Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

James by Percival Everett

47 reviews

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

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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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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

As a cathartic and satirical revenge story, this hit the mark, but as a well-written, complex story it did not. I felt that James was not nearly developed enough for a book that is meant to tell his story. The simple writing style and plot kept the book moving very quickly at the expense of depth and connection. Overall, it’s not a bad book and I think it’s a worthwhile story to retell. I just wish it had been more character-driven because I think that would have made it a more engaging and impactful story.

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is objectively a really good book and super quick and easy to finish. At first the writing style felt very detached to me like I felt like I was a step removed from James' thoughts and feelings which kind of softened the blow on the more emotional parts, but then you kind of find out that  there's an explanation for that which I really liked. 
This is really an adventure book with devastating historical context, I don't remember enough about Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn to say how much it departs from that canon or whatever, but I feel like kids should have to read this as a companion to Tom Sawyer if not just this one by itself. I feel like this is an important book and although the stakes are life and death the scenebuilding is so beautiful, the Mississippi river and the steamboats and the forests, wow. 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense fast-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
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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

Overall, as a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it was pretty well done. The quality of the writing was top-notch. I was fully immersed in the world throughout. 

Ive deducted half a star from it just because 1) I didn’t feel that Jim evolved much throughout the story. I suppose that could be argued based on who he was when it started, but overall he just seemed to be the same guy from start to finish without much of his beliefs or feelings changing despite everything he goes through. And 2) the twist where
Huck is actually his kid
felt unnecessary. It didn’t do anything to the story by admitting that revelation. 

Definitely recommend others to read Huck Finn first before reading James! I think knowing the original story helps you appreciate this one more. 

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