Book review: "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain

It's always exciting to come upon the work of a promising young author. Case in point: The novel "Tom Sawyer," by a Missouri-based writer named Mark Twain, which I just finished reading. While Twain wrote one previous novel with a co-author, "Tom Sawyer" is his first as sole author.

"Tom Sawyer" is a nostalgia-tinted tale of a mischievous boy — about 12 or 13, though Twain never specifies — living in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. Tom, the main character, is a too-smart-for-his-own-good kid who can trick his friends into doing his chores, sweet talk the girls, and lead his buddies on days-long adventures as imaginary pirates and robbers.

The book braids several storylines together — Tom witnesses a murder, he pursues the winsome  Becky Thatcher, he and Huckleberry Finn go looking for buried treasure — and eventually it all comes together for an engaging finish.

Twain makes it clear in the preface that "Tom Sawyer" is based in fact:

"Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine."

While the stories are fun, the writing is imperfect. For starters, Twain primarily tells the story from the "limited" third-person perspective — that is, from the point of view of Tom Sawyer. But, jarringly, he sometimes switches to the omniscient third person. In fact, one crucial section is told entirely from the point of view of Huck Finn.

My second criticism, I admit, is not very fair to Twain. But to read this book, published in 1872, in the twenty-first century is to encounter some antiquated vocabulary and colloquialisms that no longer are familiar. I'm not sure what Huck Finn meant when he said Robin Hood "must a ben a brick," for example, and there are several uses of the old word "stile," a term I was not familiar with.

It's too bad, because Twain also showsa great talent for colloquial dialogue, especially in the frequent rat-a-tat exchanges among adolescents. Here's one good section that starts with a question from Huck Finn.

"What does pirates have to do?"

Tom said:

"Oh, they have just a bully time -- take ships and burn them, and get the money and bury it in awful places in their island where there's ghosts and things to watch it, and kill everybody in the ships -- make 'em walk a plank."

"And they carry the women to the island," said Joe; "they don't kill the women."

"No," assented Tom, "they don't kill the women -- they're too noble. And the women's always beautiful, too."

"And don't they wear the bulliest clothes! Oh no! All gold and silver and di'monds," said Joe, with enthusiasm.

"Who?" said Huck.

"Why, the pirates."

Huck scanned his own clothing forlornly.

"I reckon I ain't dressed fitten for a pirate," said he, with a regretful pathos in his voice; "but I ain't got none but these."

It is, despite it's occasional flaws, an enjoyable read. I can't wait to see what Mr. Twain will produce next.