Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer Among the Indians [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Mark Twain (Author), Grover Gardner (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Sequel to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begun by Mark Twain in 1885, finished by Lee Nelson In 1885 while The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was becoming one of the best-selling American classics of modern times, Mark Twain began this sequel in which Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Jim head west on the trail of two white girls kidnapped by Sioux warriors, learning the hard way that “book Injuns and real Injuns ain’t the same.” Fifteen thousand words into the work, Twain stopped in the middle of a sentence, never to go back. The unfinished story sat on dusty shelves for more than a hundred years until the University of California cut a deal with Utah author Lee Nelson to finish it. The story, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians, is the first new book with Mark Twain’s name on it in nearly a hundred years, with readers saying they can’t tell where Twain stops and Nelson begins. It is a story of adventure, wit, and wisdom with Tom and Huck seeking true love while tramping through hostile Indian country, befriending Bill Hickman and Porter Rockwell, stealing from the United States Army, then facing a gunfight and hangman’s noose in Sacramento, California. Said Lee Nelson: “I have no idea how Twain intended to finish the story, and I reason that he didn’t know either or he would have done it. I just hope that wherever he is, he enjoys my conclusion as much as I enjoyed his beginning.”

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Though Twain began this story in 1885, it was never finished. As it opens, Tom convinces Huck and freed-slave Jim to head West to live with the "Injuns," just to prove that the red men are not the ornery savages the Widow Douglas has insisted they are. They soon join up with the Oregon-bound Mills family. A group of Sioux warriors befriend them but then slaughters the Mills boys and their parents, carrying off the two daughters, Peggy and Flaxy, and Jim. Huck and Tom join forces with Peggy's fianc‚, Brace, to rescue the captives and approach the Indian camp-and here ends Twain's part of the story. Nelson continues with Brace being killed and Tom and Huck left to continue the rescue. As was Twain's wont, Nelson does not shy away from touchy subjects-Peggy is raped by both the Indians and a white trader; an army sergeant molests unsuspecting adolescent boys, and relations between the Mormons and the U.S. are badly strained. There are scalpings, shootings, and a near hanging but by the end, Huck seems to be turning himself into "a right civilized" type, marrying Peggy and heading off into the sunset to start a new life. Nelson makes an effort to retain Twain's style of writing and does rather well with it. The adventure and harrowing escapes will keep readers interested, although purists may question whether Twain would have allowed Huck to give up his independence to marry Peggy. Nonetheless, the plot is intriguing, suspenseful, and well told, with plenty of realistic details to set the mood. Though Tom and Jim figure prominently in the beginning of this story, Huck is the clear hero, and his basic goodness never comes into question.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile

Mark Twain's immortal characters come alive again in this sequel to THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN. Lee Nelson has picked up where Twain left off, using his unfinished manuscripts. The story is done well, capturing the spirit and adventure of Tom and Huck. Grover Gardner tells the tale in fine form, using the dialect made famous by Twain, and pacing the plot just as nicely. Tom and Huck find adventure on the Plains when they set out to learn what real Indians are like. The characters they meet are reminiscent of those in James Fenimore Cooper's LEATHERSTOCKING TALES. As in the earlier book, the pair find more than they bargained for. D.L.M. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; Unabridged edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786125829
• ISBN-13: 978-0786125821
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.2 x 2.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,234,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #67 in Books > Books on Cassette > Authors, A-Z > ( T ) > Twain, Mark

More About the Author

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an American humorist, satirist, social critic, lecturer and novelist. He is mostly remembered for his classic novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible!, August 4, 2003

By 

Kevin Thurston (Parker, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer Among the Indians (Hardcover)

Once again I wish I could give a book a negative number of stars due to the poor quality of the book.

Lisa G. from UT and the book's promotional material try to lead you to believe that the transition from the Twain text and the Nelson text is seamless, when the truth is that the change is so abrupt and annoying that I could hardly finish reading the book. Twain starts the book as another narrative written by Huck Finn. When Nelson takes over, the voice of Huck Finn disappears to be replaced by some sort of stilted, sportscaster style of reporting events as they unfold. While Twain would have Huck write something similar to "I warn't cornsarned about how far he would get. He lit on his horse and high tailed it out of there. I dasn't call out to him. I dasn't resk it.", Nelson would write that same passage: "I don't worry. He gets on his horse and rides out. I don't risk calling out to him." The style is so stilted it is very painful to read. Ironically Nelson seems to try to defend this style in his introduction by pointing out that Twain has Huck drift in and out of the past and present tense. This is true to some extent, but Twain tends to restrict the use of present tense to passages containing a lot of dialogue. Appropos of dialogue, Twain writes more dialogue than Nelson, most likely because Nelson is incapable of writing authentic dialogue in the dialects that Twain had given them (particularly in the case of Jim). Nelson seems to think that some sort of pidgin English is the equivalent of the dialects spoken by Twain's characters.

As far as the story goes, it just isn't consistent with anything Twain would have written. The relationship between Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn doesn't ring true, nor does the relationship between Jim and any of the other characters. Somehow Tom and Huck age about eight years in the course of a single summer. Nelson (LDS himself) introduces Mormonism into the story and seems so intent on portraying it in a positive light that he even goes so far as to bring in the real life LDS criminal assasins Porter Rockwell and Bill Hickman, portraying them as some sort of wild West heroes equal to Wyatt Earp. Anybody who knows anything about Twain knows that he had nothing but disdain for the LDS.

If you are a real Twain fan, you won't want to read this. Even the parts that Twain wrote were not edited and there are a few places where it is apparent that Twain would have changed what he wrote had he continued this work. You also won't want to suffer through the butchery of the characters that Nelson performs. If you are not a fan of Twain, you won't want to read it either.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The rights to this book should never been released ... terrible isn't strong enough word, September 28, 2005

By 

Igelfeld "enpassant_z" (Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer Among the Indians (Hardcover)

Mark Twain is turning in his grave with the existence of this book. The author petitioned to get the rights to finish the book and then completed the story in unparalled historical revisionist style.

Here are the major objections.

First, Mark Twain would not have written anything that is so clearly intended to promote the Mormon agenda. If you don't believe me, consider this. The author has Tom Sawyer converting to Mormonism because it's the first religious book that he's read that's made sense.

In addition to the blatant Mormon propoganda, Lee Jordan completely contradicts the many historians who have established the battle between the Mormons, settlers crossing to California, native Americans and the US government. If a native American read this book, they'd be outraged to know that the author assigns the savage behavior completely to the native Americans.

In addition to other complaints, Lee Jordan introduces violent themes unnecessarily. The transition from Twain is NOT seamless and to market this book or tape under his name is an outrage!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Brutal! Don't read this book!, January 18, 2006

By 

D. Maldaner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer Among the Indians (Hardcover)

Lee Nelson wrote a terrible story. The Mark Twain portion of the book is barely readable but Nelsons part is a horror, an Old West/LDS spawned abomination that drags on and on. Through the reoccurring floods of indignation I could not shake the feeling that Nelson was trying to work in all the weird bits of useless Western information he has at his disposal, for example, the mice and honey feast added nothing whatsoever to the story, it merely increased my contempt for this lame tale.
The characters were unbelievable and impossible to become attached to. I did not recognized, and will not acknowledge; the whinning, uncertain Tom Sawyer, the sensitive, thoughtful, careful, gunslinging(!) Huck Finn, or ultra thickheaded Jim, whom I thought would leave the Indians as soon as he could and at least make an attempt to return to his wife and children (wrong!).
Nelson needs to spend more time researching his subjects before writing a book like this. Basic fact finding skills are important as we can see from the glaring ommissions, flaws and obvious glossing over of the nasty spots, most notably in regards to the Mormon faith and their activities in the early West.

I am a big fan of M. Twain's writing but after reading this vile monstrosity I am left with an unshakable icky feeling, that a literary Nobody can take one of the best loved characters in literature and reform him, (Nelson thinks he's better than the Widow Douglas) turn him into a boring, mooning, pistol packing, Mormon, living in the Old West without a longing for his former haunts or the River his name is nearly synonymous with. Abominable!
What a horrible story, I came to hate these characters, every one! (Not Twain's characters, Nelson's, there is a huge difference.)

Quickly people, read the originals and right your world!

My Opinion-- If you want to know what Lee Nelson's daydream fantasy world is like then read this unbearable book.