The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Mark Twain

"A classic is a book that everyone wants to have read, and nobody wants to read." - Mark Twain.

Anyone who thinks Americans are irony-impaired needs to discover Mark Twain.* In fact I think it's possible that he stole far more than his fair share of irony, so for every humourless rightwinger we have Twain to blame. I'll be honest with you: this isn't exactly a new release. You could say. It's been out for. . . a while. However, it's available to download for free on the Kindle app, as many classics are, and I've been meaning to read it for a few yonks now.

And you should read it too, because it's utterly brilliant. I'm aware that the title of this blog is Neddy's Awesome Reads, and so far I have failed to describe anything as an awesome read. No longer! Huckleberry Finn is an awesome read. It will also make you think you're floating down the Missippi on a raft, eating cornbread, looking at the moon and listening to the local wildlife. And believe me it's weird the first time that happens. It has fantastic characters, settings, a great plot, it'll make you laugh, it'll make you panic, and it has a really interesting take on society. Which is, of course, the society of working class southern US in the 1840s. So if you're squeamish about the word "nigger" this is not a book for you. Every few years, as I understand it, someone sets up some kind of campaign to do a find and replace in Huckleberry Finn and change each "nigger" to "slave." Which is, of course, entirely missing the point. It's not pretty; it's inexcusable to speak that way now, but it is how people spoke then. Deal with it.

The basic storyline is: Huck is a tearaway boy in his early teens who is being held prisoner by his abusive alcoholic father. He escapes, fakes his own death and sets off down the Mississippi River on a raft. He meets up with a runaway slave called Jim, and they travel together and have various adventures. And here's the interesting (and heavily irony-laden) message of this book: Huck often does the right thing, even as he berates himself for it because he thinks it's wrong because of the society he lives in. What's more, he can do the right thing only because he's a complete outcast from society and has nothing to lose. Unlike, for instance Uncle Tom's Cabin, (itself a good read, and much misunderstood book) in which people are basically either saintly or depraved, and remain so throughout, the characters in Huckleberry Finn are a sticky mess of contradictions, and always only a moment away from realising what an absurd situation they're in.

As I say, it's brilliant. Read it now.

* Or, if they prefer, The Simpsons also works. I like the episode in which whatsherface who wrote the Bridget Jones books explains in very patronising tones about how Americans have no sense of irony and so British humour is far superior. Then suddenly she goes into a Benny Hill fast forward chasing round bushes routine. Utterly beautiful.