📝 What is James about?:
When Jim, an enslaved man, learns he will be sold and separated from his family, he hides on Jackson Island. On the island he meets Huck Finn, who has faked his death to escape his abusive father. Together, they embark on a dangerous journey down the Mississippi River, seeking freedom in the Free States. Along the way, Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are portrayed in a profoundly new light, despite the familiar “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” they encounter.
📚 Genre: Historical Fiction
🎧 Format: Audiobook
💞 Feels: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Note: spoilers, I can’t contain the gossip in me.
Such a lovely and inventive book. I look forward to reading it again. Perhaps as a tandem read with Huckleberry Finn, to compare, contrast and see how the stories collaborate and fill in the gaps.
I started listening to the audiobook on a long drive back from Tahoe with my friend. The audiobook had us fully engrossed in the tale. So much so that when we, two black women, had car trouble my friend was a bit worried about interacting with the public again. We needed to reorient ourselves back to our code switching default, if needed, much like James. Since we were in an unfamiliar town trying to find a place to eat while we waited for the car diagnostic.
Once I was safely back home I continued to listen to James’ side quests. Reveling in the new information Percival Everett was divulging. I took a break after James saved Huckleberry and left Norman in the river. I needed to decompress from the stress I was feeling for James and Norman.
When I came back to the story James was confessing to being Huck’s father, I had to rewind the audiobook I wasn’t sure I’d heard right?! What a twist. I had suspected something awry when Easter had questioned Huck’s ethnicity. But I’d never thought James and shuck could be father and son. So cool to be surprised by a 135 year old story.
Getting technical
I’m glad Percival wrote a happy ending for James to be reunited with his family and make it North. I’m sad for Huck that he stayed behind, that they couldn’t stay together. I understand that it needed to happen, and also that’s what Mark Twain made canon, so it had to stay.
James tries to save so many other slaves but it always ends up wrong. He is without power to save them, and eventually gives up on reacting. The act of him helping brings worse repercussions. So in the instance of Katie’s rape, he starts to bide his time when exacting revenge. And he seems to act that way going forward. He waits for the perfect time to kill Hawkins, to shoot Graham, and to declare his name as James – no longer Jim.
This was my first time reading Percival Everett. I look forward to reading more of his books.
You’ll like this book if…
You’ll like this book if you’re a fan of classic literature, alternate stories and retellings. Reading James provided a new perspective on an old story, a new tidbit of gossip that improved upon the story.
✅ Spinoff novella nomination: n/a
What are you reading? Let me know in the comments.