12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is what Tom, Huck, and Jim are really about!, June 5, 1999
If you really want to sink your teeth into three of Mark Twain's greatest characters, read this book. I actually prefer it over Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Twain went much deeper in defining the characters; Tom thinks he knows everything and loves to argue, Huck takes everything literally and loves to argue back, and Jim is well. . . Jim! I will say this: If anyone has ever found the portrayal of Jim offensive, it's no different here, but I'm assuming that if you're considering reading this, you must have enjoyed the other two books. So, what are you waiting for, read it!
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
JUVENILE ARGONAUTS OVER THE SAHARA, April 19, 1998
This book picks up right after the hullaballo has died down from Tom and Huck's triumphal return. Tom kinda craves notoriety as he competes for the unofficial title of Hannibal's First Traveler. Then Tom, Huck and Jim are accidentally kidnapped by a mad inventor and go sailing off in a hot-air balloon. They eventually find themselves adrift over the Atlantic Ocean but when they sight land, it is not Europe! This book is told with youthful zest and slangy vocabulary by an admiring Huck in the first person, so that he can praise Tom's leadership skills and powers of argument!
The three unintentional argonauts finally realize that they are sailing over the Sahara Desert, where they have a variety of adventures, interspersed with juvenile deductions and debates. Their adventures are right out of Arabian Nights: no magic lamp or genies, but caravans, lions, mirages, warring Bedouin tribes, devastating sand storms! All interspersed with Tawin's wry humor as he slips in some snide remarks about more serious social issues (spoken through the mouths of babes). Not much of a plot, but plenty of lively dialogue as the boys try to argue using logic and indulge in youthful dreams of sudden fortune. A fun read with sly social criticism. But really, Mark Twain, Tigers--in Africa???
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A boy's own Adventure, September 6, 2011
This is the Tom Sawyer book people have not heard of. With good reason!
Tom Sawyer is a wonderful story of life in the 19th Century deep south of America, with an engaging protaganist.
Huck Finn is a classic of American literature, taking the setting of Tom Sawyer, adding a raft trip and plenty of issues over slavery, justice and other such wieghty matter in an engaging story.
Tom Sawyer abroad takes those characters, sticks them in a balloon with Jim, the freed slave, sends them on an unbelievable journey across the world, and for me breaks the spell. Books create a kind of contract with the reader. Huck Finn says "believe in me - this is how it was". Tom Sawyer abroad breaks that contract.
On the other hand, if it were a standalone book with different characters it would be a good "boy's own adventure" I think.
There were some good points though. Mark Twain has a trademark humour, which still shines through in this work. Poor Huck Finn keeps complaining about the map being a liar because states are not the colour they are shown on the map, and lines of longitude cannot actually be found on the earth!
And there is more of the philosophy wrapped in an engagingly young understanding of the world in, for instance, the discussion of the Holy Land.
Whether the book is worth reading or not is hard to say. It is still a book with merit - it just messes up the Tom Sawyer canon a little, sadly
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