The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain REVIEW

[@alejandroperez1952]

Bolaños had this saying that every novel in America's literature (in the sense of the continent) was either a son of Moby Dick, a question about evil, or a son of Huckleberry Finn, a question of adventure.

[@GaryMartinDobbs]

I read this book at least once a year, and have done so for more than a decade. My favourite book ever

[@hbloc-ei5kf]

Loved your breakdown of this, it’s by far and away my favourite book and I read it once a year. It’s an extremely difficult book to analyse, particularly as times and attitudes progress (or not) I’ve often thought of Jim as the past (in being trapped in a world with backward attitudes and because of his status he is unable to change opinions of others) Tom for me is the present (for although he seems more grown up than the other children and is clearly more intelligent he never appears to grow up through the two books) and obviously Huck is the future (constantly battling with his own moral dilemmas and continually weighing up the pros and cons of his situations trying to appease others by looking at the world through their eyes and yet knowing in his heart what is right and just. He radiates a wisdom and insightful instinct that his upbringing and social standing should never have allowed) he (for me) is the hero of the story. Look forward to listening to some more of your work.

[@gustavoalmeida1528]

I absolutely love your videos and your amazing recomendations. I'm discovering great stuff through your channel, thank you.

[@QZaccardelli]

read twain 20 years ago. great to know he is appreciated by you. you're the man BookChemist!

[@malexander4094]

I've read the book several times since I was a kid, the most recent being a month ago. It has changed every time. Thoughts about the ending, from a month ago: If the ending was literally anything else...all Twain's bite would be instantly de-fanged. Because the ending is, unfortunately, what's realistic. Book Chemist, this really echos your thoughts about the "inverse escapism" & escaping into reality. (Also thinking about this lately as I am reading Against The Day!) Throughout the story, Huck entangles again & again with fancy & fiction: lies we tell ourselves. He embarks on his adventure faking his own death. He consistently sees through the illusions wove by con men, criminals, & dottering well-gooders alike...He isn't fooled by the Royal Nonesuch, the Widow Douglas's heaven, etc. (Also, the power of his own ruses: when he fools Jim & feels bad, or when he doesn't fool a stranger when disguised as a girl.) So for him to go through all that...only in the end to *be fooled* by (whom else!) Tom Sawyer. Who is not only chasing fiction fancies to model his idea of "the way things are," but in fact knows the whole time that Jim's already free...or has he conveniently "forgotten"! Is this him lying to Huck, or just a terribly convenient ignorance...? And either way, Huck goes along with the whole thing. "Exact" is the ending. It reinforces Twain's damning satire, his social criticism you see elsewhere in his work: *no matter how woke we get, or how much moral backbone we grow...do we really change?* *Can we learn & act different? Or are we, ultimately, still all too fallible to our familiar habitudes & peer/group influence?* Who are themselves often slavishly devoted to their own fictions & easy lies of convenience...about doing the Right Thing? *As commentary on his Gilded Age America, in this story of the antebellum America that came before it...I found this also a chilling commentary on the America that was yet to come.* Far from a literary copout or lazy writing, I think this is Twain's last damning stab in the story at audience expectations. Almost any other ending might be too moralizing & sentimental. Anything that implies Huck Finn has gone through glorious Character Development: has been transformed by the events of the novel...when in fact, in the 11th hour of the novel, Huck cries "I'll go to hell" & actually, precisely speaking, *refuses* to change. He isn't a hero. He doesn't care if he's inspiring. Mark Twain did not care to write a Bildungsroman.

[@elim6883]

There's a famous essay by Toni Morrison where she explains why Jim is portrayed the way he is. She also explains his ultimate fate and Finn's role in it.

[@adameggers8146]

I read it in college, many years ago. I do believe that not only is a great American novel, it may be the quintessential American novel. It shows the greatness and the promise of the country and all the ways in which America fails to live up to those promises. I think is important reading but I would not have any idea how to teach it to high school students.

[@JuanReads]

I didn't read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn growing up and, for years, I felt I was too old to read it. You've convinced me to pick it up! Thanks :)

[@johnmoser9731]

I'm almost 30 and I just read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn back to back for the first time. I feel like (at least for men or boys) no matter what your age is you're going to get a lot of feelings from them. It's not like we've forgotten what it's like to be boys.

[@aayushthapa3525]

I recently attended a seminar on Tocqueville. Tocqueville comments on the American household and its literacy in the nineteenth century. Every household had a copy of the Bible... and a volume of the plays of Shkespeare. The professor was really interested in how we could understand the political and social context of democracy in America by thinking about the books they read. He added, "of course the formative book of the twentieth century for the American household was Huck Finn in thinking about things like race and freedom. Sadly that book took a little too long to come out". I think it would be an excellent exercise in understanding the far reaching consequences of the novel to think about the changes it seems to have brought about.

[@robertvaughan4915]

I read Tom Sawyer a few weeks prior to reading Huckleberry and I am gland I did. As you mentioned Huckleberry continues from the Tom Sawyer saga as it provides a summary of Huck's involvement in that book. Both books are good but I liked Huckleberry more. The best part is the hilarious antics Tom(who appears in this book near the end) and Huck go through to free Jim(runaway slave). The book can be a bit flat in the middle where 2 con artists join Huck and Jim on their raft. But it is well worth getting to the part where Tom comes into the story. Thanks for the review.

[@johnmoser9731]

I like when you talk about the violence between the rival families. I agree, it's was really disturbing to me and it's interesting they don't go into great detail about it. I think that's why it's so disturbing. I imagine myself as a young person like Huck and seeing some of the horrors he saw and it freaks me out.

[@jasonburleson9403]

This is for sure a classic but it was Life on the Mississippi that really convinced me of Twain's genius

[@InterestingStuff888]

This book has always considered one of the greatest novels of the American literature. Usually "mainstream" and acclaimed books mean nothing to me , but in this case this book deserves the popularity cause it's truly a great novel. My favorite characters are The King and The Duke. They are absolutely hillarious and funny af. The best part of the book begins when they meet those two con men. The "racist" accusations and blah blah and stuff is obviously BS. The books is simply a product lf its time. Ignoring and changing history is stupid. it's better to explain your children about the situation in those times and let them decide what they feel about that, then to change, ignore or replace great western culture and history. That being said, there's nothing really "racist" in this book. On the contrary, if you have more than 2 braincells and actually read the damn book instead of blindly following trends and massmedia, you would see for yourself that Jim is one of the protagonists and quite a sympathetic character. aand If you have more than 4 braincells, you would discover as well, that some of the things from the book that hurts modern readers butt - it's just humor, sarcasm, just Mark Twain takin piss on anyone with his dry humor cause he was that kinda guy.

[@malexander4094]

Strongly recommend: "Huck Finn's America" by Andrew Levy. For us, the racism is the strongest element of controversy, but in its day (& some time after) it was controversial for its violence, in keeping with the violence of "boy's adventure" dime novels, much today as violence is criticized in video games. Take the n-word out if you wish; but the violence remains, & with it some of Twain's strongest criticisms of racism. The great example of both is actually your 11:44 observation...spot on! It's damning!

[@QZaccardelli]

speaking of great introductions, my favorite is William Gass' intro to The Recognitions. it's as mind bending as Gaddis' book, and convinced me to get The Tunnel by Gass. although I'm a slacker and haven't read The Tunnel yet.

[@wburris2007]

I was 12 in 1970, and I am not sure if it was before or after this that I read Huck Finn. I remember enjoying it more than Tom Sawyer, because of the adventure aspects. 1970 is about when I discovered science fiction, so I was probably younger than 12 when I read Huck Finn. Age 13 is probably when I was reading Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and H G Wells.

[@capnbusterfield]

I usually don't like authors hitchhiking on the masterpiece novel Huckleberry Finn but there is a great novel "Finn" by Jon Clinch. A very dark novel about Pap Finn.

[@lagaleria.arteycultura]

I love this novel

[@ericgrabowski3896]

Super Dope book!! Great review.

[@ShellyflowersReadsandWrites]

I really love how you paired this problematic book with a counterpart that could respond to it. I think that’s the best way to handle and grapple with the realities of literature that was once groundbreaking but can now be understood as problematic.

[@forestray3724]

My understanding of Huck Finn's use of racial slurs was that Twain was trying desperately to depict the real brutality and omnipresence of racism and its language at the time, and that definitely played into Jim's portrayal as well. Therefore in my mind censoring it and trying to remove an element of racism and racial slurs from the book would be to undermine everything it was setting out to do in the first place; to miss the point entirely. Twain makes us confront the brutality and ubiquity of racism and the devaluation of human life that America was founded upon, more so than any book I have read from that period. Of course, Twain was a man deeply tied to his temporality and location, but it was precisely because of this, paired with an empathy which he harbored at a time and a place so horrendously lacking in any kind of compassion or human understanding, that enabled him to depict the systems in which he was enmeshed for what they really were. If you ask me, it was this very brutal observation of the present that in fact was what made him so ahead of his time.

[@robertlucido3686]

When I was younger and whenever I heard someone say, "Huckleberry Finn," I would say, "Don't you mean Huckleberry Railroad?"

[@thomevs1389]

you should review nightwood by djuna barnes!

[@nikchemnyk]

I attempted to reread it recently and was so bummed by the section about a dead girl and its puzzling humor (she liked writing poetry and painting pictures about dead people and then suddenly died herself! It's ironic!) I just couldn't do it.

[@WsFood]

반갑습니다. 영상 잘봤어요.😊👍

[@dosesandmimoses]

And this is why I love tarintino’s Django Unchained remake. I think it’s the antidote to the issues Twain presents. But don’t get it twisted.. This sentence is only me appreciating that the Django remake offers one alternative. I’m interested in seeing if there are more literary releases of women in “extraordinary wealthy positions” that maintain ethical standards to overcome the dynamics that readers for decades read (and may have formed belief) because variety of themes and characters were unavailable. I also hope that Sawyer’s father remains a strong presence to help Sawyer .. well you know .. blah blah blah. If I had the chance.. I would you know throw on some “Roll Right” by R.A.T.M. And ensure that both genders have manners .. so that this amazing world can be appreciated instead of being taken for granted. Better yet.. youngbloodz.. don’t want none, don’t start none.. simple!

[@sebastianwang670]

unrelated to the video, but do you prefer paperback or hardcover?

[@TheBookchemist]

Paperback, always!

[@duffypratt]

The trouble with the ending is that Huck doesn’t actually do anything to solve his, or Jim’s, problems. It could have easily been different, and it should have gone all the way down to New Orleans. There are lots of other ways the novel could have ended. In the end, I think Twain felt safer doing Tom Sawyer, even while poking fun at, and deconstructing, Tom.

[@vanishing_girl]

to me the biggest influence on this novel is clearly Don Quixote, it's kinda the American answer to it

[@TheBookchemist]

Interestingly, in the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition, Peter Coveney remarks that Twain was a great admirer of Cervantes, and vastly disliked Walter Scott and his imitators because he thought they'd brought back a certain fascination with adventure & honor (and, consequently, with violence and medieval ideals) that Cervantes had done so much to deconstruct.

[@sherryfyman7066]

I loved your review. I’m rereading Huck Finn and would like to comment on Twain’s use of the n word. I knew to expect a provocative situation and, of course, Twain’s use of the word is deeply troubling but the use of that word is only the tip of the iceberg. As I began reading the book and encountering the n word as often as Twain uses it, I thought the question would be, is this Twain’s own views or is he merely doing what he has to do to create a realistic character? But as I read on, I realized that’s the wrong question. The impact of this book has been so broad and lasting we have to ask how the views, stereotypes and characterizations have contributed to racism and white supremacy. What strikes me most about the racism expressed in Huck is the profoundly and deliberately false portrayal of slavery. Twain wrote Huck Finn in 1885, long after both the Civil War and the failure of Reconstruction, so in depicting conditions of slaves and escaped slaves, surely Twain knew better. When Jim is locked up in the cabin on the Phelps farm, we’re told that he’s brought plates piled high with food each morning. In Beloved, though, Toni Morrison drew a horrifying counter portrayal: A mother hanging from a tree, the vile debasement of a nursing mother, scars so deep from whipping that they make a design of a tree on a woman’s back, a bloodied dead baby, the ultimate symbol of how truly horrific slavery was. Twain describes slaves throughout as basically unpaid household help. “Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle. Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood. In a way, he thought, they were right. The more coloredpeople spent their strength trying to convince them how gentle they were, how clever and loving, how human, the more they used themselves up to persuade whites of something Negroes believed could not be questioned, the deeper and more tangled the jungle grew inside. But it wasn’t the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other (livable) place. It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread. In, through and after life, it spread, until it invaded the whites who had made it. Touched them every one. Changed and altered them. Made them bloody, silly, worse than even they wanted to be, so scared were they of the jungle they had made. The screaming baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own.” It’s also curious that Twain wrote Huck Finn in 1885, long after both the Civil War and the failure of Reconstruction. Huck Fin is an enduring classic that should be widely read and discussed. Foundational in its creation of the myth of American independence of spirit, it also illustrates how the toxicity of racism seeped into popular culture and how white Americans have willfully ignored what it meant and what it took to own another human being,

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you so much for your comment, Sherry - you make some really valid points! Just goes to show how easily we can be "persuaded" by stories to embrace a certain view of a specific moment in history; there's a great danger there, and I believe literature can teach us and warn us about it (if, as you say, we read it critically and make sure to discuss it!)

[@themetalhead92g]

Was thinking of reading this one after moby dick.... And I think you gave me an interesting enough perspective to do so.... I find the communication between comments, videos, and review reading rather peculiar. I follow you on the tube for a number of years now and it is strange to think that there is someone out there whose opinion on books you value, watch his analyses on literature and quite literally watch through a lens on a screen. You have never met him and he doesn't know what you look like but that is not a diminishing factor for any of the things he provides. Well..... I hope one day will exchange opinions about books in a more traditional way.... And all this magnifies my appreciation for face to face tutoring not so long ago when i was in earning my university diploma..... But I digress for fear of already being tedious.

[@thisissilly9544]

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are better than anti depressants.

[@christinacascadilla4473]

Isn’t Huck’s use of the racial slur there to at first show how Huck is just a product of his society and then to show how he starts thinking for himself when he stops using it? That whole dynamic character thing. Hemingway was correct-the ending of this novel was a little weak.

[@malexander4094]

'Til a recent re-read, I'd previously found the ending weak, almost to the point of forgetfulness. However, on this re-read, something entirely different struck me about the ending: I think it's part of how Twain is challenging readers. Left a (long) comment above.