The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

This is a collection of 4 books so I will add to this review as I read each part.<br /><br />"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"<br /><br />I never read these stories before and I guess I wanted to become a child again for a spell (ha!).<br /><br />Hard to rate/review considering the book was written in the late 1800's. It was difficult getting used to the writing but eventually I did. There are a few words that are out-dated and I did not understand some of the meanings.. but overall I got the gist. I would think this to be more difficult for someone whose second language is English..or even not American because the words are written phoenitically to give the reader the full flavor of southern accents and slang...<br /><br />One also has to forgive alot of un-pc words used and remember the time period this was written. The "n" word is used alot..which I am sure will be offensive to many..but what I found offensive was the whole Injun Joe stuff. Especially the part where it is mentioned how white man would never mar or disfigure a person... that is the mark of an indian. HA!!! What ignorance! It was the WHITE MAN who had tortured and disfigured the indians first that made them eventually turn it on the white man. UGGH!!! I wanted to pull my hair out at such ignorance! But what can you do? It was the times.<br /><br />On a good note!<br /><br />I just absolutely LOVE Tom. I think there is a little of him in all of us. The story itself is mostly boys being boys with a few larger adventures within. There is also a cute romance with Tom and Becky.. I thought it was really sweet, (even though I did want to shake Tom for hurting Becky.. but it was great when she got him back).<br /><br />I couldn't help but feel bad for Huck.. who was homeless and living on the streets..but his story is next so I guess I will find out more about him.<br /><br />It was also disturbing at how the children were always getting switched..hit with a stick..cuffed..beat.."hided" not just by parents but the teachers especially. Uggh again.. this was how it was back then.<br /><br />Overall I really did like it and I am now on to Huck's story.<br /><br />To be continued! 4*11*17<br /><br />"The Adventures of Huck Finn"<br /><br />I'd give this one 3 stars<br /><br />Not nearly as good as Tom Sawyer. I was expecting Huck to have a more interesting story and it was sort of..<br /><br />Huck's story is a little more tragic since his father was a drunk and mistreated him. Basically Huck was on his own until Mrs Douglas took him in. But Huck didn't like learning to be "civilized."<br /><br />Huck also didn't want his six thousand dollars (his half of what he and Tom found in the prior book)..mainly because he knew his father would try to get it from him..and that is what he did try to do. <br /><br />So Huck gives his money to the judge and heads out on his own. He meets up with escaped slave Jim and they take a raft down river and had some adventures. These adventures, to me, weren't nearly as "fun" without the wild and crazy Tom. No, instead their adventures were a little more "realistic" and boring. That is until Tom meets up with Huck again..THEN the fun begins! But this didn't happen until the later part of the story.<br /><br />Tom is so outlandish in his way of thinking..he truly is the star of the books. It was worth it to see him appear again. By the time he shows up, Jim manages to get captured, and Tom comes up with the most craziest scheme to free him. It was just too funny. Especially all the superstitious stuff..<br /><br />Be prepared to have to re read sentences over and over again because there is alot of old fashioned words and slang as well as phoentically spelled out words to indicate accents/dialect..ect..<br /><br />Also as said earlier in my review of Tom Sawyers Adventures.. the "n " word is used alot, and some would find this and other things said to be offensive. Keep in mind this was written in the late 1800's! Not to excuse it, but it is unfortunately a sad part of our history.<br /><br />Well I'm on to the next book<br /><br />To be continued...<br /><br />4-12-17<br /><br />"Tom Sawyer Abroad"<br /><br />2 stars<br /><br />1st person Huck's POV<br /><br />This is a shorter tale of how Jim, Huck and Tom get carried away in a hot air ballon across the Atlantic, where they travel over Desert, into Egypt etc..<br /><br />There were some cute conversations and a bit of action but then it was like Twain didn't know where else to take the story or how to end it..or just gave up on it.. IDK<br /><br />What really was disappointing is that the ending was a rip off. It was like, "and they went home..The End" But now I think on it...I suspect this "abrupt ending" was a pun of the tale Tom told Jim and Huck that they didn't like...I just can't think Twain would end the story like this.. so maybe it was "apurpose." (LOL)<br /><br />Still...Overall..The story was ok. Just ok<br /><br />Last one "Tom Sawyer Detective" <br /><br />3 stars<br /><br />A lot better than "Tom Sawyer Abroad."<br /><br />It was a cute murder mystery told in the first person by Huck Finn. Not as wild and crazy as the others, but there was some good humor and play on words. I liked it.<br /><br />Overall:<br />A great piece of Classic American literature which really paintes a vivid picture of life in the 1800's through the eyes of young boys.<br /><br />I can't believe I waited 48 years to read these.

As a kid, I loved Tom Sawyer's imaginative adventures and bucking of authority. He had the nerve to run away and didn't care if he got in trouble. I envied his manipulation of adults and kids. When Tom talks the neighborhood boys into painting the fence for him because it was fun, I remembered wishing I had his smooth talking ways so I could convince my neighbors to help me rake what amounted to 100 bags of leaves - an endless fall chore of mine and my siblings. Not only does Tom psychologically motivate the neighborhood boys into begging him to paint the fence, but he convinces them to barter their most treasured possessions to participate in doing his chore. I lived vicariously through the mischievous Tom who pulled pranks and snuck out his bedroom window at night. He gave me ideas too. I had adventures based on favorite books, made blood oaths, and giggled my way out the bedroom window with my best friend on sleepovers. Like Tom, we purposefully made our adventures harder to represent the literature. We'd forsake a flashlight for candles, make a raft out of cattails (that sunk), eat clam chowder and Velveeta cheese (think plastic cheese) because that was what we thought pirates ate, chiseled a port hole in a wood door that was our ship, built a tree house out of shingles (what a spectacular fall when that broke), used a Swiss knife to chisel holes out of ice on a hill pretending we were mountain climbers, and more. Reading Mark Twain's books as an adult, I see his serious themes, satire, and how he is capturing a nostalgia for imaginative childhood play.<br /><br />The Romantic pastoral emerged in Europe as a reaction to the burgeoning industrial revolution and Twain represents an American counterpart movement. The pastoral genre is a look back on simpler times in an idealized way. Heroes are oftentimes alone, powerless, and alienated from society. Whereas Tom Sawyer is satirical and entertaining and creates an idealized childhood, Huck Finn shows an outcast boy that wants to live within social conventions but can't because he morally struggles with them. Nothing is cut and dry with Twain. His messages are ambiguous and what I like so well about Huck is his internal struggles with his friend, Jim, a black slave and how Huck can't treat him in the way society deems correct. Huck thinks he's sinful and doesn't question societies' ethics or morals, he just recognizes he can't follow them with a clear conscience. He's a fascinating character because he flips back and forth from racist thoughts and prejudices to ones that see Jim as a human being that deserves better. One minute Huck is concerned about Jim, his friend, and later he is telling a white woman that a steamer cylinder blew and no one was hurt. As an afterthought he tells her a black man was killed, assigning slaves to a subhuman status once again. Twain's creation of the character of Jim, the slave, is also ambiguous. On the one hand, Jim gives deep and rich answers to some of Huck's actions or questions, and on the other he is a complete buffoon. This makes me wonder is Jim relegated to a stereotype because he is just protecting himself from whites or is the author reflecting the attitudes of his time? Nothing is clear-cut which makes this such a fascinating read. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's back up and look at Tom's story first.<br /><br />Tom is depicted in a series of events in the American West during the 1840s that romanticize small town life on the frontier. Tom gets together with his buddies and plays pranks on them, the school teacher, and acts out books. His guardian is exasperated by his rebellious behavior but loves him all the same. When the school master "whups" him, Tom doesn't feel bad about it nor does he think of the injustice of it. In the face of tyranny, Tom represents freedom and he seems to have this idyllic (pastoral) life and attitude. He bucks social conventions but always goes back to Aunt Polly; thus, never coming across as a complete rebel or delinquent. When Tom acts out his imaginative adventures many come true. When he dreams of being a pirate and finding treasure, it happens in real life. When he fantasizes about his own funeral, it happens. When he has mock-battles and wars, he witnesses a murder. Tom's belief in his swashbuckling tales shape his world and the adults in it are as childish as him often mirroring his actions. When he's in church teasing a pinch-bug that torments a stray dog, his amusement is mimicked by the congregation. The adults are hiding their boredom and going to church as a social convention following peers rather than out of pleasure. While children have to go, the adult church-goers intentions appear hypocritical. When Tom has to recite scriptures for Sabbath School, there is a guest of honor that the adults and children respond by "showing off." This satirical look at adult hypocrisy shows a deeper level than just a child's story about imagination and friendship.<br /><br />"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" take a darker turn where Tom Sawyer's imaginative play-acting takes on a cruel aspect and Huck is confronted with the morally corrupt institution of slavery. At the end of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," Huck is living with the Widow Douglas who is good to him and he is rich from the treasure he and Tom discovered in the caves by their town. When Huck's drunken pap gets wind of the wealth he comes after Huck, kidnapping him and locking him in a cabin. Huck doesn't mind at first but as his father gets more violent he flees the cabin on a raft where he meets up with Jim, a runaway slave that doesn't want to be sold to another family. Jim dreams of being free and reunited with his wife and kids. Huck does not want to be civilized and is running away from the controls of society.<br /><br />Huck and Jim have adventures on the raft that has become their refuge from society. They meet a wealthy family, the Grangerfords, that is having a feud with another family, the Shepherdsons. When the daughter of one family runs off with the boy from the other family, a brutal shoot-out occurs that shows the senselessness of the family's code of honor that makes Huck sick at heart. Next Huck and Jim get wrapped up with a couple of con men who claim to be a Duke and King. Huck tries to fix the immoral actions of the two in some humorous scenes as they try to swindle others out of money. Twain seems to be ridiculing aristocratic pretensions reflected in certain Americans, as well as, reflecting the carpetbaggers that came from the North to the South during the reconstruction trying to seek monetary gains at the expense of others.<br /><br />Huck's journey with Jim is a moral quest or crisis of conscience resulting from interactions with others and Jim himself. He starts to see Jim as a human being and not how society views slaves, but interestingly enough, Huck never questions the institution of slavery; instead he always blames his decision to help Jim and not sell him as being a product of him not being civilized and sinful. The last third has Huck abandoning his quest and enlisting Tom Sawyer's help to free Jim. Jim becomes a caricature of a docile and ignorant slave while Huck and Jim let Tom act out his fantasies that are more harmful and less innocent as in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Huck cared about Jim's feelings and vowed to never play tricks on him again while they were on the river, but with Tom he doesn't seem to care anymore letting Tom turn Jim's escape into a game. His development seems to have come full circle with Huck acting childish again. The ending makes it impossible to determine if the novel speaks against racism or merely reflects racist attitudes in society. It is understandable that some view the novel as a satire on racism and others can't reconcile the stereotypical depictions of slaves.<br /><br />Twain wrote burlesques a popular form of parody that were favorites of working-class theatergoers in the 1840s and it is evident he uses the same technique in the subplot involving the Duke and King and Tom's escape game. Burlesques were a form of satire and Twain pokes fun at a host of people and subjects: religion, African Americans, upper classes, Britain, Native Americans, education, to name a few. While some might find his stereotypes disturbing, others might find them funny and enlightening. There's a good reason his book consistently shows up on banned book lists. It's controversial and it makes for good discussions. If we want to recognize racism, then we have to discuss it.

What did i learn from this book? That things haven't changed all that much after all.

Delighted that this was the whole Tom Sawyer collection - or rather, the Huckleberry Finn collection, featuring Tom Sawyer.<br /><br />I've always heard or read snippets of Huck &amp; Tom, but never any entire book. 'Abroad' and 'Detective' are silly, but fine, but the other two. Wow.<br /><br />Okay.... Language and cultural insensitivity are very jarring. The treatment of black characters is horrendous. I'm not the person to go into it, but it really highlights how background and ordinary it was to treat humans as property. Less than property even. There are theses on this, but I suppose in one way it's a very good way of seeing how casually awful things were in America.<br /><br />The ending of Huck's story was a bit OTT. Tom and his unnecessary plan was driving me mad. The trip down the river had been brilliant, even if the King and the Duke wellllllll outstayed their welcome, but I got bored and annoyed at Tom's scheming, Huck's agreement and poor Jim's suffering. And there was no need for it at all, it was way too much.<br /><br />However, the first three quarters of Huck and all of Tom Sawyer were fantastic novels. Just so much fun, hilarious internal monologues, brilliant characters and clever events. Of it's time, but witty and funny and brilliant.

Es un libro entretenido y que se lee rápido. Creo que todos los niños deberían leerlo por el mensaje que deja: no hay que dejar nunca de imaginar y crear nuestras propias aventuras.

I read this collection because I was interested in the Norman Rockwell paintings and because my only memory of Tom Sawyer was how much I disliked it when I had to read it in high school.<br /><br />Starting with the paintings: they were fun to see but I didn’t love the replication. They were not glossy or on special paper like illustrations tend to be. In fact the book continued on the opposite side of each one, making them rather un-special. <br /><br />As to the books, I thought they were ok. Didn’t hate the one as much as I did in high school so that was a plus. Nor did I find either of them particularly compelling or entertaining. I typically enjoy going back and reading all those classics we love to hate in school. I find most of them enjoyable. For some reason I still couldn’t get into these.<br /><br />I feel like I’ve been left out of the Mark Twain fan club. He is beloved as such a wry genius but I just don’t get it. Here’s what I mostly took away: Mark Twain thought the broad majority of people were idiots, whether literally in the uneducated sense or figuratively in the “63 cards shy of a deck” sense.<br /><br />I did appreciate some of the wit, and there is a lot of creativity in his expression of characters. Just not enough movement for my taste. <br /><br />Of the two books I liked Huckleberry Finn best. It was quite amusing at times, though at others slow and repetitive. <br /><br />Maybe if I had more historical context or knew more about the author I would appreciate them more. I guess I wanted to love them now that I’m older but they were more just curiosities that I can say I read.<br /><br />I’ll end on a positive note. I did enjoy the endless oddball ideas and beliefs and conversations exchanged. And the characters were certainly jump-off-the-page memorable. One day maybe I’ll give them another read. <br /><br />

I read Tom and Huck, and skipped the third book (at least for the time being). I read Tom Sawyer as a kid, and managed to make it this far in life without ever having read Huck Finn before! <br /><br />Tom is just good entertainment and nothing more, loaded with nostalgia for the childhood everyone wishes he had had -- running loose on summer nights, exploring islands and haunted houses, adventure and peril and hidden treasure to be won.<br /><br />Huckleberry Finn is pretty amazing, for its loving description of the river scenery as much as for Huck's determination to follow his own conscience and go to hell, rather than do something "good" that seems like a moral wrong. I could have lived without the slapstick ending, and without the deus ex machina of Jim being free all along ... it's like Twain got afraid of the book he was writing at the last minute, and Tom Sawyered it up before sending it to his publisher. If it had concluded with Huck's decision not to turn Jim in, it just might have been the Great American Novel.

What the fuck is wrong with people who want to change the vocabulary of this book? There is a point to using the word "nigger" in it. If you can't understand why, then you're a moron.

You cannot call yourself an American if you have not read this book. Thus, if you are not American, it may be quite irrelevant to your literary canon.

I really liked these two books back in college and because it's been a long time, I thought I'd revisit them both. I had forgotten half of the shenanigans of Tom in his book and re-reading them made it feel like the first time all over. But the prose of Huck Finn far outshines Tom Sawyer. Huck's voice is created perfectly and I couldn't imagine a third-party narrator doing the story justice.<br /><br />However, the reason this double volume is not receiving the fifth star is because of the tedious final chapters of Huck Finn. When Tom re-enters the story and agrees to help Huck rescue Jim, the fun gradually got sucked out of the book. Tom's insistence on doing Jim's escape "right" (e.g., taking "thirty seven year" to dig a hole that could've been dug in a few hours; scrounging up rats, snakes, spiders, and other critters to populate Jim's cabin prison; and having to warn everyone in the area of their intentions) wore off after enduring 4-5 chapters of the pointless scheming. I shared Huck's frustration and would have appreciated less of that. That said, I highly recommend both of these books to anyone.