Book recommendation: Finn by Jon Clinch

Next week I'll be leading the Grass Roots June book group meeting on Finn by Jon Clinch. I've been interested in this book since it came out last year, and I really pushed to it for book group.

It took a lot of balls for Clinch to take on one of the greatest books in American Literature, and I hesitate to say that it's a "retelling" of Huckleberry Finn. It's not. Finn is the story of Pap Finn, Huckleberry's father, a violent and troubled man, and the story behind Huck's conception and early life. The genius of Clinch's characterization is that you do end up sympathizing with this monster of a man. This is the first book since The Road that has emotionally affected me this way.

This is a beautifully written book, and it's Clinch's first novel. There are some phrases and lines that are so poetic, they almost beg to be read out loud. The physical world in which the characters live is even more vivid here than in Twain's original novel, in my opinion. More than anything else, this book has made me want to read Huckleberry Finn again.

So far this is my favorite book that I've read this year. I highly recommend it.