Book Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Good afternoon, Arrowheads! Recently, I finally got around to reading the Mark Twain classic, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I haven’t reviewed a classic here on Authoring Arrowheads before, but a Goodreads friend had said they’d like to hear my thoughts on the novel. So, let’s get started!

Growing up, I had always heard that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a classic children’s book. In fifth grade, I picked up the book during free reading time on the last day of school. I didn’t get very far into it that day, but the small portion I read had been luring me back to the novel ever since. At last, thirteen years later, I’ve finally joined Tom on his adventures, and I totally get the hype of one of Twain’s most beloved works.

The plot of the book is just as the title states, surrounding adventures our protagonist–a small-town southern boy named Tom–takes. The adventures are always whimsical and believable for the time period, as I’ve heard similar happenings from stories passed down in my own southern family. The plot also allotted a mystery element which held my interest from the moment it was incited.

Twain perfectly captures the essence of the south both through his choice of language and vivid descriptions. Twain also crafts characters we can root for in Tom and his partner in crime, Huckleberry Finn. Tom’s attempt at courting Becky is adorable beyond words, and it propelled nostalgia for that “first major crush” period of my life.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Twain’s style of writing and plan to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and explore the remainder of his works.