James by Percival Everett is a companion read to Huckleberry Finn in that it reimagines the classic story from the perspective of the enslaved Jim.

James by Percival Everett

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, American Fiction, Literary Fiction, Slavery, Reimagining a Classic, Mississippi River Region

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My Summary of James:

James is a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn told from Jim’s point of view. Huck is running from his abusive father and enslaved Jim is running to avoid being sold and separated from his family. Those who have read Huck Finn are aware of the many harrowing adventures Huck and Jim experience, the mishaps they survive, and the colorful characters they encounter. James includes some of these events, but it’s truly a story of Jim’s intelligence, observations, and pursuit of freedom that compel us to turn the pages until we reach the riveting conclusion.

My Thoughts:

Categorizing James

I categorize James as literary historical fiction, but is it a retelling? In interviews, Percival Everett insists that James is not a retelling or a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn (HF). Everett declares that he is not rewriting Huck Finn but giving Jim “presence” in the story in a way that Mark Twain was unable to at the time. James can be considered a companion read to Huckleberry Finn in this respect. HF has been criticized (among other things) for its stereotypical portrayal of Jim. After reading James, I can’t imagine reading HF without James’ character development or perspective.

Comparing James and Huckleberry Finn

James is told entirely from Jim’s point of view. The first half of James provides an assortment of Huck’s and Jim’s experiences in a structure and tone reminiscent of HF and pays homage to Mark Twain’s work. You might be lulled into thinking that this is a typical retelling or reimagining; however, the story takes a dramatic turn midway as Huck and Jim become separated and, from then on, the story is Jim’s alone and the tone changes. I was relieved to see less of the King and Duke characters as I skimmed most of the middle of HF because of these two. We get a taste of these despicable characters in James, but it’s here that Jim’s story becomes separate from Huck’s.

While Twain’s story has humorous tones, Percival’s is grim, thought-provoking, and serious. As you might expect, James includes violent and disturbing depictions of slavery and abuse that are difficult to read.

Percival’s writing is understated and restrained compared with Twain’s. It’s apparent that the authors have different purposes in mind. I felt that Percival was measured and disciplined in his language usage; however, this does not hide his author’s voice or beliefs from readers. I sensed that Percival himself was speaking directly to readers on many occasions.

There are far fewer racial slurs in James than in HF. They are included for authenticity but are not gratuitous. This is welcome news for those who have banned HF for that reason.

In James, we do not get Huck’s story of abuse and subsequent escape from his father. I wondered as I read the beginning of the story if readers who had not read HF would buy into why HF runs away and the extent of his trauma. This is the only time I thought that reading the original might be helpful.

I cannot write about the ending of James without including major spoilers, so I will say that there’s a plot twist at 80% that I didn’t see coming and the highly discussable ending is quite different in both books. If you desire to avoid spoilers, I encourage you to skip reviews until you’ve read the story. As I read the conclusion, I wanted to discuss it, so find a buddy or book club to read this with you!

Power of the Written Word

One of the most powerful themes in James is the power of writing your own story….not just telling it or having someone else tell it, but writing it yourself. In that sense, Everett has given Jim a powerful voice and story by writing it down for us. I can hear the author saying: I (and others) have related this content many times and now I will write it down for you in a way you will never forget. We won’t forget either because Jim’s pencil comes to him sacrificially and becomes a powerful symbol in the story.

“I am a man who is cognizant of his world, a man who has a family, who loves a family, who has been torn from his family, a man who can read and write, a man who will not let his story be self-related, but self-written.”

~James, Percival Everett

Do I Need to Reread Huck Finn Before Reading James?

No.

However, there are some reasons for rereading (or reading the first time) Huckleberry Finn to consider:

• Despite being a banned book, Huck Finn is a classic and depicts a historical time in the 1800s.
• Some literary critics consider H.F. to be the first American novel that started the transition away from romanticism to realism in literature.
• Some readers might have only read a children’s version or remember seeing a movie. Reading H.F. as an adult is a different experience. If you read only one portion of H.F., read Ch 31.
• Reading Huck Finn is an opportunity to appreciate the audacity of Mark Twain to suggest that slaves are fully human, value their families and freedom, and can participate in an interracial friendship. The book was banned upon publication, not just in our modern times.
• Reading H.F. will add another layer of complexity to your reading experience with James. I skim-read H.F. before starting James because I wanted to refresh my memory and be able to compare and contrast them more effectively.
• H.F. is FREE on Project Gutenberg. You might want to reread the ending before reading James.

Recommending James

I’m highly recommending James. I predict that readers who have read Huckleberry Finn will appreciate reading James. Fans of classic literature will want to read James as a companion read to HF. Readers who enjoy authentic, page-turning, and well-told stories by “own voices” authors will want to add this to their TBRs. I can envision James being one of the most talked about books of the year and it already has a spot on my top ten reads of 2024. It lives up to the hype.

I’m not an “own voices” reader or reviewer. I’m simply sharing my reading experience from a limited perspective, If you are an “own voices” reader or reviewer, please add your thoughts in the comments section and/or drop a link to your review. I’d love to hear what you think!

Content Consideration: violence, slavery conditions, physical abuse, racial slurs, rape

My Rating:   5 Stars

Meet the Award-Winning Author of James, Percival Everett

PERCIVAL EVERETT is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC. His most recent books include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He has received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award and The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and their children.

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QOTD:

Is this reimaging on your TBR or have you read it?
Have you read Huckleberry Finn?
(HF is free on Project Gutenberg)

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