James in Reading with Style

Aug 01, 2024 Connie G rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-read-in-2024, historical-fiction, southern-lit, literary-fiction, african-american-experience, adventure-survival, retelling

"James" is a retelling of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from the point of view of Jim. The slave Jim hears that he is going to be sold to a man in New Orleans which would separate him from his wife and daughter. He escapes and hides on Jackson Island. Huck also lands on the island after faking his own death because his abusive father is so mean. Jim and Huck--a light black man and a white boy--paddle down the Mississippi River to escape their terrible situations. They get sep ...more

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May 01, 2024 Penny (Literary Hoarders) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2024, from-windsor-public-library, audiobook, library

If you read only one book this year, please let it be James by Percival Everett.

For the best experience, I would absolutely recommend the audiobook narrated by Dominic Hoffman. This is a life-altering story and I look forward to Percival Everett winning the Pulitzer.

It is said to be a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and while Huck is a presence make no mistake, this is all about Jim. His profound statements on the power of language, the cruelty of men and the perseverance of t ...more

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Apr 30, 2024 Joy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 5-star, literary-fiction, 2024

Searing and brilliant. I started it before bed and then stayed up reading the whole book. No, you do not need to have read or remember Huck Finn.

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Aug 30, 2024 Tanya Patrice rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, audiobook-is-better

This was a retelling of the classic novel, Huckleberry Finn, but told from the point of view of James, the slave companion of Huck. I really don't remember much of the original classic, so all references to the original were lost of me. Of course, reading a book about slavery is never easy, and this novel is graphic in it's reminders. But it's a book that I couldn't put down. There are so many subtleties shared by the author that made the story for me - the way the slaves played up the type of " ...more

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Apr 21, 2025 Bucket rated it it was amazing

Shelves: communication, culture, history, race, literary, reviewed, life-and-death, books-about-books, adventure, class

James was a fantastic reading experience. It's well-written, it's challenging, and it pays respect to Mark Twain without any sort of fawning or homage. It's more than a commentary -- James is a sparring partner for The Adventures of Huck Finn. It feels like the other side of the story that was always missing is now here, and both sides push and pull on each other.

James' code-switching was a brilliant choice and it works so well all throughout the story - it fits right in line with the Jim of Twa James was a fantastic reading experience. It's well-written, it's challenging, and it pays respect to Mark Twain without any sort of fawning or homage. It's more than a commentary -- James is a sparring partner for The Adventures of Huck Finn. It feels like the other side of the story that was always missing is now here, and both sides push and pull on each other.

James' code-switching was a brilliant choice and it works so well all throughout the story - it fits right in line with the Jim of Twain's book, while also pointing out that as accurate as Twain was there was much he could not and would not see and hear as a white man. It also serves as humor here and there, it deeply humanizes Jim, it illuminates how much Jim's (and every slave's) life might depend on a word or a look. They can make no mistakes. And it puts in sharp relief how much the white people hid the humanity of Black people from themselves. To the point that they are more bewildered and frightened than angry or dictatorial by Jim's true voice.

Some quotes I marked:

"You're saying we're equal, but also inferior," I said.
"Ain't no such things as rights," I said.
Drowning to death always made a person more interesting, but I wanted, at that moment, to be, to remain, as boring as possible.
I had already come to understand the tidiness of lies, the lesson learned from the stories told by white people seeking to justify my circumstance.

John Locke "Some might say that my views on slavery are complex and multifaceted."
"Convoluted and multifarious."
"Well reasoned and complicated."
"Entangled and problematic."
"Sophisticated and intricate."
"Labyrinthine and Daedalean."
"Oh, well played, my dark friend."

"Folks be funny lak dat. Dey takes the lies dey want and throws away the truths dat scares 'em."

"Belief has nothing to do with the truth. Believe what you like. Believe I'm lying and move through the world as a white boy. Believe I'm telling the truth and move through the world as a white boy anyway. Either way, no difference."

White people often spent time admiring their survival of one thing or another. I imagined it was because so often they had no need to survive, but only to live. ...more

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