September’s Virtual Author Visit Book Club pick was a book called Finn by Jon Clinch, which takes Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and offers an unusual, provocative twist. The person in the title is not Huck, but in fact, his father, Pap Finn, a sociopathic alcoholic. Living on the fringes of society, in a rundown house by the river, Finn ekes out an existence by catching fish, making just enough to drink himself into a stupor as often as he can manage it. Ostracized by his father, the Judge, Finn is a product of his time and his upbringing, spewing hatred towards the black people of the community, even as he is drawn to them. During an incident aboard a riverboat, Finn’s life intersects with that of Mary, a slave girl. He abducts her, and soon their relationship turns sexual. From that, Huck is born, and at first, their life together is relatively free of violence, but it’s not long before Finn’s true nature returns.

The book opens with a murder, and ends with one as well. Between these two events, the chapters alternate back and forth between the past and the present, lending the story a surreal quality, so that Finn’s muddled sense of reality becomes in some way, our own. There are several cringe-inducing scenes, where Finn’s brutality cuts through any modern desensitization to violence, and Clinch offers no real redemption for any of the characters. It’s a bleak companion to Twain’s novel, but one that stand on its own as a powerful work of fiction.

This book counts as one more in my Historical Fiction Reading Challenge – I just may finish this challenge yet!