James
The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
Selected as one of the top 12 reads of 2024 by The Times and Sunday Times
'This is the work of an American master at the peak of his powers' — Financial Times
An enthralling and ferociously funny reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. Written by Booker Prize-shortlisted Percival Everett, his novel Erasure is now released as the critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning film American Fiction, and James is set to be the literary event of 2024.
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond. As James and Huck begin to navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise.
With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he carries: the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live. And together, the unlikely pair must face the most dangerous odyssey of them all . . .
From the shadows of Huck Finn’s mischievous spirit, Jim emerges to reclaim his voice, defying the conventions that have consigned him to the margins.
'James has the potential to become a classic . . . thrilling, bold and profound' — The Sunday Times
'Gripping, painful, funny, horrifying . . . a consummate performance to the last' — The Observer
‘Both a page-turner and a profound meditation on the ramifications of slavery and self-hood . . . Luminous’ — TLS
*James was an instant Sunday Times bestseller w/c 07/04/2024
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 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the familiar story is told by the teen’s partner on his journey down the Mississippi River: 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, 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.
