"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain

This review was definitely not written by a bunch of random other bloggers who I tricked into thinking it was a great privilege.

Does anyone remember Sid? I didn't. He's just so eminently forgettable next to Tom. So much so, in fact, that I forgot about him again between the middle and the end of the book. 

This book is full of little bits that remind me of myself at that age. Coming up with elaborate fake battles, falling into the depths of despair then getting right back out when something new happens, bits of aimless trolling... It's good to know that the vibes of being an eleven-ish-year-old boy haven't changed much since the 1830s. (I know this was written in 1876, but it's set in the 1830s.)

Also, getting into trouble. I have never liked getting into trouble, and thus have also never liked reading about people who do. So Tom Sawyer, who purposely does stuff he's not supposed to and then gets into trouble for it, is initially not very fun for me to read about.

But he's one of the rare characters who annoys me to start with and then gets less annoying as the book progresses. He proves he can take things seriously if needed, and there is a good heart in him. It's just buried under a lot of antics and a conviction that he is most definitely the coolest person around.

Sigh. Okay. Brief note about the racial slurs. Black people get called "negroes," among other things, in this book. In modern times, we shouldn't say that; they shouldn't have said that back then either. However, this book was written and is set when that was what they were called. Yes, it's offensive to modern people, and it was offensive back then too; however, it's also period-correct, as we know because it was written by a person in that period. I'm not saying it's good that people are saying slurs, but it honestly wouldn't make sense if they weren't; while not good, it was widespread at the time. This concludes my brief note about the racial slurs, which is also the longest paragraph in the review.

This review is part of my first completed quest.

Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: E10+ for scariness and some mild violence.

4 stars.

(Endnote: Shenanigans! Many shenanigans are had in this book. I wanted to use that word in the body of the review, but couldn't find a good place for it, so now it's in the endnote.)