Rating: Summary: certainly good, but not all it's cracked up to be Review:
now, before I get flamed for what I put above, let me explain. This certainly is a good book, which a great many people have and do enjoy greatly. I'm not someone who thinks this book is racist, and I understand wholly the reason for twain's use of the n-word. that being said, and maybe it's just me because I have high expectations for everything I read, but I couldn't really get into it. I understand that huck is supposed to be uneducated and maybe a little stupid, but his entire character was completely uninteresting to me. Nothing in this book jumped out and me and grabbed my attention, making me want to read further. Hemingway said that ALL modern american literature comes from this book. Now while this book may have paved the way for such classics as "To kill a Mockingbird" among others,not to mention influenced a great many writers, I think this is a crock of crap. When I read modern fiction I don't see a whole lot coming from this book. In fact, I'm happy about this. I don't see why twain had to use this book to make political statements, because fiction and politics should have nothing to do with one another. to quote one of my favorite writers, stephen king "If fiction and politics ever do become interchangeable, I'm gong to kill myself because I won't know what else to do. You see, politics always change. Stories never do." That being said, I have made my main points for my dissapointment in this book, and maybe I have a lot to learn about literature still, but to think that as some people do, that you can't understand modern literature without liking this book, is bull.
Rating: Summary: Tom Dady Review for English Extra Credit for Mr. Bendalow Review: (sorry if i mispelled your name). At first i found this book somewhat hard to understand given the very nature of the writing style i could easily imagine a southerner sitting on a porch with a pipe telling this story to his grand kids or something word for word. Asides from this though i was quickly taken with the characters and the subtle yet distinct philosophies and suggestions that the book is filled with behind the guise of an entertaining tail of a boy's adventures down the Mississippi River. I don't understand how any critic could call this book trash or see any reason to ban it in some school libraries. Both the book and the author are very insightful into not only human nature but also into humor as demonstrated again and again by the Duke and the King. Sam Clemens also expresses his low opinion of frontiers folk who just as readily want to lynch someone as they are drinking at a pub. Overall, if you can get past the way it was written, this is a very insightful book and i reccomend it to anyone who enjoy sa good story or to someone who can read between the lines.
Rating: Summary: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Review: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry Finn is an entertaining but dark epic, considered a masterpiece by some and offensive by others.
This novel is set in the deep South during the antebellum period. Huckleberry Finn is a boy who, after being subjected to attempts to be "sivilized" by the Widow Douglas and after being kidnapped and detained by his alcoholic, abusive father, finally sets off down the Mississippi River with Jim, a runaway slave. They strike up an unlikely friendship. When Huck was at home, he and Tom Sawyer pulled a few pranks on Jim, like taking his hat and making him believe that witches flew him around the country while he was sleeping. Now that he is spending more time with Jim, he starts to have a growing respect for him. During the entire journey, Jim treats Huck with respect, almost mothering him. Huck would later remember this, which will affect some of his decisions.
While floating down river, they encounter a drifting house with a dead man inside; they came very close to being caught by a dangerous gang, and nearly being run over by a steamboat. Two men who claim to have royal blood in them join Huck and Jim downstream. These men will unwittingly test the loyalty of Huck's friendship with Jim.
My opinion of this book is on the fence. I certainly am not fond of it. The dialog can be confusing at times, especially when Jim starts talking. Everyone, including black slaves and white Southerners, use the word nigger frequently. One issue with this is that Huck calls every black person he sees a nigger; is he being a racial bigot or is he just repeating what he has heard all his life? Is he wrong for saying that or can he be excused for it because that's the common word back then for a black slave.
Though this book is not one that I would pick up again and again to read, I do not have a passionate hatred for it either. I find certain parts humorous. For example: to find out information from the townspeople, Huck disguises himself in a dress and a sunbonnet. Or when the old man's claim to royalty was that he was the son of Louis the XVI and Marie Antoinette. This book also brings to light how cruel human beings can be to one another. For example: When his friend Buck Grangerford and the male side of his family are killed in a feud with the Shepherdson family: They shoot Buck without a care. Huck would remember that all his life.
This is definitely not a children's book. The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn moves away from the child-like innocence Mark Twain used for Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain instead replaces it with a darker plot, with deeper characters, all the while taking a stab at slavery and the underlying flaws in human nature.
Rating: Summary: Review of The Adventures Huckleberry Finn Review: Are you interested in adventure, spirit and a true underdog story The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is for you.
In this book Huckleberry or Huck starts off living with a nice lady who raised him since his father disappeared. They lived off very well without him; Huck went to school, learned to read and write and was overall happy. Then out of nowhere Huck's father returned and took Huck away. His father was a drunk and treated Huck very badly, and he had to get out. Huck faked his own death and was ready to leave his life behind in order to start over. He builds a canoe and paddled to the island on the other side of the river. There he found Jim a run away slave. They became friends and traveled up north to get a new life for Huck and freedom for Jim. Huck and Jim traveled at night on the raft and slept and hid during the day. Along the way they met up with frauds and learned many things good and bad from them. The frauds were convinced they were royalties, even though they know it wasn't true. After they stole a large amount of money from very good people Huck and Jim knew they should not associate them. They were final caught but then got away and met up with Jim and Huck down the river. From there to make some more money one of the frauds they took Jim and sold him back into slavery. Huck was furious because he had befriended Jim and saw him as a regular person, not as a slave. He went to the home where Jim was being held and had a plan for escape. While he was there Huck met up with an old friend of his Tom Sawyer. Together they came up with a plan to free Jim. Does this plan work for them? Or does it backfire in their faces? To find out read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
This was a good book, it covered an abundant amount of topics that interest me. Some quotes that give the book a good feel as are follows, also these quotes gives you some sort of inside look to the book.
"The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back." This was Huck talking about this first family.
"It was a close place. I took . . . up [the letter I'd written to Miss Watson], and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: "All right then, I'll go to hell"-and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming." This was Huck thinking about his friendship with Jim and whether he was doing the right thing or not.
These quotes can give a feel for what the book is about and an idea if you would like some of the thing that are discussed in the book.
I would recommend this book to a large group of different people. It contains a lot of material that will appeal to many different people making it easy for more people to enjoy it. It has everything from adventure, human suffering, family problems, to robbers and much more. If you are interested in a particular topic it is probably discussed in this book.
Rating: Summary: Huck Finn Review: Huck Finn Starts out great the first fifteen chapters or so are great, but then it starts to get more and more boring as the novel progresses. If your a reader that can just plow through chapters of maninless boring junk punctuated by periods of awesome literature this is the book for you
Rating: Summary: BOOK REVIEW BY: JESS Review: Huckleberry Fin was a good an exciting book. It was easy to visualize what was going on when you were reading it. It was about a poor 13 year old boy named Huckleberry FIn. His father was a drunk, and would beat him so he decided to run away. Huck ran away with A former slave named Jim. They shared many adventures as they went from town to town. Huckleberry fin was a good book, and if you take the time to read it you will enjoy it.
Rating: Summary: Matt Mandarino Huck Finn Review Review: I really enjoyed this book, it's one of the few that we've read in english class that has intrigued me to keep reading and find out what happens next. I really thought it lived up to it's classic stature and deserves to be hailed as one of the best. I think that it is going overboard to have ever banned this book, and was almost an unintelligent move. In the book Mark Twain shows how rediculous the prejudices and racism was and how a young boy is able to see through it, while the use of the word nigger is simply added for accuracy, not vulgarity.
Rating: Summary: Exciting and Fun! Review: I wasn't too looking forward to the reading Huck Finn at first, particularly after glancing at the dialect of the first couple pages, but once I got started and more used to how the characters spoke, I loved the tale! Huck Finn is an extremely well-written novel that uses silly situations to explain how living was back then, and how slaves were treated. Jim is in the beginning of the book coming across as the stereotype of a slave, but as the novel continues, you really begin to see the real person, not just how Jim was "supposed" to be... Also, throughout the book, you see Huck mature and begin to get his own mind; among other things, Huck develops his own set of morals different from those of society... The Adventures of Huck Finn is a funny, exciting, and at times sweet book that everyone should have the chance to read... :):)
Rating: Summary: One of the great works in American Literature Review: Mark Twain called a 'classic' a book that everyone praises but which no one actually reads. This book defies that description, and the result is a classic which is both very readable and very enjoyable. Few American authors have enjoyed such widespread popularity as Twain, and this work is, in my opinion, his best. The story is fairly simple, and the plot such that any average person could read and follow the story, yet the message the novel conveys is so deep and important that one cannot help but be greatly enriched by this book.
This is the story of Huck Finn, the son of the town drunk from 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.' In this novel Huck helps a slave, Jim, escape from slavery, and the two of them float down the Mississippi in search of freedom for both of them. Along the way they have many adventures, and Tom even makes an appearance toward the end of the novel to complicate and romanticize things in true Tom Sawyer style. This book has much to say about the subject of slavery. The institution is so entrenched in Huck's world that it is preached from the pulpit, that aiding a slave to escape means eternal damnation for the accomplice. Throughout the novel Huck struggles with this issue, as his inner conscience (which knows he should help Jim, and which sees him as an intelligent and worthy friend) battles his knowledge of society's morals and values (which sees Jim as a mindless brute which should be returned to captivity). In many ways Huck is far more perceptive than most people in his time, because he sees Negroes as people too. Huck's final decision in the matter is one of the great moments in American Literature. He knows what it means to help Jim, but he has made up his mind, "All right, then, I'll go to hell!"
I first read this book when I was young, and even then I was impressed by the story. I didn't understand most of the meaning, but the book nevertheless made an impact on me. This is the beauty of Mark Twain--he is readable for all ages.
Rating: Summary: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics) Review: Personaly I didn't like the book whatsoever. I don't see what the big deal about the book is. It's considered one of America's best novels but I just don't see that. It's just a story about a stupid kid that runs away and that uses the "n" word one too many times.
I addition to this i think that the book shows a lot of racism. The "n" word was used more than 200 times and it's just stupid that the author had to include all this racism in the book just to get the point across to his audience.
Some people that have written reviews here might not be offeded by the racism that this book shows and I am surprised about this. It makes me angry to see that there are people out there saying how good of a book this is when there are serious issues with it.
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