The story is hard to follow, rambling, too much dialect. The middle third is mildly funny I guess, but the racism and racial language are so heavy it feels difficult to tolerate. Most of the characters are incredibly flat and lack dimension. Tom Sawyer in the last third is one of the most obnoxious characters ever written. Risking someone’s life and freedom for child’s play? Not the entertaining story you might expect from a story that I’ve heard proclaimed to be anti-slavery. Twain seems very tied to his time, this novel is anything but timeless. If you want to read it for a glimpse into a period in history, I’d still suggest you choose another novel that focuses less on childish folly.

So I've explained a lot of times my problems of speed and lack of attention span while reading classics, and that's the reason why I combine reading the book with listening to the audiobook. With The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn it was no different, but listening to the audio was not only a good idea because it helped me get through it faster, but also because it added to the experience of the Southern accent and the characters' sassiness and attitude. I loved Huck's coming-of-age story in this book and the climactic moment in which, by deciding to save Jim after he's been sold by the king, he is also deciding to choose his own personal values apart from the ones that his society has been telling him to be the correct ones. It is obvious that, while still being able to see past Jim's race and being loyal to him, there are many moments in which we still see present the racist prejudices of the time that have become intricate in the people of the period. Needless to say Jim has become one of my favourite characters of all time. He was both a fatherly figure and a friend to Huck, and his loyalty and love for him were constantly present from the beginning of their journey till the end (just as Huck growing love for him). And, even when Tom Sawyer made him waste his precious time to fulfill the kid's romantic and fantastical plans and schemes to help him escape, he was always an angel about it and even gave up the opportunity to be finally free to be able to save Tom's life. I swear Tom Sawyer had me at the edge of the sit every single page, that kid needs some serious reality check (although he was hilarious, I'll give him that). Literally, what do you mean he was free all along? Without a doubt, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn might be one of my favourites classics to date, which I actually didn't see coming.

A real adventure, I really enjoyed the parts where they were floating down the river as trying to imagine something so far out of my experience was a lot of fun. It was also an interesting peek into life at the time from an admittedly somewhat quirky kid's perspective! 

However, the use of the n word was, once again, a LOT. I gave some serious thought to putting this book down but after reading about it a little I decided to finish it (mostly in private because I was terrified of someone reading it over my shoulder)! 

One particularly interesting article mentioned how this book was both racist and anti-racist. Now the content is definitely pretty racist but at the time of it's writing it was controversial for being so 'abolitionist' which is one of the better demonstrations of 'context of the time it was written' I've seen. 

That said, I think all the articles I read were by white people so need to try harder to find some own voices perspectives which may change my thoughts. 

I enjoyed Hucks perspective just a little bit more than Tom’s, however the language was still hard for me to read. I am very glad I finished it, I won’t pick it up again.

I somehow made it through the American public school system and college without having The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as my assigned reading. I’ve never had a desire to read it, but I saw that Percival Everett recently came out with James, a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. I thought I should read the source material it’s referencing before starting that book.

 

Now, I’m normally someone who vehemently defends classics against charges that they’re boring, but I have no defense for Huckleberry Finn. I found this to be an excruciating read. The plot is a bunch of episodic nonsense strung together with lies, incredibly unbelievable coincidences, and general shitty behavior. I didn’t like the characters or the satire. There were a lot of scenes I found to be straight-up unpleasant in their casual violence (also, lots of animal abuse!). Throughout most of the book, I liked Jim’s character and thought that he was actually supposed to be written to subvert racial stereotypes, but by the end, I realized that was just wishful thinking. The racism in this book is a product of its time, sure, but I think we’ve reached the point where we can let this book go as a beloved American classic.