Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tom Sawyer

When I was organizing my TBR stacks, I wasn't quite sure where to put my copy of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. I knew I'd read the abridged children's versions a million times, but I honestly wasn't sure if I'd read the unabridged works. I was pretty sure I had, but since I couldn't quite remember, I thought I should go ahead and read them to make sure I had!

In reading (re-reading?) Tom Sawyer, I realized that it really is a book I'm glad I discovered and read as a child. I loved Tom as a child and his crazy adventures. As an adult, I sort of want to give him a beating and ground him for life. He starts off just sweetly mischievous, tricking other kids into doing his chores for him. But as he goes on to run away, hurt his loved ones, endanger Becky and more, I just got a little bored with his antics.

Since Huck Finn is the more grown up out of the two novels, I'm hoping I enjoy revisiting the story more! Plus, I liked Huck Finn best out of the characters in Tom Sawyer. I especially liked where Huck talks about the trappings on civilized life, how claustrophobic and trapped it can make you feel. Although I'm not an outdoorsy type at all and love my life, sometimes you do just feel trapped by the trappings of adulthood - the mortgage, the job, the bills, the worrying about other people, laundry. Sometimes you just want to run away to the woods and all the responsibilities, but like Huck, you realize that has it's own set of problems and well, I really like running water and electricity and even most of my responsibilities. :)

2 comments:

  1. I totally agree--I read Tom Sawyer multiple times as a child, but was annoyed with him when I reread the book as an adult. I never read Huck Finn until a few years ago, and now consider it one of my favorite books.

    I also agree that sometimes that raft looks awfully inviting!

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  2. It's nice to know someone else felt the same way. That's encouraging about Huck Finn - hopefully I'll enjoy it as well.

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