James

by: Percival Everett

Goodreads description:

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Helen says: (DNF- did not finish)

I thought I was going to like this one a lot more than I did. It was an interesting perspective and retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I got about half way through and found that it was easy to put this book down and not want to pick it back up…so I quit…I was disappointed because I loved the movie American Fiction, which is based on Erasure by the same author. Let us know your thoughts.

Holly says: 🤓🤓🤓1/2

I was excited to read this book, and I thought it was really going to be completely enthralling/interesting/entertaining – it just wasn’t, but it was pretty good. It is a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and it has received wonderful reviews. Again, maybe it is just me, and based on reviews, it most likely is. Either readers are way over-thinking it, or I under-thinking and under-appreciating it. One reviewer said it should be bundled and read with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and maybe that is the best way to appreciate it. Everett is also the author of Erasure which was adapted to film as “American Fiction”, my favorite movie of 2023. There are definitely some similarities.

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