The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Am I the only one who absolutely can't stand Mark Twain?
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Mark
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Jul 08, 2013 03:52AM
Yes , like the bible or the Constitution. Books are athletes
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What we need are more vampire and wherewolf tales; Twain couldv'e at least done one superhero book. How banal his fixation with reality and his times.
Is someone late for cheer leading practice? :)
(above meant to be heard in Sarah Silverman’s voice)
I love Mark Twain. If Huck is a bit tedious for you, try some of his more comedic turns. Lots of his short stories like the McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm, are just gems.
It could just be that the style of speech in the story is slow. Also, Twain purposely misspelled some words to capture the accent of the areas in which the book takes place.
I'm reading it right now, I like it but I find it hard to pay attention sometimes.
I like the plot of his work, but I don't think the speech really pertains to how we speak now.
I'm reading it right now, I like it but I find it hard to pay attention sometimes.
I like the plot of his work, but I don't think the speech really pertains to how we speak now.
Ah...I got it. I looked at your reading list and clearly you are still pretty young. Huck Finn is really not a kids book, or even a young adolescents book. It is really for more mature adult readers. Try it again when you are older and see if it doesn't resonate more for you.
Kressel wrote: "Mark Twain can say what he wants about Jane Austen, but the fact is, there's a similarity between Pudd'nhead Wilson and Pride and Prejudice. From the beginning of Pudd'nhead: "There is no charact..."
Sharp eye! Good on you.
Michele wrote: "Love Twain! I can't get enough of southern writers... it's such a romantic culture."You should read the short works of Flannery O'Connor if you want to be swept away by the beauty and romance of The South.
Also being an English teacher, I can understand why so many people dislike Mark Twain, Huck in particular. Many many teachers suck really really hard. When the life of a book is drained bone-dry by the idiotic content questions in the teacher's edition, or when teachers work as if the best reason to read literature is to give examples of metaphor, simile, litote, etc. for a multiple-choice state test, or when the teacher got the ed. cert. just as a "fall back," or when it was something to do until meeting a Mr. Right, you are going to have teachers who actively (even if inadvertently) teach students to dislike literature. I think Twain would be horrified if he knew he was seen as dry-as-dust "school stuff" that makes so many boys and girls long for summer. I'll personally never forgive a teacher I had who made me despise Nathaniel Hawthorne. Happily I came to my senses on my own despite her efforts. Were I the paranoid type, I'd suspect that the system wants to produce a populace that does not respect the power of literature, much less one that has sharpened its critical thinking faculties against the work of the greats. That would present problems for the authors of campaign ads. However, imagining a vast hegemonic hold "the system" has on humanities education is being ridiculously over-generous to the competence of those who would try that. I'm afraid it's just a function of petty banal stuff like what I mentioned.
If, however, it's not because of a teacher that you can't stand Mark Twain, I don't know what to tell you except maybe try some of his political or religious polemics. They are definitely not written from the POV of a young boy, which seemed to grate with you in Huck. Try Letters from Earth!
Huck and Tom were not my favorite of his, though I did like them. Yankee in King Arthur's Court is also pretty slow but worth reading. For a faster pace, Pudd'head, Prince and the Pauper, and Mysterious Stranger. For shorter stories, the first ones that come to mind: War Prayer (my personal favorite), Diaries of Adam and Eve, Was it Heaven? or Hell?, and The Story of the Good Little Boy.
Am I the only one who can't stand Stefanie Meyer; Dan Brown; George RR Martin, whatever dingbat wrote 'Hunger Games'; and JK Rowling? Just checkin
Francene wrote: "I like Mark Twain but I'm a bit outraged by his comments about Jane Austen:"I haven't any right to criticise books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Auste..."
So I wonder what he would think of Pride Prejudice and Zombies? Maybe there's another book...Zombie Jane versus grave digger Twain?
The reason I didn't like Huck Finn books was because they were written for boys or so it seemed to me.
I am fairly new to classics. I wanted to read something by Mark Twain and decided on Huck Finn. I listened to on a long car trip on audio, read by Elijah Wood. I thought his reading of this story was nothing short of brilliant. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend this audio version for anyone who wants to sit back and enjoy a great odyssey set in a time that seems so strange to us today.
We were read Tom Sawyer at school and I enjoyed it when I read Huck Finn by myself I didn't and it felt too much of a boys book.
Gregsamsa wrote: "Many many teachers suck really really hard. When the life of a book is drained bone-dry by the idiotic content questions in the teacher's edition, or when teachers work as if the best reason to read literature is to give examples of metaphor, simile, litote, etc. for a multiple-choice state test, or when the teacher got the ed. cert. just as a "fall back," or when it was something to do until meeting a Mr. Right, you are going to have teachers who actively (even if inadvertently) teach students to dislike literature. I think Twain would be horrified if he knew he was seen as dry-as-dust "school stuff" that makes so many boys and girls long for summer."^ This.
Read Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc.
Carolina wrote: "We were read Tom Sawyer at school and I enjoyed it when I read Huck Finn by myself I didn't and it felt too much of a boys book."I tried to read Tom Sawyer, but didn't finish it. What I read was fun, Huck finn I finished and loved.
That's the problem with being forced to read books in high school. Sometime you're not ready for it or you have a bad teacher or whatever. I have the same problem with Moby Dick. I'm sure it deserves it's place in the canon of great literature, but I guess I never got over my high school trauma. Huck Finn was the first adult novel I ever read though, and I have a warm place in my heart for both Huck and Mark Twain.
Bob wrote: "As a former student of German language, I found Twain's hilarious send-up, "The Awful German Language" in A Tramp Abroad, a wonderful reward for all those years of study."Fenimore Cooper's Litera..."
Thanks -- I'd forgotten these!
i read "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" as a kid and it was complete fun for me... Huck Finn was a little bit slow,i admit, but after a couple of attempts of starting to read it, i enjoyed it too....Huck Finn may be uneducated and not gentry,but he is a gentleman at heart...
Tom Sawyer better book-Huck Finn better character.
I think Mark Twain's use of first-person voice in 'Huckleberry Finn' was absolutely brilliant - the writing is easily the best thing about the book. I can see why he's seen as a great classic novelist, and he's one of the few writers who actually deserve the label.
However, he wasn't anywhere near as good as Jane Austen haha - if he thought he was then he was very deluded!
However, he wasn't anywhere near as good as Jane Austen haha - if he thought he was then he was very deluded!
Did he say he was better than Jane Austen? Not a Jane Austen lover myself (don't shoot me) so I would pick Mark Twain too. (o:
@ Beth"Did he say he was better than Jane Austen? Not a Jane Austen lover myself (don't shoot me) so I would pick Mark Twain too. (o:"
No, he didn't say that he was better-- really, he didn't get very specific at all. He said things like (paraphrasing) that any library not having a Jane Austen book could be considered a good library; and that every time that he read 'Pride And Prejudice' it made him want to dig up her grave and bash her skull with her shin bone.
Apparently he detested her stories ...
Huckleberry Finn is one of the ten most relevant American novels ever written! Okay, so you think it only belongs in the top 100; I can deal with that. But if you have read it and think it is junk, perhaps you should go back to reading comic books.
Maybe its a good book if you are American but I am not and I couldn't get into it.
Don't stop with the novels. I recommend going back to the source, The Innocents Abroad and Roughing It.
No way. Not at all. There are morons everywhere.
I really do not like Twain. Not sure why..dry uninteresting. It just never took me anyplace.
Rebecca wrote: "I simply don't enjoy his books. I have read more than the two that I listed in the original post, but I just don't find him as funny as other authors. He and Joseph Conrad wrote the two books that ..."I am 100% with you
Gregg wrote: "It's hard not to like a writer who said: "Imagine you're an idiot. Now imagine you're a member of Congress. But wait. I repeat myself.""I love this quote:
I haven't any right to criticise books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.
- Letter to Joseph Twichell, 13 September 1898
I have not experienced any Jane Austen literature, so I can neither agree nor disagree. I just like the morbid comment.
Mark wrote: "No way. Not at all. There are morons everywhere."
I go back and read this every time I go on this site. It just cracks me up thanks
I go back and read this every time I go on this site. It just cracks me up thanks
Francene quoted Twain: "I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen... Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone." /i> I never read that. Absolutely hilarious! Thanks.
Opinions are funny things. I agree with Ernest Hemingway, Huck Finn is the greatest American novel ever, which is saying a lot, considering it has about the lousiest ending you could imagine. Hemingway says so too, he recommends you stop reading it when Tom Sawyer arrives. Tom is unlikeable in his own book and even more obnoxious in Huck's book.I am a big fan of James Fennimore Cooper and was initially outraged at Twain's disparaging Cooper, until I got laughing so hard I couldn't stop.
I know what you mean. Huck takes maturity and time to appreciate like many works of art. i read it with notes by various critics in a Norton edition. I began to understand it. Twain is quintessentially American--very Midwestern mixed with a lot of Southern, add a dash of the West, a nod to the Eastern establishment and a lot of fun in Europe and elsewhere, then you have a happy American, which Twain was. David Lemons
I'll bet when Hemingway said that, he hadn't read "To Kill A Mockingbird" or "Catcher"
I was enthralled when I first read Huck Finn in middle school twenty-six years ago, and I was enthralled when I re-read it for the umpteenth time last week. I guess I "get it" if there are folks who don't like Twain, but I'm glad I'm not one of 'em. :)
I never tire of reading from the works of Mark Twain. He was so prolific that hardly a topic escapes some comment of his. I find it amazing that he has remained relevant to today's issues. Much of what is popular in today's Usanian society I find to be generally worthless, particularly celebrities. But as this trash garners so much interest I'm not surprised that some people don't like Twain. Check my profile and personal web site for a clue into my involvement with Twain's works. Sorry for the rant but I'm still on my first cup of coffee.
Here's Mark Twain on baseball, pretty entertaining, even if you don't like baseball. www.twainquotes.com/TwainBaseball.html
I just love these little proclamations, when my first introduction to someone is a statement they've made which is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, that they're a fucking idiot.
Anakalia84 wrote: "Rob wrote: "I was surprised in reading Huck Finn that I did think it dragged( I actually much prefered Tom Sawyer as it was just plain fun and made me laugh a few times)and the ending( interpreted ..."I think Hemingway's writing style is incredibly rhythmically dense and jerky but what do I know? But Mark Twain? I enjoy his accessibility and gentle, non judgemental humour.
You're all a bunch of morons. If you want to know Twain's greatness, read his essay 50 years before the Holocaust called "Concerning The Jews"
Go to YouTube and find Mark Twain tonight with Hal Holbrook, after watching that you will be a fan of Twain if not his books. His books will then make more sense to you. (maybe) If you want to understand Huck Finn watch segment 5 and 6 where Twain gets to the point of the book. Then you will know why so many people believe it to be the great American novel, one that can be read and understood as a child's book or as a philosophical adult book at the same time.
It seems that if Rebecca is not alone in her dislike of Twain, then she at least has very little company. I love both Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. They are two of my favourites of all time.
I disliked Tom Sawyer personally. He's an unpleasant little brat with absolutely no idea where to draw the line. I got on just fine with Huckleberry Finn until Tom Sawyer showed up in it.Oh wait... the question was about Twain. Hmmm... I think there's a reason Tom and Huck appeal to younger readers and most of us probably encountered them in some form when we were quite young. I remember both those books giving me dreams and nightmares. As an adult, I like A Tramp Abroad rather better.
You should read Letters from the Earth, unless you're very religious, in which case you should read it twice.He wouldn't allow it to be published until after he was dead, and even then, his daughter wouldn't publish it for a long time until she was reluctantly talked into it.
Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings
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Fans of Twain might like (or hate) my fictionalization of Twain in my latest blog post.
I won't say I'm not fond of Mark Twain because I've only read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I don't think it's fair to say I'm not fond of him personally--but based on the two books I've read of his, I have no desire to read anymore of his literature. I am not offended by his use of the vernacular..given the time period it was progressive and fresh. I also am not offended by the content in either book. My problem comes in the way he constructs a story. I just can't feel his rhythm. It feels disjointed. Almost like a rough draft sometimes. He has some interesting ideas, but he never seems to fully explore anything--he just jumps onto the next thought/story. I think it's just a preference thing and I personally think that's ok.
