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mayajoelle's review against another edition
4.0
A really skillful look at conscience and the individual. I appreciated the Hamlet/Claudius/Moses references and look forward to reading it again someday.
The ending is really frustrating, but after all, Twain does warn readers who attempt to find a moral that they will be shot. And just as I found my moral (all right then, I'll go to hell), along came the gunshot of that interminable farcical ending. It is not thematically satisfying, and that is probably the point.
The ending is really frustrating, but after all, Twain does warn readers who attempt to find a moral that they will be shot. And just as I found my moral (all right then, I'll go to hell), along came the gunshot of that interminable farcical ending. It is not thematically satisfying, and that is probably the point.
ruthieduthie's review against another edition
4.0
I re-read this in preparation for reading James by Percival Everett (which tells the story from Jim's viewpoint). I last read it probably 58 years ago, and frankly was shocked by the violence (which I don't remember being shocked by all those years ago). The plot involves murders, a lynching and an episode of tarring and feathering. It really is life on the frontier, which the Mississipi was at the time of the action (apparently 1839, as we learn quite late in the book). Add the issue of slavery and you can see why it has been controversial for several decades.
However during the course of the book, Huck's ingrained attitude to black slaves does evolve, and through travelling with Jim and getting to know him, he appreciates Jim's humanity and helps to get him to a free state.
The novel is very picaresque, and ultimately a series of adventures based on a heck of a lot of lies. When Tom Sawyer arrives on the scene it becomes really hilarious. However there are some quite moving scenes, as Huck struggles with his own version of morality.
However during the course of the book, Huck's ingrained attitude to black slaves does evolve, and through travelling with Jim and getting to know him, he appreciates Jim's humanity and helps to get him to a free state.
The novel is very picaresque, and ultimately a series of adventures based on a heck of a lot of lies. When Tom Sawyer arrives on the scene it becomes really hilarious. However there are some quite moving scenes, as Huck struggles with his own version of morality.
jonisayin's review against another edition
3.0
My first time reading Huckleberry Finn. I'm pairing this book with James, by Percival Everett. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took 2 days to read. Hard for me because the diolague was so "Southern backwoodsy". The story though, is charming. Huckleberry pretending to be dead, boards a raft down the Mississippi River where he picks up a runaway slave, Jim. He becomes best friends with Jim, and trusts him more than anyone else. Together, they share adventures in the small towns along the river, and eventually secure Jims freedom.
lizhwriter's review against another edition
5.0
This is the first book I've read for the year to make it to my favourites list. An absolute joy to have this audiobook read to me by Mark Smith with his South Carolina accent! I'm a mum of boys so from that vantage loved the "boys own adventure" side of the story. Plus it's a fantastic history lesson. A must read.
kat_a_strophe's review against another edition
5.0
The addition of zombies to the American classic added was a fun twist and really reaches out to a wider audience. This version keeps the tone and language but definitely has a lot more to it with the undead moaning and groaning about.
Read full review here:
https://beentherereadthat.blog/2017/10/19/brainssss-on-the-mississippi-huckleberry-finn-and-zombie-jim-a-book-review/
Read full review here:
https://beentherereadthat.blog/2017/10/19/brainssss-on-the-mississippi-huckleberry-finn-and-zombie-jim-a-book-review/
gdlibr0s's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
grace134's review against another edition
4.0
Just read this again ahead of reading James. I knew the book used the n-word, and I even think I knew it was a lot (?) but it was SO MUCH.
I understand that this book is historically important and blah blah etc. but I also think about my husband’s 7th grade class reading the book aloud, with my husband as the only black kid in his grade, and classmates thinking it was hilarious to call him that after they said it in class and in front of a grownup. Anyone who wants to read the book should read the book. Read it to your kids if you want to. My mom read it to me multiple times as a kid (filtering out the n-words in her read aloud). Do I think it’s appropriate to read in the grade school classroom? No. Do I think there are so many good books out there that aren’t using n-word 219 times? Yes.
All that said, is it still a good book? Yes.
I understand that this book is historically important and blah blah etc. but I also think about my husband’s 7th grade class reading the book aloud, with my husband as the only black kid in his grade, and classmates thinking it was hilarious to call him that after they said it in class and in front of a grownup. Anyone who wants to read the book should read the book. Read it to your kids if you want to. My mom read it to me multiple times as a kid (filtering out the n-words in her read aloud). Do I think it’s appropriate to read in the grade school classroom? No. Do I think there are so many good books out there that aren’t using n-word 219 times? Yes.
All that said, is it still a good book? Yes.
mudder17's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, made better by the narration. This is a classic, and I know it was probably indicative of the times, but I had a hard time with the "N" word being thrown around willy nilly, and often in a denigrating way. For the most part, I was able to let it pass, but that word is very visceral to me, so I couldn't help wincing in passages when it was being tossed around back and forth in conversation. That said, I did like how Huck's view of his friendship with Jim grew and developed, and his view of slavery and human decency also grew as the story unfolded. I honestly liked Huck quite a bit, but umm...yeah, I'm still not a fan of Tom, even though the part where he "tries" to free Jim gets crazier and crazier and everyone else (Jim and Huck) just sort of went along with it because it was easier to just let him do his thing than try to change his mind. But seriously, rattlers and rats? Total nutso! I definitely found myself laughing uncontrollably at times and I thought Elijah Wood did a great job of narrating this story. So I rounded up to 4 stars. I remember watching the Tom Sawyer movie when I was young and being very entertained by it, but I'm not so sure I could read the book now and not want to give Tom a hiding, lol!
johnnybuonomo's review against another edition
5.0
I went back and read this again after a good many years in part because it is lauded by so many authors (see toptenbooks.net) and I do occasionally defer to authority at least for recommendations. Hopefully they have not affected my judgment that this is an excellent novel.
The voices (mostly those of Huck and Jim) not only have great musicality and yield vivid characterization but show poetic sensitivity.
It succeeds on the fundamental level of providing an entertaining and emotionally involving story and characters with whom one can sympathize. The best way for me to express the other reasons I like this novel is to say that the events and images are 'charged' in certain ways.
First, they are charged with a strange poetic quality. No doubt, this is partly because I am unfamiliar with the setting and culture in the intimate way Twain was. Consequently, the image of pigs cooling themselves on church floors strikes me as delightfully odd. Additionally, many of scenes are painted in a mythological light especially by Jim (e.g. his etiological myth of stars).
Second, Jim and Huck's story largely consists of them passing through the stories of others and this give the events a quality of mystery, otherness, something like that... The reader feels the weight of what goes unsaid.
Third, there is the moral aspect. I get turned off when there is a 'moral of the story' but Twain incorporates questions of morality and philosophy as a writer and not as a metaphysician pretending to be a writer does-- they are not abstract questions but everyday human ones.
It's also pretty funny.
I wasn't crazy about the ending sequence, but that's my only qualm.
The voices (mostly those of Huck and Jim) not only have great musicality and yield vivid characterization but show poetic sensitivity.
It succeeds on the fundamental level of providing an entertaining and emotionally involving story and characters with whom one can sympathize. The best way for me to express the other reasons I like this novel is to say that the events and images are 'charged' in certain ways.
First, they are charged with a strange poetic quality. No doubt, this is partly because I am unfamiliar with the setting and culture in the intimate way Twain was. Consequently, the image of pigs cooling themselves on church floors strikes me as delightfully odd. Additionally, many of scenes are painted in a mythological light especially by Jim (e.g. his etiological myth of stars).
Second, Jim and Huck's story largely consists of them passing through the stories of others and this give the events a quality of mystery, otherness, something like that... The reader feels the weight of what goes unsaid.
Third, there is the moral aspect. I get turned off when there is a 'moral of the story' but Twain incorporates questions of morality and philosophy as a writer and not as a metaphysician pretending to be a writer does-- they are not abstract questions but everyday human ones.
It's also pretty funny.
I wasn't crazy about the ending sequence, but that's my only qualm.