I’m quickly approaching my library’s Summer Reading Program Book BINGO #2, but this one was painful. According to the bookmark I found in this book, I read one chapter in 2017 (following my reading of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), and decided no, not now, I can’t. At this point in my life, it is the only book that could fill the “read a book you started but never finished” square in my BINGO card, because I have only ever quit two books and, well, now I’ve read both of those…
Book 28:
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Genre:
Classic, Fiction, Historical Fiction
Published:
December 1884
Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about rebel, Huck Finn’s escape from civilization with runaway slave, Jim. The two set off on a raft down the Mississippi in search equally of adventure and independence. Along the way, they cross paths with people who challenge their perspective on friendship, morality and love – setting them in a trajectory of clinging to one another in a way that will change their lives forever.
Favorite Quote(s):
“Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.”
– Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Awards (based upon my brief research):
I’m not actually certain many books published in the 1800s were given awards… Are awards a 1900s thing?
Pages:
292
My Overall Rating:
1 – I mean, this is considered “the first American novel”. It is like the classics of classics in American literature, and I. Just. Couldn’t.
I love the idea of reading classics. I think it’s generally good practice to do so – they wouldn’t require so many of them in school if that weren’t the case, right? But, as I mentioned with The Red Pony, I just don’t get it.
To give it some credit, I read the whole book as if Huck Finn were the actual author. The narration was on point. However, much of the story just felt fine. Huck and Jim were floating down the Mississippi river without a care in the world. There was room for so much adventure, but so much of their adventure was at the mercy of their imaginations and not lived out.
The final 50 pages in this particular edition (the time at the Phelps’ farm) were solid, funny and interesting. But that was still not enough to pull me out of my Huck Finn drudgery.
