"3.5 - Nicely written story inspired by true events of a Southern confederate woman nursing a Northern soldier back to health after finding him close to death during the civil war. Well developed characters, some adventures, and historical info was woven throughout. Fairly simple straight forward story telling with a message and a decent ending."

"On my second read (years after the first), I upped my rating from 4 to 5 stars. Not sure what explains the increase, but it could be that reading Huckleberry Finn shortly after reading James put me in the “zone� of the times and the language. The conversations, particularly among Tom, Huckleberry, and Jim, struck me as hysterically funny, and Jim struck me as especially wise.

My copy of the book had illustrations that added to the humor.

My copy also had an explanatory note from Twain about the mixture of dialects (Missouri negro, backwoods, “town�, and such). Twain says that the dialect might appear haphazard but was in fact painstakingly applied. He adds: “I make this explanation because without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.� That one sentence speaks volumes about Twain. He is a brilliant mix of author, historian, and humorist. "

"4.5 This is beautiful writing and beautiful storytelling. Know ahead it is very slow moving until the end when secrets are revealed. The misunderstandings and grief the characters experienced devastated me, it was often very hard for me to read. Very atmospheric and extreme in depth character development. I feel wiped after reading this."