Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (version 2)

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain creates an entertaining adventure of Middle America in the 1800's - afloat on a raft on the Mississippi River. Huck escapes his civilized life when he arranges his own "murder" and turns back into the backwoods, downriver yokel he started as, and in the process springing a slave, Jim, from bondage.

Huck and Jim experience life as a series of tableaux as the river sweeps them through small towns on their way South. At each stop, Huck engages his talent for mixing fact with bald-faced lies to endlessly get himself out of situations... and of course, putting him into others!

Much has been written about the statement Twain is making about slavery in this book, but it's really secondary to the story. The facts of how black people were treated in this period give Huck and Jim their license for life on the run. Modern listeners will be intrigued by the unencumbered life of the pair; they make do with coffee, fish from the river, and little else (but of course, when they do need something extra, they don't mind helping themselves to it without recourse to money!)

Huck and Jim have run-ins with desperadoes and family feuds and even manage to get run down by a steamboat. The adventures ratchet up when they are joined on the raft by a self-proclaimed "duke" and a "king" - shysters both, who spend their time in figuring how to fleece the public in the little river towns. And when Jim is captured and threatened with being sent back into slavery, Huck enlists his old buddy Tom Sawyer in a frenzied, desperate, and terribly funny rescue.

I had to clip a lot of laughing from this recording at Twain's sly, catch-'em-when-they're-not-looking humor, but you can feel free to enjoy some good belly laughs at this crew of lovable rapscallions! (Summary by Mark)

Genre(s): Action & Adventure

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Chapter 01 Mark F. Smith
00:10:54
Play 02 Chapter 02 Mark F. Smith
00:15:21
Play 03 Chapter 03 Mark F. Smith
00:10:55
Play 04 Chapter 04 Mark F. Smith
00:09:01
Play 05 Chapter 05 Mark F. Smith
00:10:39
Play 06 Chapter 06 Mark F. Smith
00:17:55
Play 07 Chapter 07 Mark F. Smith
00:15:36
Play 08 Chapter 08 Mark F. Smith
00:27:20
Play 09 Chapter 09 Mark F. Smith
00:09:33
Play 10 Chapter 10 Mark F. Smith
00:08:39
Play 11 Chapter 11 Mark F. Smith
00:17:37
Play 12 Chapter 12 Mark F. Smith
00:17:55
Play 13 Chapter 13 Mark F. Smith
00:12:35
Play 14 Chapter 14 Mark F. Smith
00:10:33
Play 15 Chapter 15 Mark F. Smith
00:14:48
Play 16 Chapter 16 Mark F. Smith
00:20:35
Play 17 Chapter 17 Mark F. Smith
00:20:40
Play 18 Chapter 18 Mark F. Smith
00:28:56
Play 19 Chapter 19 Mark F. Smith
00:21:43
Play 20 Chapter 20 Mark F. Smith
00:22:03
Play 21 Chapter 21 Mark F. Smith
00:22:38
Play 22 Chapter 22 Mark F. Smith
00:13:31
Play 23 Chapter 23 Mark F. Smith
00:15:22
Play 24 Chapter 24 Mark F. Smith
00:15:05
Play 25 Chapter 25 Mark F. Smith
00:17:59
Play 26 Chapter 26 Mark F. Smith
00:17:48
Play 27 Chapter 27 Mark F. Smith
00:16:34
Play 28 Chapter 28 Mark F. Smith
00:22:39
Play 29 Chapter 29 Mark F. Smith
00:22:34
Play 30 Chapter 30 Mark F. Smith
00:07:52
Play 31 Chapter 31 Mark F. Smith
00:22:47
Play 32 Chapter 32 Mark F. Smith
00:15:00
Play 33 Chapter 33 Mark F. Smith
00:16:39
Play 34 Chapter 34 Mark F. Smith
00:13:43
Play 35 Chapter 35 Mark F. Smith
00:17:21
Play 36 Chapter 36 Mark F. Smith
00:13:16
Play 37 Chapter 37 Mark F. Smith
00:16:12
Play 38 Chapter 38 Mark F. Smith
00:16:25
Play 39 Chapter 39 Mark F. Smith
00:13:14
Play 40 Chapter 40 Mark F. Smith
00:13:57
Play 41 Chapter 41 Mark F. Smith
00:16:21
Play 42 Chapter 42 Mark F. Smith
00:18:33
Play 43 Chapter 43 Mark F. Smith
00:04:31