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    The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
    The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
    The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

    Written by Mark Twain

    Narrated by Larry Strawbridge

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    About this audiobook

    First published in 1875, this classic excursion into Mark Twain's Mississippi River country will lighten your heart even today. The characters themselves – Tom's aunt Polly, his friends Becky and Huck, even Injun Joe – evoke nostalgia for a simpler, more rural lifestyle.

    Mark Twain describes a people, and a place, full of affection, wit, and adventure...where a dark summer night in a graveyard searching for black cats, or even getting lost during a cave exploration can be a truly exciting and fulfilling experience.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBooks in Motion
    Release dateMar 18, 2018
    ISBN9781605489117
    Author

    Mark Twain

    Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, left school at age 12. His career encompassed such varied occupations as printer, Mississippi riverboat pilot, journalist, travel writer, and publisher, which furnished him with a wide knowledge of humanity and the perfect grasp of local customs and speech manifested in his writing. It wasn't until The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), that he was recognized by the literary establishment as one of the greatest writers America would ever produce. Toward the end of his life, plagued by personal tragedy and financial failure, Twain grew more and more cynical and pessimistic. Though his fame continued to widen--Yale and Oxford awarded him honorary degrees--he spent his last years in gloom and desperation, but he lives on in American letters as "the Lincoln of our literature."

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    Reviews for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

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    • 5/5
      Everyone should read this book!
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this through free downloads on ITunes U on my drives back from the Museum. I'd heard of it before and maybe even saw a cartoon of bits before but I wasn't familiar with the text. Twain's used of the sophisticated narration is in contrast to the wonderful dialogue of the kids. Fascinating and disturbing to hear about how much freedom the kids had back then. It reminded me a little of what my Dad said of his boyhood. It pokes fun at religion and some social habits, though others seem galling to a modern ear.
    • 2/5
      Cruciaal is de ontmoeting met Huckleberry Finn. Vinnige dialogen; Mooie impressie van jongensachtige gevoelens en leefwereld, genre Witte van Zichem (Claes is duidelijk maar een doordrukje van Twain). Toch maar matig boek.
    • 5/5
      Synopsis:Tom Sawyer is a naughty boy from St. Petersburg (fictional), Missouri, who is always engaged in troublesome adventures with his friends, specially with Huckleberry Finn, causing her Aunt Polly to go mad. He lazily attends school and never misses a chance to be envied by his schoolmates for his heroic mischiefs. Despite his misbehavior, he's a good-hearted young man.Personal Opinion:What a read! I was a great fan of the animated series when I was a child (and nowadays, of course) but had never read the book. I was really looking forward to do it, and when the moment came I was trully moved by the story, its characters and everything. That's what I call a masterpiece!The book is structured in chapters that can be seen as almost independent stories. Every chapter deals with different adventures based on situations lived by some of the author's schoolmates. Actually, Mark Twain based the boys on this novel on some of them, sometimes merging two or three boys into one.Tom, as a character, brings you back to the days when all of us were dreaming all day long about doing fantastic things; those times when petty troubles seemed to turn your life into something miserable. That's a feeling commonly reflected during the novel, and it's as genuine as a three dollar bill.In addition, the dialogs are boyish (as it must be) and doesn't fail to present the reader with the social reality of those days (back in the 19th Century). Slavery is not a main point in this novel, but it's easy to grasp its social consideration.Being a classic as it is, there's not a lot to say about Tom Sawyer that hasn't yet been said. I'd like to quote the author, though, who on the preface points that: "Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in." Mission more than accomplished Mr. Twain. Henceforth:
    • 5/5
      The trouble with "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" is, and always has been, its audience. Nobody knows for sure whether it was meant as a children's (more likely t(w)eenager's) book or an adult's view of a child's world. While on the mature side for the former, it lacks the depth of its successor, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Yet while the sheer delight of the book makes it a treat for any audience, there are a couple of compelling reasons that everyone, at some point in their lives, should read it.First of all, the youthly viewpoint is a marvel of characterisation. Just as it seems a rare and precious wonder when a male author successfully captures the viewpoint of a female character, or vice versa, it is a notable thing when an author crafts a young character who truly lives and breathes the way someone that age would. Yes, certainly, they are many wonderful young characters in literature who are fabulous because adults and children alike see an amusing caricature of recognisable elements of childhood--think Christopher Robin and his plush menagerie, for example--but there are few so vivid that they live eternally. Mark Twain knows the young male mind, and even in an age of video games and plastic-enclosed fast-food playlands, when I read his detailed inventories of the contents of young Tom's pockets and the importance of trading such pitiful treasures as marbles and beetles to acquire more and better junk, I think, "I KNOW that kid. I teach that kid in my third grade class." Modern boys may have substituted Pokemon cards and plastic Halo figurines, but the mindset about the junk in the pockets is still the same; and, I imagine, if modern parents were far less guarded about things like letting their children roam about town after sunset and explore uncharted caves than the adults of fictional St. Petersburg were, I suspect that just as many of the young boys I know would be running away from home in the summer to play pirate.Second, the book has a very subtle hint of predestination about the whole plot, with so many Dickensian coincidences that just happen to work out for Tom and Huck, yet this is surely due not just to the influence of Twain's great literary contemporary but also, and perhaps in larger part, to the Presbyterian upbringing that Twain at times seems to admire, and at other times seems to satirise. This sense of the possibility of an overarching plan for the world (whether Heavenly or merely authorial) reaches its peak in one of the most chilling scenes near the end of the novel:"The captive had broken off the stalagmite, and upon the stump had placed a stone, wherein he had scooped a shallow hollow to catch the precious drop that fell once every three minutes with the dreary regularity of a clock tick--a dessert spoonful once in four and twenty hours. That drop was falling when the Pyramids were new; when Troy fell; when the foundations of Rome were laid; when Christ was crucified; when the Conqueror created the British empire; when Columbus sailed; when the massacre at Lexington was 'news.' It is falling now; it will still be falling when all these things shall have sunk down the afternoon of history, and the twilight of tradition, and been swallowed up in the thick night of oblivion. Has everything a purpose and a mission? Did this drop fall patiently during five thousand years to be ready for this flitting human insect's need? and has it another important object to accomplish ten thousand years to come? No matter."I'll avoid continuing the citation any further to avoid spoilers for any readers who might not yet know to which captive this passage refers or what the outcome of his fate might be; suffice it to say, what continues suggests that though we may not be certain of a purpose, we look longest at the things that might have one. This helps to explain the enduring popularity of "Tom Sawyer." While many critics cite its importance as "the book that paved the way for 'Huckleberry Finn,'" there are signs throughout of a masterful author saying, "I know what I'm doing." Leave it to Mark Twain to sum up the very significance of his writing, and of religion's role in society, by saying "no matter."If the book should be read, then, the question still remains as to who should read it. Young people are definitely capable of enjoying it, but as with its more famous sequel, the racial overtones (not only with regards to slaves, but also the portrayal of the book's "half-breed" Native American antagonist) prove troubling for many readers. I would thus recommend that it be placed into a young person's hands, not with abandon and trust as Aunt Polly does in giving Tom the "Painkiller," but with careful guidance about the historical setting and thought about the parallels in today's society. Beyond that, the vocabulary may also prove tricky for elementary readers. Middle schoolers or early high schoolers (ages 11-14) may be able to get a handle on it with a well-noted edition or a dictionary at hand, however.The Barnes and Noble edition of this book contains a biographical sketch and timeline of the author's life; an introduction by H. Daniel Peck of Vassar College; both footnotes and endnotes glossing difficult vocabulary (a bit irritatingly over-thorough for the well-read adult, though) and noting real-life places or people in Hannibal, Missouri to which the book seems to be making reference; a description of other artistic works inspired by the book; a series of citations from both contemporary and later reviews of the book, alongside a series of questions for the reader's consideration; and a bibliography for further reference on Twain.
    • 3/5
      Lie at your peril - your guilt can trap you in a cave. A nightmare I've never been able to find my way out of.
    • 3/5
      I read this book in my 6th grade. The story was gripping but not my favorite.
    • 5/5
      Why had I never read this classic before?... who knows! But i'm glad I have now read it and will move right into listening to the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
    • 5/5
      Seriously a great read! I remember hating this as a kid - being forced to read it - with 25+ years of experiences under my belt since I last picked up this book, it's just an amazing read. As adults, we really just need to say fuck it, let's see what kind of trouble I can get myself into more often ...
    • 3/5
      A very adult children's book.
    • 4/5
      This was my first Mark Twain read. My sister hates his books so I thought I should read one to see why. I can understand why she doesn't like his style of writing, but I rather liked it! I envy Tom's childhood, except the whole being stalked by a murderer bit. He had lots of fun and its cool that Tom's character is based on other boys Mr. Twain knew and his own childhood.
    • 5/5
      (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reposted here illegally.)The CCLaP 100: In which over a two-year period I read a hundred so-called "classics," then write essays about whether I think they deserve the labelThis week: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (1876)Book #6 of this essay seriesThe story in a nutshell:Designed specifically to be a popular example of the then-new American Pastoral novel, Tom Sawyer is Twain's look at an impossibly idyllic small-town childhood that never was, that never could be, in fact, based very loosely on a handful of real events that happened in his own childhood in Hannibal, Missouri (on the banks of the Mississippi River, about a four-hour drive north of St. Louis), but with each story sharpened and honed until they become too impossibly magical to be anything but fictional. As such, then, the book mostly concerns those subjects regarding childhood that adults most fondly look back on with nostalgia -- the sense of societal freedom, the sense of playful rebellion, the simplicity and elegance of pre-pubescent romance -- couched in an insanely whimsically perfect rural environment, one designed specifically to recall a kind of idealized frontier existence that most people even in 1876 had never actually experienced, much less all of us 132 years later.In fact, our titular hero Tom pretty much stands for each and every element of a "noble childhood" that we all secretly wish we could've had -- a constant irritant to his legal guardian who is nonetheless clearly loved and constantly forgiven by her, clever hero to the rest of the neighborhood boys while still being a simple-minded romantic to the girls he's got a shinin' for. Throughout the first half of the novel, then, we follow Tom and his cohorts as they get in and out of a series of short-story-worthy jams; there's the Story of How Tom Convinced The Other Boys to Whitewash His Fence For Him, the Story of the Dog That Got Bit During Church And Made a Huge Racket, the Story of the Boys Who Ran Away and Played Pirates for a Week on a Mid-River Island But Then Found Out That Everyone In Town Thought They Were Dead So Decided To Attend Their Own Funeral. Yeah, impossibly romantic little stories about impossibly idyllic small-town life, pretty much the definition of a Pastoral novel. Add a more serious story to propel the second half, then, in which a couple of local drunks actually do commit a murder one night, with Tom and his badboy friend Huck Finn being the only secret witnesses, and you've got yourself a nice little morality tale as well, not to mention a great way to end the story (buried treasure!) and a fantastic way to set yourself up for further sequels.The argument for it being a classic:As mentioned, one of the strongest arguments for Tom Sawyer being a classic is because it's one of the first and still best examples of the "American Pastoral" novel, an extremely important development in the cultural history of the Victorian Age that has unfortunately become a bit obscure in our times; for those who don't know, it was basically an artistic rebellion against the Industrial Age of the early 1800s, a group of writers and painters and thinkers who came together to decry the dehumanization of mechanized urban centers. Ironically, it was these same people who established what are now many of the best things about our modern cities, things like parks and libraries and zoning laws and all the other "radical" ideas that many people first laughed at when first proposed; as a complement to these forward-thinking theories, though, such artists also put together projects about rural small-town life that were designed deliberately as political statements, as little manifestos about how much better it is when you live in the countryside and breathe fresh air and grow your own food and make your own clothes.The Pastoral movement first really caught on over in England*, where urban industrial growth proceeded a lot more quickly than in America, and where the detrimental effects of the age could be more rapidly seen; nonetheless, by the mid-1800s (and especially after the horrific Civil War of 1860-65), more and more Americans had started pining for this unique brand of entertainment as well, and pining for a "good ol' days" that had never really existed. This is what Twain built the entire first half of his career on, fans say, and it really doesn't get much better than Tom Sawyer for pure delightful small-town escapist entertainment; his later books might be better known, they say, more respected within the academic world, but it is these earlier Pastoral tales that first really caught on with the public at large, and made him the huge success he was.The argument against:Of course, you can turn this argument straight around on its head; there's a very good reason, after all, that this book's sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (written ten years later) is the much more studied and analyzed of the two. And that's because Twain only grew into his role as "America's Greatest Political Satirist" over time, critics of this book argue; if you take a close look at his career, they say, you'll see that the majority of work he wrote in the first half of his career is either kitschy nostalgic housewife pabulum or smartass travelogues about how Americans pretty much hate everything and think they're better than everyone else. We've lost sight of this over the last century, the argument goes, but Twain wasn't really considered a "serious" writer until late in life and already a big success; I suppose you can think of it in terms of Steven Spielberg pre- and post-Schindler's List, with Tom Sawyer being the 1800s version of the popular but ultimately intellectually empty E.T..My verdict:So let me first admit that I am probably too close to this book to be able to be completely objective about it; after all, I grew up just three hours away from the town of Hannibal where these events took place, have visited the town many times over the years, connected deeply with the book when a child precisely because of it taking place so close to where I lived, and in fact have probably now seen and read a dozen movie, television, comic-book and stage-play adaptations of the novel by now as well. (Why yes, even as late as the 1970s, in rural Missouri you could still find plenty of stage-play versions of Tom Sawyer each year, mostly Summerstock and other community productions.) I will always love this story because it will always remind me of my childhood, just as is the case I imagine with a whole lot of people out there; of nighttime barefoot runs through woods, of bizarre superstitious rituals held in the bottoms of muddy creek beds.That said, it was certainly interesting to read it again as an adult for the first time, I think maybe the first time I've ever actually read the original novel from the first page to the last without stopping, because what its critics say really is true -- there really is just not much of substance at all to Tom Sawyer, other than a collection of amusing little stories about small-town life, held together with just the flimsiest of overall plots. In fact, the more I learn about Twain, the more I realize that his career really can be seen as two strikingly different halves; there is the first half, where Twain was not much more than a failed journalist but great storyteller, who started writing down these stories just because he didn't have much else better to do; and then there's the second half, when he's already famous and finally gets bitter and smart and political, as we now erroneously think of his entire career in our hazy collective memories. This doesn't prevent me from still loving Tom Sawyer, and still confidently labeling it a "classic" for its American Pastoral elements; it does give me a better understanding of it, though, in terms of Twain's overall career, and how we should see it as merely one step along a highly complex line the man walked when he was alive.Is it a classic? Yes*And in fact, the term "Pastoral" has actually been around since the 1500s (or the beginning of the Renaissance) and originally referred to stories specifically about shepherds; these anti-city writers of the Victorian Age sorta co-opted the term from the original, with the American wing then co-opting it from the Brits.
    • 5/5
      This book would've been given to one of my brothers at some stage and it's ended up in my possession. I'm sure no one ever read it the whole time its faded spine graced the family bookshelves. I think if I'd picked it up as a kid I would've found the dialect a bit difficult. It's only after watching plenty of TV that I have an inkling as to how those boys would've actually spoken. I must've read the first part at some stage, because the scene of Tom swindling the neighbourhood boys into white washing the fence is a resonant one.Anyhow, I'm glad I read the whole thing and can't believe it never got spoilered for me. Next I'll be cracking the spine on Huckleberry Finn.
    • 4/5
      Rereading classics is good however the story is ruined by the ugliness of racism hits you square in the face.
    • 5/5
      Having read Huckleberry Finn as a child I did not comprehend Mark Twain's genius. Reading Tom Sawyer as an adult really demonstrated why he deserves his places as one of America's greatest authors. A delight to read and a book I would recommend to nearly anyone. Normally I dislike reading books to which I know the ending but even with all the information I gleaned about Tom Sawyer from popular culture this book was a surprise and treat.
    • 5/5
      Finished reading this again while the power was out on the island and I couldn't work.

      I think I've read this at least five times. There are some books that are simply woven so tightly into the warp and woof of the American experience that they will always rate five stars, and this is one of them.

    • 5/5
      Classic in every sense. Something new every time you read it.
    • 4/5
      I think I was supposed to read this in college. But never did. There were more important things to do like... (never mind).It was time to make up for the mistakes of my youth and take in a classic. That the audiobook was narrated by Nick Offerman was a bonus that moved Tom Sawyer to the top of my to-read list.
    • 3/5
      Borderline 3.5 stars, but not quite. Mainly because I didn't begin to truly enjoy the story until 2/3 of the way through.

      This is the first time I have ever read Mark Twain, and wanted to read this as a precursor to Huck Finn. I respect Mark Twain and his influence on many popular authors. For me, this particular novel does not hold water against some of the other American greats (Steinbeck, Edgar Allen Poe, Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, etc).

      A lot can be said in regards to the portrayals of African-Americans and Native Americans in the book (particularly the character "Injun Joe"), and Tom Sawyer is often censored or banned due to the language. Without a doubt, parts of the novel were certainly uncomfortable to this modern reader. I actually appreciated this, as it gives a glimpse of what life was like--from the perspective of Mississippi River dwelling, Southern, white children--in the pre-Civil War South. Racism and all. I enjoyed the satirical approach and exaggeration to some of the customs and superstitions of that community during that time period.

      Having said that, I concurrently read some of Twain's (Sam Clemens') other writings on American Indians, and it is atrocious. Product of the times or not, it left a bitter aftertaste while reading Sawyer. Hence the 3 stars.

      I do feel any use of this text in school should include a discussion on racism, fear, discrimination, freedom, etc.
    • 4/5
      One point less for mocking Christianity
    • 5/5
      One of the books that I thought I had read but hadn't. It rushes along, adventure after adventure, capturing what it is is to be a child growing up.
    • 4/5
      I'd forgotten what a little trouble maker Tom was. It was a nice enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      I had never read the Adventures of Tom Sawyer except in a childhood version in Golden Books or something like that. I skipped right over to read Huck Finn. While this is definitely a children's book in many ways, Twain writes in such a way that adults still enjoy Tom and his picaresque adventures, both as nostalgia for our own childhoods and because the adult voice of Twain cannot help inserting his snide commentaries on humanity.
    • 4/5
      I am adding this book as one of our family read-alouds. While often read by high school students as "classic" literature, this book proved a hit with my family audience, ages 8, 14,17 and middle aged.
      It is funny and suspenseful and the characters are vivid, all requirements for making it on our read aloud picks.
    • 4/5
      My dad read this book to me as a kid and I loved it. I had the best time re-reading it as an adult - remembering parts of the dialogue I knew by heart and enjoying the social satire bits that don't always register when you're a kid. A classic!
    • 3/5
      My advice would be to drop whatever you're reading and read this now, before you're thirty-eight and can appreciate it but never love it.
    • 4/5
      September 2016 reread:I had forgotten what a fun "boy's" book this is -- the mixture of childish belief in superstitions and tales & worldly wisdom is so typical of this age (~11 years old or so).
    • 5/5
      I re-read this every few years,this a an American classic.A must read for everyone.
      I do re-read it every few summers, a classic.
    • 4/5
      Never read this during all my school years so I thought I had to give it a shot. I was surprised. I found the book to be rather enjoyable and unlike many other "classics" that fail to live up to the hype. A great story and definitely a classic.
    • 3/5
      I could stand to read this again, give it another shot. I just didn't like Tom or his adventures nearly as much as I did Huck and his.