Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

77 reviews

emmacb's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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. 
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amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny informative lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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.
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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

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. 
 
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kreglow's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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sha's review against another edition

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adventurous funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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scoobygirl93's review against another edition

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3.0

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tkj1505's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

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evetoi's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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hilltroy99's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.5

Growing up, I thought this book was supposed to be super challenging for it's time, but after reading it, it seems like that was some kind of a fib. I was truly shocked by how bad the ending is. Jim is nothing more than a sidekick who is written out of the book for huge chunks of it, and the last 12 chapters aren't just tedious, they're cruel but it's clear that Twain thought what was going on was really funny. At the end, I'm left feeling like the book didn't have a spine, structurally or morally, and while I'm not sorry I read it, I'm sorry for how disappointing it was.
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izzylin24's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Would not have picked this up if it weren’t for a class.
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