When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, he decides to hide until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father. Thus begins the dangerous journey down the Mississippi River toward the elusive promise of the Free States.

JAMES isn't just another retelling or reimagining of Mark Twain's classic THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN; it's a bold and thought-provoking adaptation that skillfully flips the script on the familiar characters. In this novel, Everett shifts the narrative focus from Huck to James. While James is relegated to the background in Twain's original tale, he takes center stage in Everett's novel, allowing readers to delve into his compelling journey.

JAMES marks my third encounter with Everett's work, and maybe my favorite, competing closely with ERASURE. Despite its brevity, the novel packs a powerful punch, demonstrating Everett's mastery in crafting a narrative that is both concise and impactful and delivering a profound exploration of the Black American experience, particularly during the era of slavery.

One of the remarkable aspects of JAMES is its accessibility to readers unfamiliar with HUCK FINN. As someone who didn't read Twain's classic, I was engrossed in Everett's storytelling without feeling like I was missing out on essential context. This speaks to Everett's ability to create a standalone work that resonates independently while also offering a unique perspective to those familiar with the source material.

Everett's brilliance as a literary genius shines through in his ability to infuse fresh ideas into a setting that has been explored by many. JAMES becomes not just an homage to classics but a provocative play on them, challenging readers to reconsider the characters relegated to the background. JAMES prompts us to ask, "What did we miss?" in the original narratives and encourages a reevaluation of our understanding of these literary figures.

In essence, JAMES is a captivating ode to classics that is both nostalgic and groundbreaking. Everett's storytelling prowess elevates this adaptation, making it a must-read for those intrigued by inventive takes on timeless tales and a compelling exploration of the Black American experience.

So excited to have this retelling of an American classic from exactly the type of person who needed to retell it. Everett's James is thought-provoking and challenging, with a major twist revealed towards the end. As someone who acknowledges the problems with the perenially controversial original book while still acknowledging its genius (and as someone who likes to stand up for it and point out that in many ways it was very progressive For Its Time), I can imagine a fantastic American Lit class using James and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as paired texts. My only complaint is the ending felt a bit rushed. Maybe a sequel is in the works...I want to know more about what happened in the last chapter and afterwards!

Thanks, NetGalley!

I almost didn’t read this novel as a retelling of HUCKLEBERRY FINN wasn’t appealing to me. So glad I changed my mind! Told by the slave James as he and Huck make their way on the Mississippi River, they encounter some of the same adventures as in Mark Twain’s original. However, experiencing it from a black man’s perspective is revelatory. The characters are all well developed and a bit humorous; the plot moves quickly; the setting is mostly centered on the Mississippi River; and the ending is rewarding.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday/Penguin Random House for the ARC to read and review.

Perfectly brilliant and cleverly done! I need all classic American lit to get the Percival Everett treatment.

This is a phenomenal retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective. I’ve heard it said that this is a masterpiece that will become a classic and I completely agree. A fantastic book for book clubs and everyone else. Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday for the advance copy.

As soon as I learned that Everett was writing a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, my expectation skyrocketed, and—let me tell you, he does not disappoint. If you’re not familiar with the classic American tale, here’s the basic premise. Jim is an enslaved Black man in Missouri who runs away when he learns that his owner Miss Watson intends to sell him away from his family. While hiding out on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River, Jim encounters young Huckleberry Finn who himself as run away after staging his own death to escape his abusive father. Jim realizes that given Huck’s disappearance, it is likely he’ll now be pursued as a murderer in addition to a runaway, and he and Huck take off down the river to escape their pursuers. This is a fairly confined retelling of Huck Finn so Everett doesn’t spend much time filling in of Jim’s backstory before diving right into the events of the novel. In Jim’s narrative, we can see the absolute terror of the situation that, in Twain’s telling, is merely a white boy’s Romantic adventure. The way Everett brings in explorations of language and power is brilliant, and felt connected both to his previous works and the source material itself. This book is a masterpiece. I think it’s rare for retellings of classic literature to become classics themselves, but in the same way every reading of Jane Eyre is now influenced by Wide Sargasso Sea, I think it in the future it will become impossible to read Huck Finn without considering James.

It's only February and I think I've found my top read of 2024. This book is absolutely amazing. I loved it from beginning to end and couldn't put it down!

James is a retelling of Huck Finn from the perspective of the slave Jim. Everett does a wonderful job of making Jim come to life and shows us how nuanced and complicated a human he is. There's plenty of adventure and action in this book, but also reflection on humanity and slavery. There are definitely some parts that are difficult to read (such as whippings and rape), but there are also parts that are light-hearted and will make you smile.

In case there's anyone else out there like me who has never actually read Huck Finn cover to cover, rest assured this book is still amazing without knowing the original version. I don't think it took anything away from James for me not to have read Huck Finn, but now I want to read the original to compare and contrast.

I think everyone should read this book and I think it should be required high school reading. I think this book will be at the top of many award lists this year and those will be well-deserved! Read this, you won't regret it!

Thanks @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Thanks very much to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley for the advance reader copy!

Summary: A retelling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from Jim’s point of view.

Review: This was excellent. The ending is QUITE different and is really what sets it apart most from Huckleberry Finn. The original novel is able to be read by children aged 8 and up and the end of this book certainly begs an older audience.

Jim can read and write and dumbs down his speech when in the presence of white folks in order to make them feel superior and more comfortable. As a slave it is unacceptable for him to show any signs of intelligence. He reads Voltaire and sees him in his dreams. I loved this portrayal of Jim. I loved that he never gave up on the people he loved, including Huck.

It is interesting to get the events of the story I remember from high school/college from a different POV. This book was very easy to read, the writing somehow didn’t feel as antiquated, even though portions of it was written in old southern colloquialism. I found it much more readable than the original, but I was much younger when I read Huckleberry Finn, so maybe when I read it again I may feel differently.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy of James in exchange for a fair review which will appear on Goodreads. I just wrote an awesome review that was deleted so now I dejectedly try again.
If you remember anything from reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a kid, you probably remember the characters of Huck and Jim. This novel is from the point of view of the slave man that Huck befriends, and is a pivotal character in this novel as well.
With humor, heartwarming moments and a heavy dose of tension and adventure, this tale takes as many twists and bends as the Mississippi River, on which much of his time is spent. The book is a fast read that I couldn’t put down. It was exciting and scary, and I think any book club would have a lot to say about this standalone novel that compliments Mark Twains novel, whether or not he would have approved.
I would recommend it to patrons.
4*

Clever and entertaining. It took a few turns I didn't anticipate and eclipsed the source material.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

When I read that Percival Everett's James was a retelling of the life of Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, I was immediately intrigued. Though it's been years since I read the source material, I seem to recall Jim being the best person in the book - maybe the only truly good one, if I'm being honest. There's always the danger of the "Magical Black Person" trope, however, so I was interested to see how Everett would handle the character. As I expected, Everett managed to make the eponymous James a complex, complete character.

There are many slave narratives out there, but there are few that embrace the absurdity of chattel slavery. Everett manages to inject every page of the story with humor, despite his simultaneous refusal to sugar-coat the slave experience. This book is brutal, uncomfortable, and graphic; It is also funny, heartfelt, and farcical. James is an intelligent, often sarcastic narrator, who allows you to scoff alongside him in shocked amusement at the insanity of his life. While often tongue-in-cheek, Everett does examine the totality of abuse that slaves endured in early America through a rotating cast of characters - children, poor whites, those who profess to be against slavery, slavers, women, "kind" masters, con-men, overseers, and fellow slaves. I found myself exhausted throughout by the sheer unending nature of the brutality, the incessant assault on personhood, family, community - past, present, future - physically, emotionally, and mentally. There is no safety, no break, for the reader throughout the novel, a deliberate mirror of the conditions of being a slave.

James refuses to be victimized throughout the novel. At one point, he refers to racist whites as his enemy, saying, "I chose the word enemy, and still do, as oppressor necessarily supposes a victim". This is not the story of an enslaved man who feels downtrodden and defeated by his circumstances; it's the adventure of a Black man refusing to acquiesce to a country that hates him. There's a scene near the end of the book where I was quite literally cheering James on. His astute claims about white people and their conscience are biting and accurate, and he constantly makes a mockery of them without them realizing it. I highlighted many quotes in the book, went back and re-read multiple sections, and closed the book with a smile on my face.

There were some plot-points that I found myself uninterested in, and there's a lot going on in this novel, making it difficult to really ground yourself before you're moving to the next thing. That being said, I would absolutely recommend this book. I can't wait for you all to read it!

This reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view turns this canonical text on its head, bringing us something so special, so funny, so devastating, and a true classic.

James, both the character and the book itself, are pure power. James is the exact opposite of simple, despite what those around him believe because of his enslavement. James is brilliant. James can quite literally not only keep up with but one up, Locke and Voltaire. And yet, he is treated by both people in this book and readers since 1844 like he has the intelligence of a goldfish. Everett gives us a text so dripping in irony I would laugh out loud on one page and have to stop and stare into the void the next.

There are so many things I want to tell you about what Everett is doing here with the character James, but it’s best left to be fully discovered by the reader. You don’t need to read or re-read Huck Finn to see what Everett is doing here; give the spark notes a glance to see him winking at us throughout. I loved every single page of this book. I loved Jim’s character, I loved the plot, and every single piece of razor-sharp commentary from Everett.

I love a good journey book! What could be better than a reimagined Huck Finn, a favorite book of my long ago childhood. Great characters and Mississippi River setting. I am currently reading it and will recommend to all

This is a book of special interest to our library and our town (Mark Twain Library in Redding CT, a library founded and funded by Samuel Clemens himself.

These days HUCKLEBERRY FINN is both a magnet for controversy and a revered classic. JAMES will direct attention to the themes of Twain's original novel and spark a conversation about our country's history

Bravo to Mr. Everett!

James by Percival Everett is firing on all cylinders. A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, James tells the story from the perspective of Jim, the runaway slave. Everett gives us a whole new perspective on Jim. When Jim is with other slaves, he speaks "correct English". When he (and the other slaves) are around white people, including Huck, he speakes "slave language" so that white people will think they're stupid. Slave language is what we get from him in the original, because that was told from Huck's perspective and he only heard the slave language.

This is just the beginning of the story. The things this book says about black culture at the time and there are things that still carry over to today. James is fascinating and uncomfortable and beautiful.

I can't wait for this book to be released to the world so I can share my reading experience with others, especially those that may have had to read Huck Finn . To read a book that both feels like a classic but also feels brand-new To be sucked in by it and have it reeling in your mind like it is playing out on screen vs a novel is a special thing to accomplish..
This is a book that is worthy of awards, will receive rave critic review, and is also extremely readable and those things don't always go together.

Truly one of my favorite books of not just the month of January but the entire year of 2024. This was captivating. It made me laugh, it made me angry, it made me really think. This was more than just a reimagining of Huck Finn. This gives a voice to the voiceless in a whole new way.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for this free ARC.

Percival Everett is starting to become one of my favorite authors. No one writes satire like him and he really shows his skills in this retelling of Huckleberry Finn. Can someone please make this a movie now?!

Wow! I devoured this book. I would like to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of it.

This is my fifth read of 2024 and my first 5 star of the new year. The story is a retelling or revamping of Twain's, Huckleberry Finn, but so much more than that. A prior knowledge of Twain's classic is helpful, but a reread of it certainly is not necessary.

Everett's novel uses Jim (who we all know from Huck Finn was the runaway slave and Huck's companion while they were both on the run), as his story's voice. Jim ,as a narrator, is not only honest and witty, but raw and refined. All of the nuances that Jim's voice brings to the novel are exactly what makes it so powerful. His voice adds a whole new level of understanding to Twain's pre Civil War story.

Yes, Twain was such a masterful storyteller, but Everett's James gives the reader an entire new magnitude of awareness concerning the topics that Twain was sometimes criticized for presenting. Everett definitely puts his own spin on the loved classic. Jim is James and a formidable one at that.

"American Fiction" captivated me in 2023, instantly turning me into a devoted Percival Everett fan. When I discovered his upcoming book, "James" to be published in 2024, I was thrilled at the opportunity to request it. Admittedly, I hadn't read Huck Finn yet, prompting me to do a quick Wikipedia glance. Nevertheless, Everett's retelling left me enamored.

The narrative follows James, a runaway slave in the South, and Huck, a young white boy escaping his abusive father. The prose is exquisitely crafted, infusing genuine life into characters like James and the other slaves. It vividly portrays the struggle of concealing their true selves from the whites they encounter and the entrapment they face due to the caprices of those around them. My sole gripe is the longing for a glimpse into what unfolds next in the story!

This poignant and at times somber exploration of pre-abolition America offered a fresh perspective on a familiar tale. I empathized deeply with James and appreciated Everett's portrayal of his thoughts, actions, and decisions which shed a light on the absurdity and horror of slavery.

A solid 5-star read, easily my favorite of 2024 so far.