I heard from multiple people that James was THE BOOK to read last year, and it wason a lot of best of lists, so I was exicted to give it a read. It fully hooked me from the first sentence “Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass.” I didn’t have a lot of expectations about this book, but having me chuckle from the start was a surprise.
This is a retelling of the classic tale Huck Finn but from the perspective of Jim, the slave and it is creative, thought-provoking and very powerful. Everett has done something immensely creative and engaging with taking a well known classic and essentially flipping it on its head to show us the perspective of a slave trying to navigate the world in the 1840s. It is unflinching in showing us his struggles, and firmly places the behavior and world of whites on trial.
If like me the last time you read Huck Finn was uh, who knows how many years ago, I highly recommend a refresher. I did a read a quick summary before tackling James and it helped me to follow the action and see behind the curtain in an interesting way. I’m by no means an expert on the original text and I’m wishing I’d taken the time to read the original book fully so I would really understand how far he deviated from the text in his storytelling, but the bones of the original story are there. I do know he makes at least a few very interesting big changes that add to the depth of the original story.
The hype is well justified. If you’re looking for something to challenge and engage you, go get this book.
