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Slavery is part of the background fabric evident in how Tom and his friend Huck Finn channel small town social attitudes they are too young to evaluate, though Huck reveals something of a rising consciousness more fully explored in the later novel devoted to him, which is much more an adult level fiction. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is the ur-young adult novel that serves adults equally well. The world Twain creates is airtight and every action, every character is faithful to it. The sequels published some years later are not included in this volume.
The unabridged Dover Thrift edition is decently crafted with no adornment. There is no critical introduction, only Twain's own original preface. I know I enjoyed it much more this time around, especially the satire of small town education. I haven't returned to this book since 4th grade.
On top of this, Twain's narrative voice twinkles with wit and irony worthy of any adult literature. Mostly, this is a very sunny view of a boy's life in an idyllic setting that yields more than enough adventure. I distinguish it as YA because of its salient attributes: young protagonist in charge; a world seen from the child's perspective; adults not so prominent or in charge or particularly admirable; strong use of dialogue; and a structured episodic plot that is fluent with satisfying cause and effect action. If Tom's unabashed goal is to successfully manipulate his environment for fun and personal gain, Huck's is the attainment of personal freedom.
It is funny most of the time, and when it is not so funny, it is thrilling or poignant, though the poignancy is kept to an unsentimental minimum.Published in 1876, Twain conceived this more as a historical novel set as it is in his visitable past of an antebellum slave-holding community on the Mississippi. Not a hair out of place. Really, this is a book for all ages, all time.
The treatment of blacks and even the terms when referring to blacks are important elements of American History; not necessarily proud, but important as we have evolved so much and need to educate and remind ourselves of the past, both pleasant and non-pleasant. Tom Sawyer was my first adventure book I read as a young boy. For under a $1, how can one go wrong for a book that brings back memories of a 10 year old, now 30 years ago. Mark Twain must have had quite a thesaurus available as his usage of words and grammar puts many a contemporary writer to shame.I bought this specific publication of Tom Sawyer, instead of the free classics because it had foot-notes that described many key words, sayings using appropriate historical context of the mid 1800's. As a adult, I am reminded of the mischief and cunning and adventure sought by young Sawyer. I also wish many would not try as they do to remove and sensor this book from Public School due to some racial content.
Even though there's not a lot going on here plot-wise, the story grips the reader. He can write a clever sentence like nobody's business, and his dialogue, characters and story developments are all highly entertaining. Twain's wit is what carries this book.
In this review, I will not attempt to analyze it from any pretentious literary perspective, but rather as just another novel. Certainly Tom has many experiences that theoretically lend themselves to the maturation process, but at the end, he lapses back into his more childlike behavior. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a novel by Mark Twain, originally published in 1876.
He is a "bad boy" when the book starts, and he is a "bad boy" when it ends (albeit a wealthy and popular one). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an enormously entertaining book, and if taken purely for entertainment value, will not disappoint any discerning reader. In this novel, Tom Sawyer, a boy who lives with his aunt on the Mississippi River in Missouri, has all kinds of adventures, most of which involve misbehaving in some way.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer does not seem to be a coming-of-age story, as it initially may appear to be.
If I could have a quarter for every time the N word is thrown around, I'd be rich.Avoid this and all other Twain if you can help it. The blatant racism my have played a part. I, like most others, was forced to read this in school, and do every report/test/quiz/reflection/story "dissection" that came with it. I couldn't get into the story at all.
He does not go out of his way to give lengthy, dull descriptions or even fully flesh out the details of just what Tom and his friends are doing. I somehow tragically managed to make my way to adulthood with never reading anything but the kiddie version of this book. Really, people, it is no wonder that this book is such a classic. Everyone should read it.
It has all the great elements of a good boy story, what with the murders and buried treasure and faked deaths and hoodoo--not to mention the delight taken away by discovery of bacteria.I'm also a huge fan of this Whole Story edition. It's beautiful, easy to carry around, and I guess I'm a sucker for the documentary feature.Fantastic, fun story. I don't know how many poor students have been tricked into believing it is not. It's fun.
No deep analysis of character that takes you right inside of Tom Sawyer's psyche, nothing blatantly philosophical. Even, so the writing is unparalleled.And it truly is a great story. When I found this book for super-cheap in the teachers' lounge book sale and I figured "hey, why not." And thus I picked it up and immediately fell in love with the sheer Old-South charm that only Twain can deliver. It gives it a charming, folksy style that allows for plenty of plot and action.
Twain lives to simply tells us into what trouble Tom is getting. It may not have the soulful human reflections of "Huckleberry Finn", but in the solemn concern for the pleasures of boyhood it certainly makes its own mark.Mark Twain tells the story purely from a storyteller's view. It is as if Mr.
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