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James: A Novel
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD - SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE - KIRKUS PRIZE FINALIST - A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg - A Best Book of the Year of the Year so Far for 2024: The New York Times Book Review, Esquire, W Magazine, Bustle, LitHub "Genius"--The Atlantic - "A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own."--Chicago Tribune - "A provocative, enlightening literary work of art."--The Boston Globe - "Everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."--The New York Times 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 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. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a "literary icon" (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
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Community Reviews
Percival Everett is all the glowing things being said about his writing and contributions to literature.
An amazing alternative to The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin. Parallels and diverges with the most significant bits in part two, with Jim on his own. As an amazing and indictment of slavery and the south at the onset of the Civil War.
The American Writer Evertt Percival’s novel, James, is interested in language. The central joke of the novel is that the Black characters speak formal English when White characters are not around, but they talk like minstrel show characters when White people are around. The character of James even joins a minstrel show from section 1, chapter 27 through section 32. This section spoofs Mark Twain's love of minstrel shows, which he has enjoyed his whole life. Minstrel shows also heavily influenced how Twain wrote the character of Jim in the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Powers 35, Weeks 2021). I did not think this was a standalone novel. A reader must be familiar with Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but I think that was on purpose, so high school might read the two books together (Weekes 2021). Percival’s book closely follows the plot of Twain’s novel up to part 1, chapter 24. This novel is relatively short, but a lot is going on. The Enlightenment philosophers John Locke and Voltaire make cameos in the novel. The book also critiques the idea that stories about Black enslaved people told by White people are frequently more about White people than Black people (Leonard 270-273). I thought Percival’s novel, James, was a thoughtful commentary on the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. If high schools still teach Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, they should consider teaching the book with Percival’s novel, James, as an exercise in readable novelist criticism.
Works Cited:
Leonard, David J. 2014. “Djanjo Blues: Whiteness and Hollywood’s Continued Failures." In Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained: The Continuation of Metacinema. Edited by Oliver C. Speck. New York: Bloomsburg. Kindle.
Powers, Ron. 2005. Mark Twain: A Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, Incorporated.
Weekes, Princess. 2021, September 23, 2021. “Why Do People Think Huck Finn Is Racist? (Feat. Princess Weekes) | It's Lit.” Storied. Why Do People Think Huck Finn Is Racist? (Feat. Princess Weekes) | It's Lit (youtube.com)
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