Blurb

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW’S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • A LOS ANGELES TIMES BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE LAST 30 YEARS

In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg • A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME, and more.

“Genius”—The Atlantic • “A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own.”—Chicago Tribune • “A provocative, enlightening literary work of art.”—The Boston Globe • “Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful.”—The New York Times

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. 

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

Review

I just finished James by Percival Everett, and it’s one of the most memorable novels I’ve read in the last five years. A clear five-star book, and absolutely deserving of the Pulitzer it took home this year.

At its core, James is a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but through the eyes of Jim, the man whose story Twain largely left on the periphery. This time, he’s the voice. The depth Everett gives him is moving, layered, and often sharply satirical. If Twain sketched Jim in charcoal, Everett paints him in full color.

Stylistically, it reminded me at times of Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree, especially in its cadence and quiet, unshakable confidence. Other moments felt more in line with James McBride’s Deacon King Kong, one of other favorites I have read this year.

There’s also a strong pull of nostalgia here. Anyone familiar with Huck Finn will catch echoes of the original. Part of the fun is recognizing when Everett decides to mirror it. It is also fun when he chooses to subvert it or gut it completely. That interplay between past and present storytelling gives James an extra weight.

But I’ll say this, too: had this story been told with different names, detached from Twain’s legacy, I doubt it would have hit the same cultural chord. The novel benefits from our collective memory of the original and it knows that. That’s not a knock, just an observation on how literature works in conversation with itself.

All in all, James is powerful, thought-provoking, and one hell of a read. It earns its praise.