Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

James by Percival Everett

213 reviews

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.
 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional sad medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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: No

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Incredible. Highly recommend the audiobook.

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional hopeful 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

Literary perfection. 

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional 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: No

Wow, I wish I could give this book 6 stars. It truly deserves all the hype in my opinion. It's unique, thought-provoking and incredibly readable. I would not call this an "enjoyable" read because the main character is an enslaved person, but the humor and adventure kept me engrossed in the story from the very first page. 

This book is one that will stay with me and I'm sure I'll think about for a long time to come. Everett is a master with language and how it interacts with race and power and privilege. I have not read Huck Finn since I was in grade school, but I'm tempted to give it a re-read after James. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

i entered this knowing very little about the adventures of huckleberry finn, so i can't say how faithful an adaptation this is or how much of a dialogue everett is having with that book here. i do think this stands on it's own perfectly while also powerfully tackling the horrors of slavery and the many facets of racism and the hoops james has to jump through just to survive. seeing him getting the chance to finally reclaim his name and have freedom at the end was so satisfying. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings