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From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

James

Percival Everett

Start date: October 15, 2024

Finish date: November 15, 2024

Discussion: Reading List

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Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
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last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

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May 06, 2024 Ken added it

Shelves: finished-in-2024, contemporary

I have a bookshelf here called "Classics-Newly-Read" that's not used often enough. It's designed to shelve the classics I haven't read yet but must because voice after respected voice after Goodreads friend voice says, in so many words, "You must." Titles like Frankenstein, Middlemarch, and Wuthering Heights.

Finishing James in two days pancake, I'd half a notion to click "classics-newly-read" for this review because it was so aligned to Twain's Great American Novel that a reading man could be fo I have a bookshelf here called "Classics-Newly-Read" that's not used often enough. It's designed to shelve the classics I haven't read yet but must because voice after respected voice after Goodreads friend voice says, in so many words, "You must." Titles like Frankenstein, Middlemarch, and Wuthering Heights.

Finishing James in two days pancake, I'd half a notion to click "classics-newly-read" for this review because it was so aligned to Twain's Great American Novel that a reading man could be fooled into thinking he'd found something new.

But wait. I've read and loved The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn umpteen times (and the ump has a small strike zone, too). So, no. Not newly read. Maybe the shelf "classics reread," a habit I keep for the incredibly narrow pantheon of books deserving rereads due to richness would be more appropriate.

Oh, hell. Just click "contemporary," why don't you. It's backed up on the library reserve lists, after all, something that only happens to the shiny and new.

In the beginning of this book, Everett co-opts some of Twain's book's dialect verbatim. Music to my ears. Why? Because it felt like I was reading a sequel to HF. Or an extension. Or a rewritten edition that mercifully saws Tom Sawyer out of the ending chapters and tries again (only better).

Glorious, in other words. And it's clear that Percival Everett has as great a regard for Twain's work as I do. In one way, he even showed his advantage over Twain. As leverage, he had the benefit of using racism in the modern day, still thriving just as it always did, and placing that critical eye on the slavers and their silent accomplices. In that sense, we get Twain's angle on whites aided and abetted by Everett's.

Fun, too, is the fact that the literate slave Jim (oh, that recurring inconsequential object of consequence -- the pencil!) has visions of Enlightenment figures he's secretly read from Judge Thatcher's library (explaining cameos by Montesquieu, Voltaire, and John Locke along the Great Mississippi).

As I turned the final bend in this 300-pager, I half feared Everett might bungle the ending like his hero, but no. He was one serious writer who took this project seriously. He sprung a few surprises. He gave Tom a mention but left him in Hannibal because we don't want to see him no MO. He nailed the ending sweetly. Maybe with a bit of a stretcher, feasibility-wise, but acceptable considering the theme he was laboring over in the name of art.

I've enjoyed a few Percival Everett books in the past, but I'd say this is a new favorite because it's half novelty and half homage. In fact, it was like an old friend coming back from the Territories where he'd been long lost. Yes, sir. Welcome back, Huck. And welcome to your newly-burnished starring role, ~~Jim~~ James. ...more

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Sep 03, 2024 Roy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, african-american-fiction, african-american-subject-matter, literary-fiction, slavery

James is a brilliant retelling and reimagining of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that is told from the point of view of Jim rather than Huck. Most people are familiar with the original novel, even those who haven't read it. They know that Huck's adventures take place during the days of slavery and that the setting is on or nearby the Mississippi River. The mischievous white boy of Twain's creation rebels against domesticity, often along with his best friend Tom Sawyer. As an Afr James is a brilliant retelling and reimagining of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that is told from the point of view of Jim rather than Huck. Most people are familiar with the original novel, even those who haven't read it. They know that Huck's adventures take place during the days of slavery and that the setting is on or nearby the Mississippi River. The mischievous white boy of Twain's creation rebels against domesticity, often along with his best friend Tom Sawyer. As an African American man in a state of bondage, Jim does not have the luxury of rebelling against anything. Not without paying the ultimate price. His only choice, which comes at great peril, is to escape and hope that he is able to evade capture. However, Jim is a family man devoted to his wife and child. Freedom is meaningless to him without them by his side. He does not seek adventure or fortune or amusement to distract himself from daily boredom. Stakes for him are much higher than they are for Tom or his good friend Huck, even though Huck is not without problems of his own such as an alcoholic father who is quick to anger and acts of violence. Since the plot of James is already set by Mark Twain's novel, Percival Everett starts his novel out on footing that is familiar to us. We're seeing the world through the eyes of an enslaved man rather than an All American boy, but the events of James stay true to what takes place in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. For starters anyway. Huck runs away from home to get away from a bullying father, Jim escapes to avoid being sold away from his family, planning to somehow be reunited with them down the road, perhaps by being able to purchase their freedom with money that he will need to figure out how to obtain. The two of them end up in the same hiding place and decide to team up. As in Mark Twain's novel, Jim learns that Huck's father has died but keeps this knowledge from the boy. As they alternate traveling on the Mississippi by raft or whatever else they're able to obtain that will float, and moving about by foot when necessary, they make the acquaintance of various characters who are known to us from the original version of this story. And as with Twain's version, there are times when Jim and Huck get separated from each other. This is where Percival Everett is given the most freedom to invent his own story, since rather than sticking with Huck at these times, here the narrative remains with Jim. Among the differences between Twain's and Everett's novels is code switching. Jim speaks the way he is expected to when white people are around, but his true language is proper English that is spoken when the coast is clear. Jim can also read and write. Language is a critical aspect of the story, which makes sense since in the days of slavery Black people had to find ways to communicate with each other that was undetectable to white people. In a way, that tradition carries on to this day. The person named Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a slave. That defines who he is and what he does. It is his motivation and the limitation imposed on him by society and also by the author. As for Percival Everett's James, he is a man that happens to be enslaved, but "slave" does not define him. He is also a husband and a father and intelligent and curious and shrewd and caring and angry and optimistic and vengeful and cynical and a dreamer and sympathetic and wise and wary and a variety of other things. James is multifaceted as written by Everett because he is not merely a vehicle for Huck to learn how he feels about a society that permits and enforces slavery. James is not there primarily for a boy to realize what type of man he wants to become and avoid becoming. James is a fully realized fictional character who acts not how Twain's plot dictates he must, but rather, one who behaves how a man in his situation might when push comes to shove. There are plot elements that I won't reveal because I don't want to play spoiler. Instead I will urge you to immediately obtain a copy of this fantastic novel in order to find out for yourself what happens. The only clue I will give is that I could see a movie adaptation of James being directed by Quentin Tarantino. Or Spike Lee. I said it upon review of his novel Erasure and I will repeat it here. Percival Everett is a great writer. Give him his flowers. I can't wait to see what he gifts us with next. If you're one of those people who has not already read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, you might want to pick up Twain's classic first. ...more

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Apr 09, 2024 Linda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, chcpl, cultural, 2024, fiction, hardback

This a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but from Jim's point of view by an esteemed author. I have to admit that although I've heard of him, this is the first Percival Everett book I've tried. It won't be the last.
I probably haven't read "Huck" since I was a young girl. This certainly brushed off a lot of hears of mental dust - especially once Huck and Jim came across "the Duke." Everett knew how to write him as an absolutely despicable character. Other parts prompted me to acquir ...more

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Sep 10, 2024 Rosana rated it liked it

Shelves: historical, audio-books, 2024

I am some what disappointed with this book. Maybe it is just another book which I approached with too great of expectations. But have you ever had the experience of reading a book and at a certain moment you can feel that the author veered from the original path, almost as if the author envisioned a different pathway to the story, however in doing it, she/he also changes the fundamental dynamic of the narrative and characters.
I understand that this book is an attempt at discussing the monstrosi ...more

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Sep 17, 2025 Laurel Bradshaw rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, historical-fiction, pulitzer-prize, literary-characters, themes-mark-twain, mississippi-river, slavery, color-rating-blue

4.5 blue stars

Interesting and certainly thought-provoking, but the author takes some great liberties with history here. I'll make allowances for that, since this is literary fiction, not historical fiction. We're playing with a literary character to present his story from the point of view of a highly intelligent and well-read man, despite his being a slave. It speaks more to the 21st century black experience. I went along with it for about 2/3 of the book and then it took a huge departure from 4.5 blue stars

Interesting and certainly thought-provoking, but the author takes some great liberties with history here. I'll make allowances for that, since this is literary fiction, not historical fiction. We're playing with a literary character to present his story from the point of view of a highly intelligent and well-read man, despite his being a slave. It speaks more to the 21st century black experience. I went along with it for about 2/3 of the book and then it took a huge departure from Mark Twain, and I'm not convinced it was an improvement. It almost seemed as if James, with his pencil, was rewriting the ending, and it felt more like a violent fantasy of empowerment. I can agree that I wasn't entirely satisfied with Twain's ending either - the whole nonsense with Tom Sawyer enacting some grand rescue that wasn't needed. And the choice to make Huck Finn his son (sorry if that's a spoiler) took all the power out of the choices that Jim made for the sake of friendship and kindness. James does what he did to save his son, and then ends up abandoning him in the end. Rather than being a free man at the end, it felt more like James had become a slave to violence and power. But probably since I am a white person (and a woman) I am missing the point here.

Description: 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.
...more

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Oct 15, 2024 Victoria rated it it was amazing

Finished this in two days. Such an extraordinary story and so well done.

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Jun 02, 2024 William rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2024

It must be a bit daunting and very challenging to effectively rewrite a classic. There are lots of examples. Sometimes the author resets the book to a different time and place with new characters (Bridget Jones’ Diary / Pride and Prejudice). Sometimes the story is retold but by a different character (Song of Achilles /The Iliad). This is an example of the second. The themes are still the same, cruelty, bigotry, family, ignorance. Like the Iliad, the structure is a classic Hero’s journey.
It is n ...more

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Shelves: 2024

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Shelves: audiobooks, 2024-read

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Feb 02, 2025 Amy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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