I get the importance of this book, but it doesn't make me like it anymore. I tried it in print and gave up. Then I listened to it, but couldn't really pay close attention. The dialect drove me crazy, along with the constant use of the "n" word. Plus, if you asked me if I'd like to read a book about some guys floating down the Mississippi in the 19th century on a raft having adventures, I would absolutely not be interested. I do understand why a book written not too long after the Civil War about a runaway slave being helped to freedom by a white boy must have been remarkable, but it just wasn't for me. I read Percival Everett's book James immediately afterward, and liked it way more than the original.