James (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
A Novel
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4.3 • 115 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • 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
KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME, and more.
"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 Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Percival Everett (whose novel Erasure became the hit film American Fiction) takes a big swing with James—and he knocks it out of the park. In this recasting of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, the familiar story is told by the teen’s partner on his journey down the Mississippi: Jim, a Black man who has escaped from enslavement (and he prefers to be called James, if you don’t mind). Everett takes the opportunity to reimagine Black life in the Antebellum South in much the same way Colson Whitehead does in The Underground Railroad. Here, enslaved Black people are literate and well-educated, and they only slip into the exaggerated dialect Twain famously gave his Black characters when white people might be listening. As James and Huck near their destination, Everett shifts the storyline in a smart new direction (one we won’t spoil here). Even if you haven’t read Huckleberry Finn since your high school English class (or ever!), James is a thrilling, funny adventure and a thoughtful commentary on how Black men are depicted in American literature.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As in his classic novel Erasure, Everett portrays in this ingenious retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a Black man who's mastered the art of minstrelsy to get what he needs from gullible white people. Many of the same things happen as they do in Twain's original: Jim escapes from enslavement on a Missouri farm and joins up with Huck, a white boy who's faked his own death. Huck is fleeing from his abusive father, while Jim is hoping to find a way to free his wife and daughter. The main difference is in the telling. Jim narrates, not Huck, and in so doing he reveals how he employs "slave" talk ("correct incorrect grammar") when white people can hear, to make them feel safe and superior. Everett also pares down the prose and adds humor in place of sentimentality. When Huck and Jim come upon a band of slave hunters, Huck claims Jim, who's covered by a tarp, is a white man infected with smallpox ("We keep thinkin' he gone die, then he just don't"). Clever additions to the narrative include a tense episode in which Jim is fraudulently sold by a slaver to "Dixie" composer Daniel Decatur Emmett, who has Jim perform in blackface with his singing troupe. Jim's wrenching odyssey concludes with remarkable revelations, violent showdowns, and insightful meditations on literature and philosophy. Everett has outdone himself.
Customer Reviews
Captivating
A thought provoking story with some intriguing philosophical ideas an engaging tale at times riveting.
A thoroughly enjoyable read
Fully engaging
The story is complex, multi-layered, engaging and engrossing. Engaging in that the reader will understand and feel every single emotion of the narrator. You will be filled with anger, hope, fear and even quiet joy. One of the best books I have ever read and I have read hundreds in my 67 years of living. Truly amazing. It made me ashamed to be a human being but proud to be a black woman.