The Adventures of Tom Sayer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain

The first book review of the New Year! 

(I started this book a few days ago but I'm still going to count it for the 2013 year)

This book was a fantastic read and full of nostalgia. I could not read this book without wishing I was a child again. St. Petersberg Missouri is the setting of this little story packed with adventure and Mark Twain sets the perfect stage for life as a child. This book has printed in time memories of youth and the overall good natured but often audacious lives of children. The story is based off of Tom's different adventures, all wrapped up into a novel, and all taking place within a Summer. The adventures are often hilarious and combine a good use of fun dialogue between Tom and his companions.

As Mark Twain states himself, Tom Sawyer is a fictional character that is based on the lives of three boys whom he knew. Tom Sawyer is drawn from life. It's hard not to admire Tom Sawyer's silly impertinent fun. Mark Twain does such a good job at forming a lasting and favorable impression of the time in which the book is written, the setting, and the characters. I saw portions of my childhood etched throughout the story. 

Not too many books capture childhood as does Mark Twain in this spectacular book. I actually had some of the same feelings as I read this, as when I read To Kill a Mockingbird. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a lot more light-hearted but it contains some of the same feelings of a small town, and from the point of view of children. In my mind, this book is on par with To Kill a Mockingbird. It is a classic.


-Scott