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I have tried on many occasions to like these books, but I can't seem to make it happen. Reading about old Huck in highschool was painful. Not because of the subject matter, but because it was so slow and I felt like the writing was 'dumbed down' and that really bothered me. What do you think? Am I alone here?

I agree. Huck is rather tedious. Indeed, it is slow moving. Kind of like rafting on a slow river actually, which fits the theme of the book. I wonder if that was intentional.

As for Mark Twain's writing in general, I liked Tom Sawyer better. Especially the parts when Huck shows up, ironically.

Try reading his travelogues instead, like "Roughing it" or "The Innocents Abroad". Also, why not some of his essays, such as "Corn Pone Opinions". They're full of wit, wisdom, and humor, and they're the reason I love Twain.

My absolute favorite is "Letters from the Earth", read it in an empty room in case you start laughing like a maniac.

I do agree though, Huck and Tom were a bit slow at times and definitely not my favorites.

Give ol' Twain another shot!

Actually, I think Mark Twain is one of the best writers in history, and Huck Finn his best novel.

"Huck Finn" is a masterpiece and was shocking to many people when Twain published it. That said, I couldn't get through "The Gilded Age." Twain's journalism is exceptionally sharp, as is his social commentary. And one of the best travel books is "A Tramp Abroad."

His writing style was known for making use of the vernacular because Twain wanted to be accessible. I assume this is what you're referring to when you say "dumbing down", and I'm personally sorry you didn't like it. It is, after all, what he's famous for, aside from his social commentary and the daring he would tackle issues that he considered controversial for his time.

It's hard not to like a writer who said: "Imagine you're an idiot. Now imagine you're a member of Congress. But wait. I repeat myself."

I just don't like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. I do like the Prince and Pauper, though.

Try reading The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. I laughed aloud with this one.

haven't read much of him but am astonishly glad he existed. basically a sharp, sensible, humous man and one of those writers the world is a better place for having had - see also steinbeck, cervantes, james joyce and jean rhys

haven't read much of him but am astonishly glad he existed. basically a sharp, sensible, humourous man and one of those writers the world is a better place for having had - see also steinbeck, cervantes, james joyce and jean rhys

I like Mark Twain but I'm a bit outraged by his comments about Jane Austen:

"I haven't any right to criticise books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."
- Letter to Joseph Twichell, 13 September 1898

Francene wrote: "I like Mark Twain but I'm a bit outraged by his comments about Jane Austen:

"I haven't any right to criticise books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Auste..."


i may not agree with the criticism but damn it is funny

Francene wrote: "I like Mark Twain but I'm a bit outraged by his comments about Jane Austen:

"I haven't any right to criticise books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Auste..."


i may not agree with the criticism but damn it is funny

bookbabe wrote: "Try reading The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. I laughed aloud with this one."


Couldn't agree more. The ending is fantastic.

Mark Twain can say what he wants about Jane Austen, but the fact is, there's a similarity between Pudd'nhead Wilson and Pride and Prejudice.

From the beginning of Pudd'nhead: "There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless."

From Darcy in the Netherfield Hall scenes: "The wisest and the best of men - nay, the wisest and best of their actions - may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke."

Perhaps it's just a universal observation by two satirists, but I think the wording is very close.

Mark Twain is my all time favorite author. You haven't given him a chance. Try Roughing It, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, or Innocents Abroad. They're written for adult readers and are hilarious.

Try having someone else read it to you. Buy an audio version of the book, or hire a grandfather. Make sure it's a grandfather with an appreciation for literature, good eyes, and well-fitting dentures.

This points out a larger conflict between the styles of writing which were prized up until the internet age, and the fast-paced, plot-driven work that is the most popular now. People now get the media gratification fast. Fast on TV, and now, fast reads. Reads which take more time, and expect a more thoughtful, less strictly emotional response are no longer considered enjoyable. It's just a reflection of the way our culture has changed since the personal media explosion.

Richard wrote: "This points out a larger conflict between the styles of writing which were prized up until the internet age, and the fast-paced, plot-driven work that is the most popular now. People now get the me..."

What you say is true, however, as it pertains to both Huck and Tom, I believe the real culprit is the growing disconnect of modern readers (the YA crowd) with anything remotely resembling a classic "childhood". The days of harmless mischief and safe wanderings have been replaced with longer school days, TV, PCs, videogames, and other fabricated amusements.
I grew up in the south of Argentina, and vividly remember heading out of town to the rivers and lakes with friends, to swim, fish, plink with slingshots, etc. Thus, I can relate to the adventures of both Huck and Tom, and appreciate it. I somehow don't believe the children of the internet age particularly care for those things anymore.

Living nearby Samuel Clemens's home town is a boon. We have visited many times and wandered through the caves he describes in his books, saw Becky Thatcher's childhood home, the river where he would watch the steamboats pass by, and the white picket fence he tried to not paint.

It really helped make his stories come to life.

I also agree with others in that my childhood was filled with wandering through the nearby creek for hours, playing outside until the streetlights came on, and basically using our imagination to entertain ourselves, rather than rely on electronics.

It's much harder today to imagine a world where a locked front door meant you were either out of town or the house was empty.

My faves were Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

I simply don't enjoy his books. I have read more than the two that I listed in the original post, but I just don't find him as funny as other authors. He and Joseph Conrad wrote the two books that I have read that I wouldn't re-read if you paid me. It isn't that I don't enjoy a good narrative, or even that I don't understand what he was trying to do by using that writing style- I just didn't enjoy it. I love other books that employ a similar approach such as anything by Steinbeck, To Kill a Mockingbird, Old Man and the Sea, and Little Women. These all involve dialogue that is written to imitate spoken quirks. It is only Mark Twain that (for me) turns what is meant to be a adventurous tale into a bit of a snooze-fest. I actually didn't make it all the way through Connecticut Yankee, one of only a small handful of books that I have ever stopped reading without finishing. I think that it is just a difference in taste. Apparently the answer is yes, I am alone in my complete disinterest of the writings of Mark Twain.

I might give him one last shot with Tramp Abroad though, we shall see. I WANT to like him, I just don't feel like I have had any good reason to do so thus far.

I surely am fond of Mark Twain. One of my favorite books EVER is Life on the Mississippi. I'm also a real fan of Roughing It, his short stories and essays. One of my favorite experience involving Twain: We had brought our first child home from the hospital. During those first few late-night feedings, I read The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg out loud to my little baby. At 43 years old, he's still a reader. Thank you, Mark Twain...

Hey Rebecca, you are not alone. Count me in.

Mark Twain mostly wrote children stories (for adults) . I think if we ignore the period, the setting the characters and the plots of his stories and concentrate on his diction, we may find it very powerful.

I was going to suggest A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, but I see you didn't care for that one. I quite like it, although it gets a bit dark towards the end...a definite change of tone, I think. But yes, everyone has different taste. Just because something is a "classic" doesn't mean everyone will like it. =)

I find it brilliant that Twain uses a young boy to teach adults about the evils of racism, jealousy, and hatred.

I want to like Mark Twain, but I find, in all honesty, I mostly only like pithy Mark Twain quotations. I've never made it through a Mark Twain book I wasn't required to read for school.

Listen to them on librivox and make sure they are narrated by John Greenman. It's free.

I have to agree with Argento- i grew up with an idyllic childhood of climbing trees, eating berries, and catching snakes. It was painful and active and half wild. Kids are missing out on a wider world, and it affects how they relate to a lot of literature- Ray Bradbury was another one that has become somewhat inaccessible to some because of his childhood reminiscences.
At the same time, I never liked Twain much, either. Short stuff, yes- long stuff, irritating. Not the pace neccessarily, but some underlying attitude. On a good day he reads a satirist, on a bad, he reads a snarky bully type.

I've been recording my own reading of The Innocents Abroad. This has forced me into a close reading of this material. What I've noticed most is just how relevant to today are his comments on things of 146 years ago. Huck Finn remains my favorite book of all time, however, and I'm particularly fond of the latest edition from The University of California Press.

Huckleberry Finn is one of favorite novels. It combines brilliant storytelling, unforgetable characters, and incisive social commentary.

If you don't like Twain's novels, give "Letters from Earth" a try.

Having grown up reading classic English literature, Twain came to me like a total breath of fresh air: his sympathy with his lower-class characters was clearly real, his use of dialect gave his work fantastic vitality, and I loved his humourous dissection of establishment morality. When I came to write my first novel for teens it was Twain's voice I was trying to emulate. Having said that, why should everyone like the same books? We don't all like the same people. We don't all have the same values.

Rebecca wrote: "I have tried on many occasions to like these books, but I can't seem to make it happen. Reading about old Huck in highschool was painful. Not because of the subject matter, but because it was so sl..."

You have to keep it in context of the time it was written, the audience it was written for and then it becomes the American classic it is.

We have all become adrenaline junkies..

Any writer receives criticism and debates over his writings is whether a realistic writer who opposed some existing facts or he is a visionary that his readers haven't the ability to comprehend and figure out what he meant .I think ,we should do what s called extrinsic reading ,in a word to know about what circumstances he lived in and what tasks did and any factor may affect his tought or his life as a writer.If we read Twain s first writings you discover that the man is attached to pen and ship; a pen as a journalist although the hard time he experienced and failure ,the ship is the sailing to unknown places for discovery and recording and you will notice that clearly in his passage to the Middle East .If we read his last novella "the Stranger" you will discover another personality ; a philosopher a politician an man who is able to imagine what future is hidden for the world.

There is room for all sorts of tastes. Perhaps Twain felt alone in his disdain for Austen, or Shaw in his disdain for Shakespeare. I'm sure you aren't alone. I was wondering though. I noticed that the other works you cited are not intending to be humorous as well as profound, and I wonder if it's Twains dry humor which doesn't strike your fancy. What you find slow others find amusing. Again this doesn't mean there's something wrong with you if you are not amused, but this strikes me as the big difference between, say To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn (two of my favorite books by the way). In my opinion anyway.

I had no idea why Huckleberry Finn was in a teacher's school library.
Soon back, i never realised Huckleberry Finn was more of a adult book. Within the first 5 pages, i felt like i was reading a book like Fifty Shades of Grey (I never read it) Too many swear words. It was like this character was a supervillian that uses bad words to his advantage. I stopped immediately after.

I adore the man's work. I honestly have a hard time grasping the idea of Huck Finn being considered a snooze-fest (although, I don't discredit anyone's opinion) as I read Huck Finn more than a dozen times by the time I turned 12. I thought it was one of the most exciting adventures in print.

An adventure by any other name still smells as sweet...;)
My idea of an adventure before I was twelve was anything with monsters in it. That's another reason why I didn't really develop much of a taste for Twain. Where were the horror monsters??
At least now I can appreciate him more.

What the raft symbolises in his book? and also the slave ? Can we make any connection to geography and that time events? Me personally I do love him a lot but I do respect others opinions .

I couldn't understand this that much, but I probably should read it on free time instead of a project, that may make more sense, since I'm not dragging my feet to finish

I read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at the age of about 12 or 13 and it was completely understandable although I am no "native" English speaker. Then again, English is a sort of first language to me. Whatever my personal circumstance is, this much I can dare to say: reading Mark Twain would take more than the average reader of trash (magazines and hack writers). A love of literature, cultures, something new... a love that can perhaps take some trouble to persevere when the going gets tough is needed to read anything which are considered to have some literary value. Unfortunately, a lot of people will never be able to appreciate or understand this, and I guess they can go through life perfectly without reading any literature. I will not be a pessimist to say that the types who do read literature are becoming fewer and will eventually die out, an d put the blame squarely on the modern times, technology and so on. On the contrary, things are as they are, and I am sure there will be many generations who find Huck Finn's adventures worth reading till the last page.

Totally agree with you , readability is shortened if not is in the course of disapearing,Samuel Clemens the real name of the author invented nothing in fact but just recorded facts using his talented pen and words .
the most important in his books is the recurrent theme of voyage (trip) which is the stream of events that occur to human being and the disability of man to stop the stream of life .Nowadays all nations ask and believe in change and that was the vision of the visionary writer Samuel .

As a former student of German language, I found Twain's hilarious send-up, "The Awful German Language" in A Tramp Abroad, a wonderful reward for all those years of study.

"Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" is as devastating a takedown of a rival author as any in literature.

More genially, the tale of Twain's bowling exploits on a warped alley at a resort hotel, from the Autobiography, is an overlooked gem.

Love Twain! I can't get enough of southern writers... it's such a romantic culture.

Michele wrote: "Love Twain! I can't get enough of southern writers... it's such a romantic culture."

Check out Melinda McGuire, she's a lovely lady that writes southern fiction. The bookstore I coordinate events for is hosting a booksigning for her for a second time this Saturday.

I was surprised in reading Huck Finn that I did think it dragged( I actually much prefered Tom Sawyer as it was just plain fun and made me laugh a few times)and the ending( interpreted in too many ways to discuss here)where Huck & Tom cruelly prank Jim, cheapened it for me. I also found Connecticut Yankee tedious. There's no reason to have to like an author due to his supposed greatness; tastes are different and the critics are often wrong. I don't think much of Hemingway and have found certain "great" books pretty bad, in the end, make up your own mind!

Rob wrote: "I was surprised in reading Huck Finn that I did think it dragged( I actually much prefered Tom Sawyer as it was just plain fun and made me laugh a few times)and the ending( interpreted in too many ..."

You're right about that... I find Hemingway to be a drag.

Standing Twain is one thing and to like Huck is another thing , perhaps you should try "The Prince and the Pauper " just to give yourself another chance to form an opinion . For me , " Huck " is just fine ; it did manage to make me smile though I liked "The adventures of Tom Sawyer " more ! .

I don't want to get all scholarly and I still believe that very smart people with taste can dislike twain, but what has yet to be mentioned in this thread is the profound way in which twain explores the metaphor of freedom in Huck Finn. Tom Sawyer, both the character and the book (which i like) seems amusing but shallow next to Huck. Tom is an adventure story but Huck is a symbol of so much, rich on context and culture. Just wanted to defend that point.