Well, I’ve just finished reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and I didn’t find it as interesting as Tom Sawyer. It lacked complex relationships and did not keep my interest through some of the chapters. It is not that I had trouble with the dialects, because I enjoyed deciphering the words.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn consisted of two main characters, Huck and Jim. Their relationship kept my attention, mimicking a father/son bond while travelling down the river. It was the added characters, especially the King and Duke, that I found were unnecessary to the storyline, and the numerous chapters dedicated to them could have been condensed into something that would keep the reader’s attention.
I also became bored with the saga of preparing for Jim’s escape. I understand that Tom Sawyer loves his adventures, but this part read like an epic novel. Clarifying the use of the spoons, candlestick, pie tins, rats, snakes, and rope ladder was unnecessary filler that just made me beg for Jim’s inevitable release.
I actually enjoyed the portion set aside for the Grangerford family – the description of the house and family was long enough to leave me informed, but did not bog me down with useless details.
If I had to choose between the two books, I would definitely recommend Tom Sawyer over Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to anyone who asked.
Hi Cathy,
ReplyDeletethough I think HF a great novel in many ways, I tend to agree with you about the King and the Duke and the endless preparation for Jim's escape. I think both sections demonstrate how MT wrote himself into a corner with Huck and Jim going down the river together. As a popular author writing in the 1880s, he knew he could not keep writing about their struggle for freedom without writing an unpopular book, so he changed directions. The middle section is social satire of picaresque anecdotes, while the final section is low comedy farce. Yet I still see more depth to HF than I do in TS, though this year I found much more to appreciate in TS than in past years. dw
I do find it very interesting how Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are both remarkably different stories. TS does seem to have much more action and plot to it. Huck Finn kept my attention during the first part of the novel, however, toward the end I began to lose some interest. The second half of the novel takes some very interesting turns, and becomes incredibly random! But I think that both novels are great ones to read by Twain.
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