The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." - Ernest Hemingway

Of all the contenders for the title of The Great American Novel, none has a better claim than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley-a sequel to Tom Sawyer-the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck's and Jim's voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor.

John Seelye's introduction discusses the context from which the novel emerged

I started reading this book because it was required for school and I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed reading it. At first, I was wary about it - I had to read Tom Sawyer for school in 8th grade and I didn't like it as much (probably because I had to read it for school). Although the dialect was sometimes difficult to understand, Huck is a very believable and fun character, and to me, his character alone makes up for the sometimes incomprehensible words. However, at times I found myself skipping paragraphs of the book - particularly the details that had to do with the setting. After a while of reading through the very elaborate details, I got bored and had to skip to something that was more interesting. I'm not sure that I skipped these parts because they were extremely boring or because I wanted to get my homework done. Either way, this classic second installment in Twain's "Adventures" series (as I call them) is a must read for anyone who is interested in reading classic American literature.

Overall, I'd rate this book a 4/5.