From the Bookshelf of EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club…

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

Start date: April 1, 2025

Finish date: April 30, 2025

Discussion: CLASSICS READS

Why we're reading this: April 2025 - Classics

[close] April 2025 - Classics

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 220 topics — 6,596 comments total

CLASSICS READS

The Martian Chronicles - SPOILER-FREE
By Renata · 9 posts · 68 views

last updated Oct 02, 2025 04:26PM

A Midsummer Night’s Dream - *SPOILERS*
By spoko · 7 posts · 41 views

last updated Oct 01, 2025 04:30AM

showing 10 of 16 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Mar 25, 2008 Cindy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio

Mark Twain wrote Huck Finn as a sequel to Tom Sawyer. His original plan was to follow Huck into adulthood but after working on the book for several years he lost interest. When he eventually came back to Huck’s story, he abandoned his idea of telling Huck’s life story and decided instead to write it as a sort of continuation of Tom Sawyer.

Personally, of the two, Huck Finn is by far my favorite. I never really liked Tom. He’s just… annoying. Meanwhile, I find Huck fascinating. He has much more co Mark Twain wrote Huck Finn as a sequel to Tom Sawyer. His original plan was to follow Huck into adulthood but after working on the book for several years he lost interest. When he eventually came back to Huck’s story, he abandoned his idea of telling Huck’s life story and decided instead to write it as a sort of continuation of Tom Sawyer.

Personally, of the two, Huck Finn is by far my favorite. I never really liked Tom. He’s just… annoying. Meanwhile, I find Huck fascinating. He has much more common sense than Tom. He’s deep down a better person I think, than Tom. Sure, he lies and “borrows” but he hates to hurt anyone’s feelings and he has a strong conscience. Even when he logically disagrees with his conscience due to the social constraints of the time period, emotionally, he tends to know what’s right and what isn’t.

It’s been years and years since I read Huck Finn; probably close to twenty years or more. But I read a review online the other day that mentioned this audio edition read by Elijah Wood. I hightailed it to audible.com as fast as possible and bought it. I listen to a lot of audiobooks on my iPod since I drive so much for work. At over ten hours long, this was almost four days worth of listening.

I’m a fan of Twain’s writing. He describes things so well. He uses commonplace descriptions to allow the reader to draw the picture in their head of the scene he’s creating. He also strikes a nice balance between narration and dialogue. I love the fact that Huck tells his own story from his own point of view as well. Twain really brings Huck, as well as the other characters, to life. And listening to Elijah Wood read the story… it was like I was riding down the highway with Huck sitting in the front seat next to me. And the story has laugh out loud funny moments. There were whole sections where I laughed like a fool driving down the road. I can also admit that there were some times that I cried.

Wood did an amazing job with the different accents and dialects that Twain gave his characters. At first I was very aware that I was listening to Elijah Wood but after just a few minutes, it stopped being Elijah and became Huck and Jim and Tom and even Pap.

Huck had it rough there’s no doubt. His Pap was abusive. He felt unloved. He considered himself to be stupid and eventually he came to question his own morals and character. He never sat down and felt too sorry for himself though. He dealt with adversity and made his way the best way he could. Though we know today that Huck had character and morals to spare, in those days he considered himself very close to a traitor to his race for his actions to help Jim. He struggled with his own conscience and the differences between what he felt in his heart was right and what he had been taught was right.

Huck Finn has created controversy for years and years. It is the fourth most banned book in the United States. It has been considered obscene, immoral and racist. As usual, the censors have it all wrong. Twain tells a story of a boy who is anti-racist in a time when it would cause him to be ostracized by society. Because of the use of the “N-word” throughout the book, people assume it must be racist but in actuality Twain used the language and vernacular of the time. If anyone doesn’t read this excellent example of classic American literature because of the use of a word they disagree with, they are missing out. ...more

Like · see review

Sep 11, 2025 Laurel Bradshaw rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens-fiction, classics, kindle, ebooks-owned, color-rating-red, audible-prime-reads-might-disappear

I had never read this before, although I read other books of Mark Twain, several of them more than once. Now with Percival Everett's retelling James I wanted to read this first. While The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is so clearly a children's book about a loveable rascal who gets caught up in things of a very serious nature, nevertheless it all has a happy ending. With Huckleberry Finn, one is not quite sure how to approach this. It starts out as something of a coming of age tale and a serious one I had never read this before, although I read other books of Mark Twain, several of them more than once. Now with Percival Everett's retelling James I wanted to read this first. While The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is so clearly a children's book about a loveable rascal who gets caught up in things of a very serious nature, nevertheless it all has a happy ending. With Huckleberry Finn, one is not quite sure how to approach this. It starts out as something of a coming of age tale and a serious one at that. Then Tom Sawyer enters the picture and we are thrown back into a mixture of childhood escapade and satire. Both Huck and Jim seem willing to play along with Tom's elaborate farce of imprisonment and escape. We get our happy ending, but with the realization that things could have turned out far more disastrously. And what do we make of the fact that Tom knew all along that Jim was now a free man? Twain seems keen to show that Jim is the better person here, sacrificing his freedom in order to rescue the injured Tom. In between, we get the story of two adults (the duke and the dauphin) playacting a role designed entirely for their own benefit and not above abusing and endangering both Huck and Jim. Despite all the playacting by various characters, Twain also manages to give us some very serious commentary on morality, friendship, slavery, and freedom. Finally, I shouldn't have to say it, but the use of the "n" word is perfectly natural for the time and setting of this story. Jim comes across as a hero, and yet given the time period, even Mark Twain ends up short-changing him.

Description: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain that first appeared in 1884. The story is narrated by Huck Finn, a young boy who runs away from home to escape his abusive father. He travels down the Mississippi River on a raft, accompanied by Jim, a runaway slave seeking freedom. As they journey together, they encounter a variety of characters and face numerous challenges, all while grappling with issues of morality, racism, and personal freedom. The book is renowned for its rich depiction of 19th-century American life, its use of regional dialects, and its satirical take on social and political issues. Twain's storytelling and Huck’s rebellious spirit make it a compelling and enduring work in American literature.
...more

Like · see review