Percival Everett

Novel 2024 | 303 pages

An astounding book from the prolific Percival Everett, you will find this tale about "Nigger Jim" captivating.  It is the story of Huck Finn and the slave Jim (who renames himself "James") from Jim's perspective.  Where he went when he and Huck were separated; what feelings he had; how he thought;  how he learned to run; how he concealed his proclivity with English as well as his ability to write and to read.

From The Guardian:

And whereas the Jim of Huckleberry Finn is ignorant and superstitious in ways that are played for comedy, James is a thoughtful bibliophile who debates in his dreams with Voltaire and John Locke and harbours an ambition to write his own story one day.

As in the original novel, James and Huck take flight together on to the Mississippi: Huck running from his abusive father, James because he’s going to be sold. Many of the same key incidents occur. In Huckleberry Finn, there are various sections when Jim and Huck become separated. Now we learn where James has been in these interludes.

I fell in love with Jim.  His character is fully developed, and he has a pure heart and soul.  I gained a new and deeper understanding for the hardships of trying to run away from slavery, at the start of the Civil War.  James is incredibly well-written, and I completed it in under 48 hours.  The interactions Jim has with others, and with nature, will hold your interest.  But most compelling are Jim's inner workings.

I fully and heartily recommend that you read James.  I know it is very popular this year and is difficult to get, and you may have a long wait at your library, but it is well worth the wait.  In the meantime, I would suggest you do something I did not do ... reread Huckleberry Finn before your copy of James arrives.  That will ground you further in the narrative.

February 2025