Name: James
Rating: 4.9 (17 reviews)
Author: Percival Everett
ISBN: 9780385550369

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Book Summary

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view. From the "literary icon" (Oprah Daily) and Pulitzer Prize Finalist whose novel Erasure is the basis for Cord Jefferson's critically acclaimed film American Fiction.

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a "literary icon" (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

Excerpt
James

Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass. The moon was not quite full, but bright, and it was behind them, so I could see them as plain as day, though it was deep night. Lightning bugs flashed against the black canvas. I waited at Miss Watson's kitchen door, rocked a loose step board with my foot, knew she was going to tell me to fix it tomorrow. I was waiting there for her to give me a pan of corn bread that she had made with my Sadie's recipe. Waiting is a big part of a slave's life, waiting and waiting to wait some more. Waiting for demands. Waiting for food. Waiting for the ends of days. Waiting for the just and deserved Christian reward at the end of it all.

Those white boys, Huck and Tom, watched me. They were always playing some kind of pretending game where I was either a villain or prey, but certainly their toy. They hopped about out there with the chiggers, mosquitoes and other biting bugs, but never made any progress toward me. It always pays ...

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Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

James is a retelling of Mark Twain's 1885 novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is widely regarded as a classic work of American literature. Have you read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn before? How does Everett subvert Twain's original text? Did this reimagination change your perspective on the original novel?
Twain is well-known for his satirical writing. Where does Everett use humor and satire in James? What social and cultural conditions does the novel's satire mock or critique?
Reflect on Jim's narration. Why does he switch between vernacular and standardized English? How did this code-switching affect your reading experience?
Describe Huck's role in the story. How does Jim's fugitive status, as well as race, color, class, age, ...

Please be aware that this discussion may contain spoilers!

See what our members are saying about this book in our Community Forum.

All time favorite book club books?
...h (2024, St. Martin's Press) 4.81% 3 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (2022, Doubleday) 4.68% 4 Horse by Geraldine Brooks (2022, Viking) 3.92% 5 James by Percival Everett (2024, Doubleday) 3.42% 6 The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (2015, St. Martin's Press) 3.16% 7 Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (2009, Knopf) 2....
-nick

What are you reading this week? (5/1/2025)
I'm just this minute starting https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/18643/lies-and-weddings Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan. And then I'm going to launch straight into https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4796/james James without reviewing ...
-Ann_Beman

Anisfield Wolf Awards...Colored Television wins
Thanks Everyone for being open. I think because the award is in Cleveland (instead of very large markets like NY or LA) it remains unknown, but it is amazing. For example, Percival Everett, who is everywhere now, received it for Trees, written before Erasure and James. They truly highlight those ...
-Dee_Driscole

What are some books you loved reading in 2024?
I think I can narrow this down to four books… The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union , Stephen Puleo James , Percival Everett The Frozen River , Ariel Lawhon North Woods , Daniel Mason
-Robin_G

Overall, what did you think of The Devil Finds Work?
@Judith_G @Joyce_Montague I love the Percival Everett connection! I suspect Baldwin would have very interesting things to say about Everett's books (and the movie American Fiction) were he alive today.
-nick

Thoughts on James by Percival Everett (spoilers!)
Yes, that's what I was referring to.
-Roberta_Winchester

What's the last book you received as a gift, and what's the last book you gave as a gift?
I have a young friend who turned 70 a couple of months ago. I gave her All the Sinners Bleed by S.A.Cosby James by Percival Everett An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin
-Joyce_Montague

What are you reading this week (1/2/2025)?
I'm rereading Mink River by Brian Doyle. The next book will be *James" by Percival Everett.
-Linda_W1

What book(s) are you excited to read in 2025?
I'm looking forward to James by Percival Everett, but need to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn first. Can't believe I'm 72 y/o and haven't read it. My husband and I visited Hannibal, MO last...
-Lana_Maskus

The Top 20 Best Books of the Year as Voted by BookBrowsers
I want to acknowledge The Lion Women of Tehran since it hasn't been mentioned yet and it was one of my favorites. I have been meaning to read Percival Everett books for some time and both The Trees and I Am Not Sidney Poitier have been recommended to me as backlist selections. It doesn't take any...
-Diane_Jones

What are your reading this week? (12-12-2024)
...Dream Hotel for First Impressions, please let us know what you think by reviewing it you'd like! I finished my pairing of Huck Finn by Mark Twain and James by Percival Everett. I think they make a very interesting pairing and would recommend anyone read them both in close proximity. In my head I expected James to follow the...
-nick

Which book(s) have you read at least three times as an adult?
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles James by Percival Everett The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak
-Anne_Glasgow

National Book Awards
Yes, @nick . I react almost viscerally when anyone describes James as a rewrite of Huck because I think Everett took great pains to insure it was not that. It is its own book and story and it does so beautifully much of what Twain couldn't do which is tell a Black man's story. I did as you did an...
-Anne_Glasgow

What was the last book you bought, where did you buy it (online, indie bookstore) and how soon will you read it?
...off topic!!! The last book I bought was a study guide for a Bible study group I was recently invited to join and I got it online. Before that it was James by Percival Everett from Barnes and Noble online. The nearest physical bookstore, chain or independent, is 120 miles from my small rural Kansas town. I actually won a ha...
-Lana_Maskus

What did you think about Lewis, Joe’s father, faking a stereotype to make more money from wealthy recreational hunters?
This question made me think of the scene in James by Percival Everett when James is giving his children "language lessons." When asked why they have to learn the lessons, James responds: "White folks expect us to sound...
-Karen_Belyea

What do you think of Orbital winning the 2024 Booker Prize
Gabi, I would like to encourage you to reconsider about James. I found it to be so much more than a reimagined Huck Finn. It does share some common touchpoints with Huck but very much tells its own story. And Percival Everett's writing is beautiful, sometimes funny, and nearly always shines light...
-Anne_Glasgow

What is your book club reading in 2025?
...e Woods by Liz Moore The Bee Sting by Paul Murray Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout Huck Finn by Mark Twain & James by Percival Everett
-Anne_Glasgow

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BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

Jim's voice, along with the voices of the other enslaved people he knows and meets on his journey, is one of constant code switching. The ignorance-feigning language of minstrelsy also hearkens back to Erasure's book-within-a-book called My Pafology, which is written with a white audience in mind, employing the stereotypical language this audience would expect to hear from a streetwise Black criminal. Slavery's violence is unflinchingly captured in all of its horror, but also in its absurdity. Like the author supposedly standing up for Black voices in American Fiction, there are white savior types in James held up for satirical ridicule. Readers of some of Everett's other work may find themselves yearning for the stranger qualities of books like Erasure and Dr. No. James is a straightforward novel with few frills. However, it features some excellent surprises and the build up to and execution of the final act are expertly done...continued

Full Review (761 words)

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(Reviewed by Lisa Butts).

Media Reviews

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Using nuance and vulnerability to emphasize Jim's humanity, [Everett leaves a] stamp on the literary landscape as he dismantles the stereotypes of the enslaved humans depicted in Twain's classic... Percival Everett has accomplished more than humanizing a marginalized voice. He has, once again, delivered a seminal work of literary reparation.

Chicago Review of Books

Percival Everett continues his blistering pace of unforgettable fiction with James ... Everett infuses this well-known story with a refreshingly contemporary jolt of agency, intelligence, and compassion, bringing new life to the character of Jim and the American epic.

Elle

[Everett is a] prolific genius... A literary jukebox... If anyone is poised to casually (after all, he has bills) write a masterpiece that not only becomes instant canon but also sets a brush fire to the current ones it stands upon, it's Everett. And that's exactly what he's done with James.

Esquire

Blasted clean of Twain's characterization, Jim emerges here as a man of great dignity, altruism, and intelligence... Clever, soulful, and full of righteous rage, [Jim's] long-silenced voice resounds through this remarkable novel. Subversive and thrilling, James is destined to become a modern classic.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Playful and resonant... Everett has plenty of derisive fun here, dissecting and subverting damaging stereotypes... For a writer who often plays by few rules, Everett has drawn on what he knows best here – that freedom can be won, one word at a time. Add levity and serious intent and you have a novel that's a class act.

The Atlantic

To call James a retelling would be an injustice. Everett sends Mark Twain's classic through the looking glass. What emerges is no longer a children's book, but a blood-soaked historical novel stripped of all ornament... Genius.

The Boston Globe

Heir to Mark Twain's satirical vision, Everett turns a boyhood memoir into a neo-fugitive slave narrative thriller... Using erasure, Everett has produced a daring emendation. Redacting swaths of Huck Finn, he's revealed another code: the untranslated story of James's self-emancipation... James is a provocative, enlightening work of literary art.

The Chicago Tribune

Percival Everett [is] our current Great American Novelist... [James ] is a masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own... I almost cannot imagine a future where teachers assign The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn without also assigning James alongside it... Everett is one of the most, if not the most interesting writers working today.

The Los Angeles Times

Once you've picked up Everett's James , a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , you'll know that only Everett could take on the task of allowing Mark Twain's character Jim to show what was missing from the original story.

The New Republic

Everett's James isn't out to displace Twain's book. It's carrying out a bolder, more ingenuous, and, characteristic of its author, more subversive agenda…Everett endows Jim with greater dimension and nuance than his original creator did. Huckleberry Finn provided Jim with courage, dignity, and virtue. James bestows upon him the greater, if more complicated, privilege of full (if not yet unfettered) humanity.

The Wall Street Journal

[A] careful and thought-provoking auditing of Huckleberry Finn... [James is] a kind of commentary or midrash, broadening our understanding of an endangered classic by bringing out the tragedy behind the comic facade. And that is no small thing. I expect that James will be spoken of as a repudiation of Huckleberry Finn, but a book like this can only be written in a spirit of engaged devotion. More than a correction, it's a rescue mission. And maybe this time it will work.

The Washington Post

[A] sly response to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ... While The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn lampooned American society through the naiveté of its young narrator, James critiques White racism with the sharp insight of a character who's felt the lash…What's most striking, ultimately, is the way James both honors and interrogates Huck Finn, along with the nation that reveres it.

Time

Audacious... Everett [gives] Jim—who, we learn, prefers to be called James—his agency, letting his intelligence and compassion shine through. James is a poignant if often distressing reintroduction to a beloved character who deserved better.

Booklist (starred review)

In an astounding riposte, the much-lauded Everett rewrites [Huckleberry Finn] as a liberation narrative, told from Jim (or rather James') point of view...An absolutely essential read.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain's epochal odyssey...One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Ingenious…Jim's wrenching odyssey concludes with remarkable revelations, violent showdowns, and insightful meditations on literature and philosophy. Everett has outdone himself.

Reader Reviews

Cathryn Conroy

A Triumphant Masterpiece: Sophisticated Storytelling That is Provocative and Profound
Oh, wow! This book gave me goosebumps. Quite simply, it's a masterpiece. Brilliantly and imaginatively written by Percival Everett, this is the other side of Mark Twain's 1885 novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." It is a treatise on the ... Read More

Michelle H

Stunning Take on An American Classic
My first thought on reading this retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim's point of view was "Why has no one done this before? And why have none of the white people who have revered Huck's story ever thought to deeply consider the way Jim's character ... Read More

Anthony Conty

Has to Be Read to Be Believed
"James" by Percival Everett has the unenviable position of receiving almost every accolade. My eighth-grade English teacher gave us a list of 20 classics, and we had to do three book reviews. "Huckleberry Finn" was my third and favorite. I do not ... Read More

Roberta

Outstanding book
I belong to two book clubs and they both picked James as the next read. Because I hadn't read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for decades, I decided to give it a quick read first. I really didn't enjoy Huck Finn that much, but felt that it did ... Read More

...Read 3 More Reader Reviews

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Beyond the Book

Reimagining the Classics from a New Perspective

Jackets of the four main books in the article representing reimaginings of classic literature Percival Everett's James is a reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Huck's enslaved companion Jim. This kind of reconfiguration is a common source of inspiration for authors, as one can see in the following list of books that similarly provide new points of view on classic works of literature.

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor (2022)

This novel is a retelling of The Great Gatsby that focuses primarily on the women from the original story: Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby's former flame; Jordan Baker, Daisy's best friend; and Catherine McCoy, a suffragette who appears only briefly in the original text. In an interview with The Avid Pen, Cantor explains that she was inspired to write the novel by the ...

Continued...

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