Review: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

 

This is the infamous sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain. I read it because I'm looking to read this retelling and I had not read this novel in a long time. The book starts with Huck living the good life - he's got money in the bank and is living with a widow with minimal expenses.  But he's getting very antsy and misses adventure. Interestingly, his internal struggle over big moral questions - most notably helping Jim to freedom in the North - is at the heart of this novel. Huck ultimately decides to go on new adventures with Jim and Tom when his abusive father returns. When living with his father becomes unendurable, Huck fakes his own death and takes off with Jim. They start up the Mississippi with the hope of getting to Cairo, Illinois, so that Jim can resume life as a free man. 

It is hard to put aside the fact that Twain uses the "n" word a lot - definitely at least a hundred times. It's very jarring. I wonder if Twain truly believed that language was appropriate or if he meant to shock his readers because I don't recall The Adventures of Tom Sawyer using this word so much.  It actually turned me off to a book that might otherwise have been ok, albeit a slog, to get through. By contrast, the word "slave" or "slavery" is hardly used.  

I appreciated that Twain tried to really humanize Jim and emphasize the friendship between Huck and Jim. I look forward to reading more about Jim in the telling of the Story from his perspective. Jim tells Huck about his life, wife and children and Huck listens. 

In spite of this, I had a very hard time getting through the novel.  The language was a slog and it is constantly jarring to read certain phrases.  Luckily the chapters weren't too long, so I could put it down and come back to it without having to read through so much.