The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Amazon Classics Edition) Paperback – July 25, 2015

I loved this book in high school so I thought that I would buy it for my kids to read one day when I'm older. Little did I know that buying cheap would be buying weird. I love Huckleberry Finn, but this book is about 12"x9" with huge white gaps in margins and for whatever reason this book has "_" underscores in place of spaces in the weirdest contexts. I feel like I received a manuscript for the publishers to edit out. I'm not sure I'm actually supposed to be holding this. What kind of first draft stuff is this?TLDR; The book is a classic for the ages, but the publishers botched the job

I got this for my daughter's summer reading assignment. I guess I wasn't paying attention, because the first big hint that this is a terrible copy is that they the cover reads "Huckleberry Fin." The book is an odd size (about 8.5"x11") but the text only goes about 4" wide, leaving lots of blank space. There are also random underscores _ everywhere. There isn't a title page or any publishing information, so this is probably done by someone in their garage, and it shows.

There is nothing I can say about Huck that has not been said a thousand time already. Mark Twain is, or was, Mark Twain. And the book reflects the era in which it was written.Jim is the story's most noble of character. Jim is a runaway slave. Jim is black. And, almost always, Jim is introduced by the N-word. A word that is so pejorative today, was surely not intended to be offensive when it was used to introduce kind, loyal, powerful and patient Jim. Today that N-word is only used as a disgusting insult. Hence schools are banning the reading of the book. In my view Mark Twain would understand and would support deleting the word completely or, perhaps, substituting something less hurtful. But, without the author's blessing, that would be considered destructive of literary authenticity.I will leave it to society to determine what should be done. I am glad I could just re-read the book after many years solely for my enjoyment, just as the author intended.

I wonder if somewhere in the Great By and By Mr Clemons is having himself a little chuckle every time some English teacher assigns his tome to another class of befuddled students. Surely the man who created the least literate, most rebellious, and most happily ignorant character in American Lit would appreciate the irony. He might even crack wise at the serious sermonizers and pretentious pontificators lauding his deeply flawed novel as the prodigious. Of all people, Mark Twain would know a sham when he saw one. Even taken in the context of the day, this novel's glaring inadequacies and blunders are hard to miss. But then, he would also recognize the American-ness of the response, as well, the salesman's spiel, the overblown praise, the pumped up pomposity, the urgent, if insecure, need to apply superlatives. For, like his book, America has all of the same qualities, and in that regard, it is indeed The Greatest Most Perfectest American Novel Ever Written!

I first read about Tom Sawyer, the Huck Finn when I was seven or eight years old, and have reread both several times. That's what makes a book a Classic, is that you can read them time after time, over a lifetime, and they will still set your imagination on fire, and, you will always find some little conceit, some word play, or opinion, that Twain has added to the story line. As with the differing speech patterns, dialects, etc, noted in the preface, Mr Clements writes with a precision, and a smooth flow, that one becomes so involved in the story, ends up reading Jim's, or Aunt Sally's neighbor's accents as if that's your very own lingo.As I said, I read about Huck and Tom, long before I ever heard of the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, or any of the Fifties numerous Child's adventures. My first and second grade teachers have me good grades, besides notes on every report card, saying things like. " Herman doesn't like to participate in class, and seems to daydream a lot. Well, Duh, I was reading at a sixth-grade level before I ever heard of stupid " Dick and Jane", and their babyish buddy's.

It's a real shame someone didn't do their job and overlooked the very blatant error on the cover! It's got beautiful Norman Rockwell cover art and deserves better from the publishing house. It's otherwise very good quality and the original art prints (although a little too faint for my liking) are a wonderful curiosity and and peek into a time long gone. I'm glad to add it to my library but dissapointed. This book could have been a real gem.

This is not the original work. They call it ‘unabridged’ and that’s deceptive. They don’t point out the editing anywhere. If your goal is to read an original classic, this is not the 600 page book you want. Very deceptive. I’m a big boy and deserve to be told when it’s a new version.

Ashamed to say that I had reached my 60s before actually reading the whole of Huckleberry Finn (after having read Tom Sawyer, also for the first time, and you do need to have read that first). I hadn't realised how good a story-teller Mark Twain was, and if you haven't already done so I would thoroughly recommend them to you. OK, the world is rightly more politically correct now and you have to remember the culture that Twain was writing into, but even this is something of an eye-opener on the white-black divide in Mississippi at the time, but with a good deal of humour mixed in. The story requires you to suspend reality checks to some extent; for example, Huck is totally uneducated and in his early teens, but seems to have an excellent grasp of the geography along the river; perhaps he had just hitched rides on the riverboats and kept his ears open. Unlike 'Tom Sawyer', this book is written in first-person and with phonetic spelling; you just have to read with a Deep South accent!The loss of one star is for the Kindle version, which had an irritatingly large number of words joined together - e.g. 'I tellyouifI catchyoumeddlingwithhimagain' - which you become surprisingly quick at decoding but was a bit wearing.If you've not read it - now's your chance.

This is a really entertaining read that gets better and better the further you get into it, and becomes hilarious once Tom Sawyer arrives on the scene towards the end.My understanding is that this book was removed from being taught in school on the grounds of racism, which I find utterly bizarre. It is true that throughout the book slaves are referred to using the n***** word, which is obvious distasteful. But the book is a reflection of its time and this word is primarily used by white people to illustrate their bigotry and ignorance. Throughout the book slaves are portrayed as altruistic, considerate, warm-hearted and family orientated, whilst all the fraudsters and violent drunks, including Huck's father, are white.That aside, this is a very funny book in which Huck gets into all kinds of scrapes along with Jim, a slave he is trying to free.Personally I found Tom Sawyer the most engaging character despite his late appearance. Indeed, Tom and Huck as a double act come across as a childish precursor for the likes of Morecambe and Wise with Tom and as the daft Eric and Huck as the straighter Ernie.I wonderfully entertaining and occasionally thought provoking read.

Like the large size........... but not very well laid out (no pictures, just Jpeg reference, whats that all about?............ wish I had bought a more expensive and different laid out one

I had never read any of these stories previously but it soon becomes apparent why they are included in the classic novels. Soon got used to the dialect by reading it in context. An excellent and uplifting account of people thrown together in dire circumstances and the human spirit which carried them along. Perhaps not for the current PC generation but a great snapshot of history.

I totally didn't know what to expect with this book after reading tom sawyer. but this is even better! It amazed me and surprised me about the adventures. A really good insight into what life was like back then, though author says there is no moral, it seems to have a lot of modern outlook to me, pointing out the unjust treatment of slaves, trickery of con men, strange ways of town folk, dangers of small minded villagers, and all the time centring around the innocence of boyhood, young male outlook, the inner teacher a boy can follow, the kindness and judgement he can learn to develop. OK, there is a repeated word, not used today, and offensive to people of African origin beginning with 'N', I daren't quote it here. However, it was used as in the original text and is correct in its historical usage. Be aware if passing this onto a child and decide for yourself how they may take on board or understand about this aspect in the language. but otherwise a great book. came on time.