The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jun 13, 2017 Maggie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, adventure, to-reread, fiction, humour, guardian-1000, coming-of-age, usa

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Written “mainly for the entertainment of boys an girls”, and 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”, Tom Sawyer tells of the titular character, a mischievous and vexatious but nevertheless good-hearted boy and his antics. In between playing pirates and playing truant with his friends Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn, throwing dirt at his brother Sid, playing pranks on his Au Written “mainly for the entertainment of boys an girls”, and 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”, Tom Sawyer tells of the titular character, a mischievous and vexatious but nevertheless good-hearted boy and his antics. In between playing pirates and playing truant with his friends Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn, throwing dirt at his brother Sid, playing pranks on his Aunt Polly and escaping punishments, and “courting” Becky Thatcher, he and his friends manage to be attendants at their own funerals, witness a murder, and find hidden gold.

All of us have known Tom Sawyers. He is the caricature of a naughty little boy, cheeky and mischievous, wanting nothing better than to play and have fun. He and his friends pretend to be a bad lot – they talk about being pirates and robbers, and dream of stealing and killing. Yet their “badness” has a quality of innocence about it. A lot of it stems from pride – they don’t actually want to kill and steal, they just want to show off and be well-known and envied. They know where the line is drawn, and what is most redeeming is that the line is drawn not by rules and punishments, as their parents and guardians believe, but by love – it is okay to run away from home for days, but it is not okay to run away from home if it makes your Aunt cry. When Tom does step across the line, as he often does unintentionally, he makes efforts to toe it more carefully the next time. And despite his disdain for church and prayer, he does believe in God, and trembles at the thought of dying when he thinks about how bad he has been.

Drawn from real people, the characters in this book are very real and believable, even if their stories and circumstances are incredible. Tom, a composite of three boys that Mark Twain knew, has remarkably real thoughts. For instance, he has melodramatic hopes of dying so that Becky would cry over his body, yet he wishes that “he could only die temporarily!” How many of us, influenced by books and movies, have had similar thoughts, especially in our youth? And how many of us would, like Tom, never admit these thoughts, knowing their folly?

If I had a kid, I would be happy if he was like Tom Sawyer. Sure, he would probably give his parents lots of misery, but Tom’s relationship for Aunt Polly is touching, and despite the fact that he probably gets poor grades in school, he’s street-smart, ambitious and a great motivator of his friends. When Huck Finn declines respectability for living in rags on the street, Tom knows enough to encourage him to attempt again a respectable life by telling him that he wouldn’t be allowed in Tom’s gang otherwise. In his own charming way, he’s caring and intelligent.

The book often made me laugh out loud, even in the train. Mark Twain’s humour is sometimes satirical, sometimes ironical, and sometimes dry, and it’s always spot on. ...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Judi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, revisiting, historical-fiction

After revisiting this classic I still go with an enthusiastic five stars. It holds up well and reinforces my opinion that Mark Twain ranks with the best writers of all time. His writing always makes me laugh. Tom Sawyer is no exception. I love his ever persistent mockery of pretense in all of his material.

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Apr 22, 2016 Trish rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, zsrc-2016-1-spring, classics-pre-c20

Definitely a boys' book. Bits of it are exciting. Other bits less so. And if I'd ever read this before (which I really don't remember), I'd forgotten just how pitiful Amy and Becky are portrayed as being. ...more

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