James, a novel by Percival Everett

In James, acclaimed author Percival Everett (previous novels have been finalists for the Booker Prize and the Pulitzer) reimagines Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn through the eyes of Jim, the slave runaway who traveled with Huck. With an interesting twist (and maybe a spoiler alert here) Jim is an educated man who can read and write and has impeccable English – but only among his people (and at such times he claims the name of ‘James.’) But within his life as a slave (now he’s Jim) he keeps up the slave dialect as expected given his status in society as in this from the book: “Lawdy, Lawd, Lawd,” I said. “Sho was a scary dream.” The story evolves as James seeks to free his wife and daughter and pursue freedom in the north as the Civil War is beginning. Much like Twain, the plot is a series of adventures and misadventures, near misses and, at times, humorous events. All of this rises to a climax that the reader hopes will end with Jim rewarded because of what he’s had to endure. The arc here is extremely well done IMHO. Reading it I am along for the ride and feel the story moves nicely but also, because of the challenges he faces (one after another and often horrific) the plot succeeds at building my anticipation, resulting in some impatience about getting to a good end… that impatience is, I believe, what the author intends… Yet this 300-page novel reads extremely quickly, much faster than I’d expected. My equivocation on this book lies in whether this is a plot driven or character driven novel. It’s likely both and to say it’s one or the other would diminish what Everett has accomplished. Underlying all this is the fact that the black characters speak in slave dialect to avoid punishment, but their actual ability to speak in the King’s English raises their intellect to a level equal to the white world, and then surpasses it with their innate humanity and the deep empathy they must hide to stay alive. A great tale, this book, but with much more underlying it than what I’ve covered here. So, like most of the other books I’ve discussed in this blog, get it and read it…