skidiva's review against another edition
5.0
The story of Huckleberry Finn's father, but no light-hearted jaunt down the Mississippi. Dark, but pure poetry to read. Beautifully written. You hate Finn and you know he's going to die, but you root for him, nonetheless. I think this is the REAL story of Huckleberry Finn. A must read for anyone.
hedleyreads's review against another edition
5.0
Dark but a brilliant idea for a prequel. Was glad Finn got the ending he did.
veronica_a's review against another edition
5.0
If you can get past the very dark and gruesome first chapter, then you’re in for an absolutely fascinating read. Finn is a brazen reimagining of the life and death of Pap Finn, Huckleberry Finn’s father.
In Mark Twain’s story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Pap Finn does not appear quite often. When he does appear, he is the embodiment of evil, being the violent alcoholic father who beats Huck, kidnaps him and locks him up in a secluded cabin in the woods. Huck escapes and hides out in a nearby island where he encounters the slave Jim. It is also here that Huck and Jim find a house floating on the river, washed away by the flood. Inside, they discover the body of a man who has been shot in the back. By the last chapter, we learn that the dead man is Pap Finn.
And from this meager and cryptic material, Jon Clinch develops a compelling story on how Finn became the vile, depraved drunk that he was and how he met his mysterious, violent end.
Written from Pap’s point of view, the chapters alternate between the past and the present. Clinch seamlessly weaves in incidents and characters from Twain’s story. The old characters are there: Huck, the Widow Douglas and Judge Thatcher as well as new ones in the person of the Judge, Finn’s domineering, vindictive father whose disappointment in his son is the impetus for Finn’s paternal hatred and lifelong affinity with whiskey. We are also introduced to Mary, a young slave he has claimed as a “reward” and, in defiance of his father, has kept her secretly locked up in his shack. It is this relationship that produces the bi-racial Huck which repulses the Judge to no end for he is profoundly racist. This is a trait that is deeply ingrained in Finn as well and that which predictably causes him the most torment.
Finn is one of the most memorable and complex anti-heroes I have ever come across. It is disturbingly fascinating to watch him on the road to self-destruction. He is mean and repugnant, yet there are moments of poignancy with Mary and Huck that has you hoping for his redemption. These moments, however, are fleeting because he is primarily cut from the same cloth as his father. The shame of his relationship with Mary and Huck constantly overpowers whatever “good” intentions he has for both of them and he reverts to the drunken, sadistic self he is more comfortable with. In the end, his demise will have you pondering who or what was responsible for the madness in his life.
This is definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year. This is the debut novel of Jon Clinch who is, without question, a brilliant writer who had the audacity to spin a gripping story off a great classic. Is it necessary to read Mark Twain’s novel before tackling Finn? Not really, the story can stand alone. You may, however, find yourself reaching for the Twain classic sooner than you think.
In Mark Twain’s story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Pap Finn does not appear quite often. When he does appear, he is the embodiment of evil, being the violent alcoholic father who beats Huck, kidnaps him and locks him up in a secluded cabin in the woods. Huck escapes and hides out in a nearby island where he encounters the slave Jim. It is also here that Huck and Jim find a house floating on the river, washed away by the flood. Inside, they discover the body of a man who has been shot in the back. By the last chapter, we learn that the dead man is Pap Finn.
And from this meager and cryptic material, Jon Clinch develops a compelling story on how Finn became the vile, depraved drunk that he was and how he met his mysterious, violent end.
Written from Pap’s point of view, the chapters alternate between the past and the present. Clinch seamlessly weaves in incidents and characters from Twain’s story. The old characters are there: Huck, the Widow Douglas and Judge Thatcher as well as new ones in the person of the Judge, Finn’s domineering, vindictive father whose disappointment in his son is the impetus for Finn’s paternal hatred and lifelong affinity with whiskey. We are also introduced to Mary, a young slave he has claimed as a “reward” and, in defiance of his father, has kept her secretly locked up in his shack. It is this relationship that produces the bi-racial Huck which repulses the Judge to no end for he is profoundly racist. This is a trait that is deeply ingrained in Finn as well and that which predictably causes him the most torment.
Finn is one of the most memorable and complex anti-heroes I have ever come across. It is disturbingly fascinating to watch him on the road to self-destruction. He is mean and repugnant, yet there are moments of poignancy with Mary and Huck that has you hoping for his redemption. These moments, however, are fleeting because he is primarily cut from the same cloth as his father. The shame of his relationship with Mary and Huck constantly overpowers whatever “good” intentions he has for both of them and he reverts to the drunken, sadistic self he is more comfortable with. In the end, his demise will have you pondering who or what was responsible for the madness in his life.
This is definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year. This is the debut novel of Jon Clinch who is, without question, a brilliant writer who had the audacity to spin a gripping story off a great classic. Is it necessary to read Mark Twain’s novel before tackling Finn? Not really, the story can stand alone. You may, however, find yourself reaching for the Twain classic sooner than you think.
jan2bratt's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent! Was a bit hard to get into the rhythm of the writing style, and the substance was brutal and so difficult to read since I don't enjoy brutality, nonetheless it was an excellent rendering of who Huck Finn's father was and how did he become this man.
guinness74's review against another edition
4.0
A stunningly brutal depiction of Finn, the only name (as I recall) that we know Huck Finn's father by, and his life. I appreciated the author's note at the end of the book to illustrate his attempts to make this book as chronologically accurate as possible based on the few times we meet "Pap" in Twain's masterpiece. This book will be difficult to read if you abhor violence, both random and domestic. It will be difficult if you object to racism, as Finn and his father, the Judge, seem to be riddled with it. But, if you find yourself looking for back story on one of the more well known characters in literature, then this is your book. But, be warned, it is not for the faint of heart. It is filled with misery and death and characters who would just as soon cut your soul as look as you.
razishiri's review against another edition
3.0
Read mostly on the subway, finished on the plane.
Interesting and well-written. Clich's deft poetic use of language and dialogue were, I think, the novel's strong points.
Interesting and well-written. Clich's deft poetic use of language and dialogue were, I think, the novel's strong points.
dannb's review against another edition
4.0
Huckleberry's dad...an odious character...As an audio read...the beginning is a little difficult just because it's tough to know when you are in the "present" and when it goes back.
I'll stick with odious a description of Finn...the story is both heartbreaking and infuiating.
I'll stick with odious a description of Finn...the story is both heartbreaking and infuiating.
katymvt's review against another edition
4.0
I really only have two complaints about this book. One is pretty minor in that Finn doesn't have a first name and a lot of the other characters don't either. My other complaint is that they switch between the present and the past and it isn't obvious they are doing it. I didn't realize until Huck was born (or expected at any rate) that they were going back in the past. I thought this was all happening after Finn went back for Huck.
Other than that, it was a very engaging book. Finn is definitely not a good guy, but at the same time once in a while does things which make you think maybe he's not ALL bad.
Other than that, it was a very engaging book. Finn is definitely not a good guy, but at the same time once in a while does things which make you think maybe he's not ALL bad.
msjoanna's review against another edition
3.0
This book was so supremely disturbing that it took me a whole month to read. I had to keep taking breaks from it to read something a little easier. The violence and hatred running through the story was powerful and well-written, but hard to read.
The book tells the story of Finn, Huckleberry Finn's father. True to the appearances of Finn in the original Twain story, the book fleshes out Finn into a complete and terrifying character. Clinch also makes a decision to reimagine Huck's history in a way that works well for the book, but seems to add to the overall level of violence running through the novel.
I listened to the audio version of Huck Finn just before starting this one so the story would be fresh in my mind, which I think helped with tracking this book, but wouldn't be necessary. The book could stand on its own even for a reader unfamiliar with Huck's story, but it's much richer if one at least somewhat recalls the plot and characters from the original.
The book tells the story of Finn, Huckleberry Finn's father. True to the appearances of Finn in the original Twain story, the book fleshes out Finn into a complete and terrifying character. Clinch also makes a decision to reimagine Huck's history in a way that works well for the book, but seems to add to the overall level of violence running through the novel.
I listened to the audio version of Huck Finn just before starting this one so the story would be fresh in my mind, which I think helped with tracking this book, but wouldn't be necessary. The book could stand on its own even for a reader unfamiliar with Huck's story, but it's much richer if one at least somewhat recalls the plot and characters from the original.
davidwright's review against another edition
5.0
I recently re-read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in anticipation of this year’s Seattle Reads event, which will center on local author Nancy Rawles’ My Jim, a moving rendition from the standpoint of the slaves. For dessert, I treated myself to John Clinch’s impressive debut Finn. Clinch makes a bold leap in telling one of the other stories, that of Huck’s dastardly drunken father, whose benighted existence is alluded to but not fully explored by Twain. (Finn takes as epigraph that cryptic passage in Twain where Jim and Huck discover a body – later revealed to be Pap Finn’s - in a curiously furnished house afloat on the river). Clinch posits a circumstance that seems at once audacious and apt, if not inevitable, by tying Pap Finn’s vicious bigotry to his own secret relations with a slave woman and the resulting miscegenation that leads to the birth of Huckleberry, an origin story that helps explain Huck’s own marginal existence. This primal taboo makes Finn even more of a shamed outcast than he already is, especially in the eyes of his father, an upright judge who in his respectable racism manages to be even more contemptible than his son. The book is steeped and strangled in stark, dreadful imagery that builds upon the underlying darkness hinted at by Twain, and later fully expressed by William Faulkner. I really like all that Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy Southern Gothic stuff, but those who don’t will get fair warning from the book’s opening image, as a woman’s fly-blown, flayed corpse floats down the big muddy while gawking boys poke it with sticks. Life (and death) on the Misssissippi ain't pretty. Both My Jim and Finn are brilliantly conceived commentaries on a controversial classic, and powerful, potent novels in their own right.