Huckelberry Finn by Mark Twain (1885) Illu.

An awesome page turner... for the 1st 2/3s. The moment Tom Sawyer shows up the book spirals out of control. I have not read Tow Sayer and its not on my list if it is anything like the Huck Finn version of Tom.

This rendering of Huck fishing for dinner is so alluring its hard to look at; a level of serenity that can only be found in childhood (or a book.)

The entire thing is in "Southern Speak" and once you get used to it, its fun. I don't know much about Clemens but he had influences from both north and south, he did however grow up, work on, and live on the Great Mississippi.

The King an the duke are such rascals, thieving, cheating, bums. They are the another example of Huck's "follower" nature; he followed his father, he followed Tom, as well as these two bums. Huck usually took the lazy way out and couldn't see, was blind too, or lacked the proper leadership, to value education; that education that his aunt offered.

I suppose it really is a child's dream book serving the purpose of providing an escape unlike no one can have anymore.

So Huck goes along learning life lessons or not, but often takes the time to reflect; its great. He regularly finds himself in unwinable situations... "damned if you do or damned if you don't." Constantly reviewing his moral compass he was doing better and better only to backslide upon Tom's arrival. I was really rooting for his overall recovery from the dark side but ultimately he freely expresses that he is just a bad person and so there is no turning back.

The thing with Tom and his ridiculous schemes is that Huck could have said "NO" or "your an idiot" but instead goes along as if he had no choice. Twain never gives a reason for Huck's lack of spine other than his apparent low self esteem.

I can't resist thinking about (and living through) the wonderful world BC, to not know anything about relatives and friends once they are out of sight. It seems like it would be so stressful and yet we speak of this very little, now of course we complain of knowing too much.