James

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

This thread is to discuss James by Percival Everett.

Pages: 303 pages

Length: 1 month (October)

Participants: Beth, Lorraine, TerryJane, Rebecca

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

[TerryJane, Challenges]

I am starting this one today. It's my first by Percival Everett.

[TerryJane, Challenges]

I stayed up late to finish this last night. I listened to the audio version, which was narrated beautifully by Dominic Hoffman. He never disappoints.

While I don't agree with the blurb's "ferociously funny" verbiage (I experienced no laugh-out-loud moments myself), there were some amusing passages that made me smile a bit, particularly the (view spoiler)[teaching of educated English vs. slave dialect, and the racial Victor/Victoria-esque episode of James and Norman performing in the black-face minstrel group.

I have loved Jim and Huck's friendship in Twain's novel since I first read it as a child. It baffles me that it gets challenged and/or banned despite its display of friendship crossing racial boundaries. Imagine what the haters and book ban fans will do with this new relationship between James and Huck. Ugh! 🙄

The book's irony is most certainly tempered by the horrors of slavery, but I think the author did a splendid job of bringing these realities to light in this thought-provoking work. Perhaps he will reach an audience that wouldn't ordinarily read Twain. I sincerely hope readers will come away with an appreciation for what all historically enslaved groups survived. We can't escape history, no matter how ugly it is, but this book has the potential to put currently enslaved people in readers' hearts, and maybe bring about a conversation about ending modern-day slavery as well. (hide spoiler)]

[Lorraine]

I've just finished James by Percival Everett. Initially, I felt it was just okay, but by the end, I liked it enough to give it 4/5 stars. I haven’t read Huckleberry Finn yet, and I’m not sure if I will anytime soon, as stories involving child abuse aren’t something I’m eager to dive into right now, so I couldn’t make a direct comparison with the original. However, I appreciated what Everett did with the story and how he created a world of possibilities for Huck. I find Everett’s books to be quite different from each other. This was my third by him, having also read The Trees and Erasure. The Trees remains my favorite so far.

[Beth]

I'm going to hope to get to this one this month, but it's not looking good, TBH. I forgot I'd signed up for another reading thing and now am involved with that. Also, real life has taken on a, well... a life of its own (in completely good ways!) that has really lessened reading time. Maybe I can get it in early Nov?

[Lorraine]

Do not worry. Read it when you can. Happy to know that life did not send you lemons! 😁

[Beth]

As always, thank you, Lorraine! Yes, fortunately, the busy-ness is all good.

[Beth]

I did get to read James; I put my comments in the Finn thread because this one was archived last time I checked it. :)

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