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James

Percival Everett

Start date: October 1, 2025

Finish date: October 31, 2025

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* We All Live Here
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What Members Thought

Sep 04, 2025 Trisha rated it really liked it

Shelves: aardvark-read, goodreadschoice2024

“Belief has nothing to do with truth.”

This was a tough read, made even more difficult possibly by it being an audiobook. I liked the adventure and Jim's story but I found many parts really hard to stomach. I don't know the original story well so I didn't have a love or affection for Huck like I might have. The twist was something I didn't know ahead of time (not sure if it was in the original book) but I did find it good. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2024 Pat rated it it was amazing

I absolutely LOVED the audiobook of this beautiful novel, an interpretation of Huck!
Definitely my favorite book of July and possibly of 2024.

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2025 Meera rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, historical-fiction, literary-fiction, bought24

3.5
I might be one of the few people who didn't absolutely love this. I think it's because the parts that stuck closer to the original book didn't really interest me. I got more into it when the novel went to places that wasn't in Huck Finn or at least I didn't remember it. ...more

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Dec 31, 2024 Gregory Williams rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: history, african-american, civil-war

This brilliant novel is the reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of Huck’s friend, the runaway slave Jim. So Huck becomes a secondary character, and Jim the primary.

In Everett’s retelling, Jim/James is full of insight and eloquent observations about the unbearable conditions of the black person in 19th century America. James is intelligent, wise, and well-read, but can’t reveal this part of himself to his white overseers, who would feel threa This brilliant novel is the reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of Huck’s friend, the runaway slave Jim. So Huck becomes a secondary character, and Jim the primary.

In Everett’s retelling, Jim/James is full of insight and eloquent observations about the unbearable conditions of the black person in 19th century America. James is intelligent, wise, and well-read, but can’t reveal this part of himself to his white overseers, who would feel threatened and brutally punish him if they knew – which they do anyway, again and again.

I had never seen a white man filled with such fear. The remarkable truth, however, was that it was not the pistol, but my language, the fact that I didn’t conform to his expectations, that I could read, that had so disturbed and frightened him.

Through James’ prescient observations, you’re brought up close into seeing and feeling the unfathomable circumstances he and his fellow enslaved brethren face. There are also several interesting departures from Twain’s tale, which follow a similar yet creative new pathway for this character and breathe new and relevant life into this American classic.

Of interest, this past year, I toured one of the former slave plantations outside of New Orleans, Louisiana, and while the tour featured many respectful displays and signboards describing the conditions of the slave quarters there, I was shocked to overhear another tourist say to another, “this doesn’t look so bad.” There were tiny quarters and leg irons on display. Hard to fathom, but evidently, many Americans still need to be reminded of this soul-crushing desecration committed by our forebearers.

But Everett’s book doesn’t lecture, and this novel isn’t about rubbing this in our faces – it’s about expanding our knowledge and awareness through expert storytelling, using one of our most classic novels to further illuminate our perspective, and enhance our shared humanity.

The character of James expands upon and enriches the story of this character, as well as enhances our understanding of a time and place that wasn’t that long ago. ...more

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Apr 03, 2025 Amy added it

Excellent!

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Sep 27, 2024 Momruns5 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2024, 2024-listened

Illuminating in so many ways…..how we romanticize some of the classics of the day to the point that we don’t see the cruelty underneath the bones of it.

So sad but also not so sad that I couldn’t finish it.

“So, if enough people do it, it’s not a crime.”

“Belief has nothing to do with truth.”

1 like · Like · see review

May 18, 2025 Mimi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: personal-library, 5-star-reads

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Winner of the National Book Award, and Winner of the Kirkus Prize, James by Percival Everett is a richly, layered tale. Drawing inspiration from Mark Twain’s story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Everett interweaves parts of that novel into a reconceptualized tale about the runaway slave, Jim or James as he is called in this novel. The book is well written, efficiently realized, and fully captivating. The story begins in Hannibal, Missouri, Mark Twa Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Winner of the National Book Award, and Winner of the Kirkus Prize, James by Percival Everett is a richly, layered tale. Drawing inspiration from Mark Twain’s story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Everett interweaves parts of that novel into a reconceptualized tale about the runaway slave, Jim or James as he is called in this novel. The book is well written, efficiently realized, and fully captivating. The story begins in Hannibal, Missouri, Mark Twain’s hometown, prior to the Civil War and follows the Mississippi River and her banks south. Themes of slavery, code switching, race, equality, friendship, and justice fill the pages. The main characters, James and Huck, grapple with these issues together and separate in their own way. James, particularly, reflects on these themes through the thoughts of Voltaire, Kierkegaard, Raynal, and John Locke. The growth arcs for James, Huck, and their relationship is explored more deeply than Twain’s novel. Also, two unlikely characters, the River and a pencil, are figured prominently throughout the tale.

James and Huck board a raft on the River trying to evade capture. With the arrival of two con men and their dangerous schemes, Huck and James are separated. Everett departs from Twain towards the end of part one when Daniel Decatur Emmett and his blackface minstrels are introduced. The story’s focus switches primarily at this point to James and those he encounters. Like Twain’s story, James is trying to survive on the run and attempting to figure out how to purchase his family and lead them to freedom. The reader has a front row seat to Jim’s transformation to James.

“That night under a gibbous moon, I waded and swam across the muddy channel, rations, notebook, and pistol wrapped in a bundle and held over my head. I would not be returning to Jackson Island. Night felt like a different animal, its own season. My voice, even in my head, had found its root in my diaphragm, had become sonorous and round. My pencil had more firmly grasped the pages of my newly dried notebook. I saw more clearly, farther, further. My name became my own.” p. 287

This book is perfect for those who like award winners, literary fiction, contemporary fiction, classic literature, southern literature, stories set in the 1800s, stories about slavery and justice, or stories that challenge your view on the world. Mr. Everett, you did indeed tell the story. I loved it. 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ...more

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