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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Alameda County Library.
Jul 29, 2019ryner rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
In the Missouri river town where he lives, Huck Finn doesn't really fit in. His abusive drunk of a father is rarely around (arguably a good thing), and had the Widow Douglas not taken him in he'd have nowhere to live at all. The widow naturally aims to civilize him, forcing Huck to attend school, use good manners and learn his catechisms. Through a series of unexpected events he instead finds himself riding a raft down the Mississippi River, accompanied by Jim, an enslaved man making his break for freedom. I first read this classic tale of adventure as assigned reading in (I think?) tenth grade. On this second read-through several of the scenes felt familiar, but many more did not. If you, as a 21st-century reader, can get past the problematic and extremely uncomfortable language throughout, it remains a highly entertaining and humorous story of adventure, danger, subterfuge, cunning and faking one's own death. For me, it also earns extra points for providing a handful of laugh-out-loud moments (e.g., the scene in which eleven dogs suddenly come barreling out from under Jim's bed). I also liked that I really had to scratch my head to parse some of the dialects spoken.