From the Bookshelf of Reading List Completists…

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

Start date: July 1, 2017

Finish date: July 31, 2017

Discussion: Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Winner of Going on a Journey Poll - July 2017
[close] Winner of Going on a Journey Poll - July 2017

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What Members Thought

Feb 02, 2016 Brooklyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, great-books-groupreads-completist, cobble-hill-book-club, race-in-america

One of my top ten - retread recently and held up - also used a quote for my HS yearbook LOL

2025: 4th reread! Still a great book and one of my favs - though the last 30 pages or so when Tom Sawyer returns kinda ruin the previous great writing - sharp social commentary and brutality covered up by Hucks undependable narrative and humor. We read this in my book club because we plan on reading James and I cannot wait. The hard life of Jim and Huck came to my attention this time around - Hucks alcohol One of my top ten - retread recently and held up - also used a quote for my HS yearbook LOL

2025: 4th reread! Still a great book and one of my favs - though the last 30 pages or so when Tom Sawyer returns kinda ruin the previous great writing - sharp social commentary and brutality covered up by Hucks undependable narrative and humor. We read this in my book club because we plan on reading James and I cannot wait. The hard life of Jim and Huck came to my attention this time around - Hucks alcoholic abusive father - Jim being separated from his wife and children. Unlike Tom Sawyer this is not a children’s book though it seems that way sometimes. As Hemingway said - all American literature comes from Huckleberry Finn. The fight between society and its rules and the desire to drop out - peppered by social evils and inequalities.

2017: Just reread for a reading group - this is my third time reading. Still great - still holds up. Ernest Hemingway claimed American literature starts with and derives from Huckleberry Finn. It was supposedly first American novel in first person narrative. Tom Sawyer was all fun and games -- Huckleberry Finn has a more sobering agenda. It is a narrative of the past when Twain wrote it - and he took over 10 years to wrote - he came back to it years later before he finished it. The life he describes along the Mississippi no longer existed -- but it was a brutal life -- especially for Jim - the runaway slave in the middle of all the action - a man who has been separated from wife and children heartlessly by the slavery system of the day. Huck's bonding with a black slave in aiding him to freedom - is touching and a maturing experience for Huck. He know it is wrong to help Jim to freedom as technically it was a crime to help a runaway slave - but he decides to lead with his heart and do the "wrong" thing in helping Jim - by following his conscience. Tom Sawyer's character comes off as ignorant entitlement -- he wants to make Jim's escape and "adventure" (i.e., much harder than it need to be) all to entertain himself at Jim's expense. [SPOILER ALERT] When Tom is shot in the leg helping Jim escape - Jim comes out of hiding to help him and gets recaptured. Also it turns out Tom knew that Jim was already set free in Mrs Watson's will -- and so he was playing with a human being's freedom in order to entertain himself - how selfish can you be? Twain skewers most of the gentry of the age in their river towns and "sivilized" lives. Huck decides at the end - that he must run off again to escape being "sivilized" - he's been there before. ...more

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May 05, 2017 Ev rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I read this once in high school, and I am glad I read it again. If you can get past the factual portrayal of people's attitudes in the late 1800s and the elephant in the room (that one distinct word which seems to appear on almost every page) then you'll find yourself engrossed in a story told in the most humorous and intuitive manner.

It's hard to believe that this classic wasn't written all at once. The narrating is seamless and flowing as if Twain had never stopped in mid-script and returned t ...more

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Apr 28, 2014 RachelvlehcaR rated it really liked it

Shelves: satirical-novel, classics, young-adult, humor, literature, fiction, kindle, kindle-free, kindle-lendable, 04-series-to-read-or-read

I found this book really interesting. If anything the style of writing is what grabbed me. The language and slang used really made the characters come alive.

I really like Huck Finn. I find him a sweet boy that had to deal with a lot in his life. His harsh upbringing really shown the resilience that he has. I just felt so terrible for him. His father was just the worst and it made me think about life during that time, especially being born into one of the very low socioeconomically classes.

Jim i ...more

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Aug 10, 2017 Grace rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mccrum-s-100-greatest, 2017-reads

#23... Making progress on the McCrum list!
Within the class of "the list" it's getting 4 stars... Can't quite go the 5 star route though I loved the dialogue and the way that Twain could capture a character through his dialect and spoken observations.
An explanation of my star rating.
5= Truly cream of the crop. Amazing. In a wondrous realm of their own
4= Special and well written. Truly a good/maybe great book, but not a rare 5 star wonder.
3= Moments of brilliance, a pleasure to read. I'd recomme ...more

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