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If I am not the last person on the face of the earth to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
, I'm betting I'm awfully close. I'm also betting I wouldn't have appreciated it near as much as I did this rainy, depressing week, and I wouldn't have smiled so often or laughed out loud at the antics of Tom and his friends. Nor would I have marveled at the clever descriptive phrases and curious vernacular. Nope. This is the girl who shunned reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
during my junior year in high school while my best friend filled me in on the test questions.But now? Tom Sawyer will be sitting on the shelf right along side The Wind In The Willows for when I need a quick pick-me-up. Not to mention that now I have to move Huck Finn closer to the top of my TBR pile, because he was my very favorite character! I found Huck especially endearing at the end when his newly aquired "civility" gets to be too much for him:
"Don't talk about it, Tom. I've tried it, and it don't work; it don't work, Tom. It ain't for me; I ain't used to it. The widder's good to me, and friendly; but I can't stand them ways. She makes me get up just at the same time every morning; she makes me wash, they comb me all to thunder; she won't let me sleep in the woodshed; I got to wear them blamed clothes that just smothers me, Tom; they don't seem to any air git through 'em, somehow; and they're so rotten nice that I can't set down, nor lay down, nor roll around anywher's; I hain't slid on a cellar-door for -- well, it 'pears to be years; I got to go to church and sweat and sweat -- I hate them ornery sermons! I can't ketch a fly in there, I can't chaw. I got to wear shoes all Sunday. The widder eats by a bell; she goes to bed by a bell; she gits up by a bell -- everything's so awful reg'lar a body can't stand it."
--Huck Finn in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Chapter XXXV
As someone who fairly regularly fantasizes about pulling up roots, moving to a chunk of land and living "off the grid", there are a lot of thoughts there with which I can empathize. Like Tom, Huck is kind of my dark hero, living a life disdained by others, but free from their constraints. But, again like Tom, I can't quite truly give up the creature comforts I've grown soft on.
But enough about Huck. We'll get to him with his own book. I want to know what happens to Tom going forward. Does he marry Becky Thatcher? Does he become a respectable town citizen? Or would seeing Tom older or as an adult ruin the picture I have of him now? So many questions . . .
Happy Reading!
Lezlie
6 comments:
Hi Lezlie - I refused to read Tom Sawyer when I was a teenager too, choosing the Sweet Valley twins instead. :-) And I haven't read it yet so you're not the last one! Sounds good though, thanks for the review.
Joanna ~ Oh, my! I remember the Sweet Valley twins! Never read them, but I remember lots of girls did, and weren't there something like a million books in that series?? It seemed like it. :-)
Glad I'm not alone in my teenage literary rebellion!
Lezlie
I'm late coming to read Tom Sawyer too - I read it in February and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I've still to read Huck Finn!
I love the idea of going on adventures, but the thought of home always wins.
Books Please ~ I hear you. I'm not a traveler at all. I love being at home and would rather be there than anywhere. That could be why I love reading so much - for all the great places I get to go and people I get to meet without leaving the patio! :-)
I'd like to know what happened to Tom when he grew up, too. I read in another blog of a book written from the viewpoint of Huck's father, but I can't recall where or the title now...
Hi, Jeane! I think you might be talking about "Finn". I think the author is Jon Clich. I plan to read that back-to-back with "Huckleberry Finn" this summer.
Lezlie
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