Reviews tagging 'Child death'

James by Percival Everett

111 reviews

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

How strange a world, how strange an existence, that one’s equal must argue for one’s equality, that one’s equal must hold a station that allows airing of that argument, that one cannot make that argument for oneself, that premises of said argument must be vetted by those equals who do not agree.

Well-crafted, intelligent, emotionally full, funny and satirical. It’s hard to put into words how cleverly Everett shows the injustices of a society that allows and is built on slavery - not just the abuse but the lack of dignity, even if a black person passes as white, even if they’re passing as white while pretending to be black to entertain white people, even if they escape to a free state, etc

It plays with language and code-switching in such a cool subversive way. And obviously the theme of writing, storytelling and names was powerful. I really really loved the relationship between James and Huck.
I didn’t feel any particular way about the plot twist, but it provided some commentary on racial identity that struck to the heart of the story.
 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous challenging dark funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Incredible. Highly recommend the audiobook.

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Wildly adventurous tale on The Adventures of huckleberry Finn from a black perspective as told by James aka Jim slave. 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was an interesting take on the classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Jim (James) as the main character. I appreciated the themes of choice, language, and perception that guided the story. However, the violence was hard to stomach at times.

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