James by Percival Everett

Percival Everett’s most recent novel, James, is brilliant. The premise is provocative and perfect. Everett has reimagined Jim, the enslaved character from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and renamed him James. James’ intelligence and compassion burst from the pages. He has secretly read many of the books from his owner’s library. His reading and writing has made him more insightful than the white people with whom he must interact.

James speaks with perfect grammar and erudition as do many of his fellow slaves. His knowledge of writers and philosophers is extensive. Yet to protect themselves, he and his friends revert to “slave talk” when white people approach. James says,“My change in diction alerted the rest to the white boy’s presence.”

As in Twain’s novel, Huck is running away from his violent father while James is fleeing because he fears he will be sold. He hopes to escape to a “free state” and earn enough money to buy his wife and daughter’s freedom. And thus, Huck and James embark on a dangerous and revealing raft ride on the Mississippi River.

The story illuminates the revolting behavior and attitudes of white people who often project their own inferiority onto the slaves they own. James should be read in conjunction with Huckleberry Finn or maybe instead of Huckleberry Finn. Highly recommend 5/5.