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terynce 's review for:
Reread for the first time, probably since high school. I think it more or less holds up; if it were written today, I'd think it was thin in places, but mostly hits the same notes, if not with the same intensity.
There was a quote from Hemmingway (I think) that Huck Finn was the great American novel, but that you must stop reading it before the last chapters. I didn't recall disliking them in high school as much as I did here, but they were quite the diversion from what came before.
In terms of other great American novels, the end of Huck Finn is as different from the beginning as Go Set a Watchman is from To Kill a Mockingbird. It's as if Twain ran out of gas and replaced the fuel with pond water.
Tom is a menace and not a lovable one here. He seems incapable of learning. He can lie quick enough and get himself into and out of scraps with a wonderful imagination, but you don't get the impression that he's actually changed by anything around him. Huck doesn't count himself as quick as Tom, but he actually learns from his surroundings and experiences. As for Jim, he was a character that existed for Huck to learn the lessons needed. The juxtaposition is striking, as Hemmingway said.
I'm looking forward to reading James, where I assume Jim will be more than a foil for Huck, and hopefully a somehow more satisfying ending.
There was a quote from Hemmingway (I think) that Huck Finn was the great American novel, but that you must stop reading it before the last chapters. I didn't recall disliking them in high school as much as I did here, but they were quite the diversion from what came before.
In terms of other great American novels, the end of Huck Finn is as different from the beginning as Go Set a Watchman is from To Kill a Mockingbird. It's as if Twain ran out of gas and replaced the fuel with pond water.
Tom is a menace and not a lovable one here. He seems incapable of learning. He can lie quick enough and get himself into and out of scraps with a wonderful imagination, but you don't get the impression that he's actually changed by anything around him. Huck doesn't count himself as quick as Tom, but he actually learns from his surroundings and experiences. As for Jim, he was a character that existed for Huck to learn the lessons needed. The juxtaposition is striking, as Hemmingway said.
I'm looking forward to reading James, where I assume Jim will be more than a foil for Huck, and hopefully a somehow more satisfying ending.