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A review by mmcloe
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I somehow managed to avoid this in my American high school education but I'm glad that I'm able to encounter this book for the first time with a fairly critical and practiced eye.
I have a lot of respect for Twain's almost-anthropological approach to depicting dialect (though Jim's was way too over the top sometimes) and the odd little ins and outs of a rapidly shifting American society/understanding of childhood. I think this novel is a serious benchmark in ushering in of a new mode of American prose distinct from the high Romanticism of the books which came earlier.
Twain's attempt at being not racist towards Jim provides an incredibly illustrative example (intentional or otherwise) of how Blackness is (mis)represented through the narrative force of white writing. I'd be interested to see a novel written from Jim's perspective.
I have a lot of respect for Twain's almost-anthropological approach to depicting dialect (though Jim's was way too over the top sometimes) and the odd little ins and outs of a rapidly shifting American society/understanding of childhood. I think this novel is a serious benchmark in ushering in of a new mode of American prose distinct from the high Romanticism of the books which came earlier.
Twain's attempt at being not racist towards Jim provides an incredibly illustrative example (intentional or otherwise) of how Blackness is (mis)represented through the narrative force of white writing. I'd be interested to see a novel written from Jim's perspective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Minor: Death and Violence