I suppose. But Tom Sawyer was a feel-good comedic romp.

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Nov 11, 2015 Susannah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-to-audiobook, dws-literary-birthdays

I found The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to be very slight, and I'm still not certain if that's because I am not a member of Twain's core audience for this story, or if it's because I am not a member of Twain's core audience for this story AND it is, actually, slight. My takeaway was that I would have absolutely loved it if I were a 10-year-old boy reading it in 1962. ...more

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Jul 11, 2008 Pamela(AllHoney) rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, american-historical, children-fiction-young-adult, books-to-movies

I read this years ago when I was a child. It was entertaining, funny, adventurous and dramatic. So much in one book. There is no denying that Mr Sam Clemons aka Mark Twain had a talent for telling tales. His imagination was boundless.

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