Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - James

Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

James by Percival Everett

92 reviews

stephe's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

“At that moment the power of reading made itself clear and real to me. If I could see the words, then no one could control them or what I got from them. They couldn’t even know if I was merely seeing them or reading them, sounding them out or comprehending them. It was a completely private affair and completely free and, therefore, completely subversive.”

James is truly phenomenal. A retelling that on its own rivals, even surpasses, the original, all the while in deep conversation with it—at times complementing, at times challenging—to create a stunning work of American fiction. A testament to the power and import of words—written, spoken, hidden, revealed—and to the deep interiority from which they spring and to which they tend.

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habeels's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

hannahchung's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

amalas_bookstop's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

5.0

The easiest 5 stars I have given this year!

This book is a retelling of Huckleberry Finn through the perspective of Jim. From the start Percival Everett writes a Jim that is wise, but also cautious. The books starts with him teaching younger children how to live as slave in this world (how to stay under the radar, how to correct a white person while still making them believe they are right, etc.). From the beginning letting us know that the way they speak around white people is totally different than how they speak normally. Which I am eternally thankful for, because I hated reading Jims vernacular in Huckleberry Finn.

The book kept amazing pace amazingly well and in the end it almost read as a bit of a thriller (it has quite a bit of suspense). While Everett did change events of their adventures this came across as way more realistic to what would would have been for Jim to travel through the South. I saw this as an improvement. It was somewhat needed to give Jim a better character ark as he slowly shed the skin of slave and became James.

“I will not let myself, my mind, drown in fear and outrage. I will be outraged as a matter of course. But my interest is in how these marks that I am scratching on this page can mean anything at all. If they can have meaning, then life can have meaning, then I can have meaning.”

I totally recommend reading this after you read Huckleberry Finn, in fact schools should start recommending this as a package deal.

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ashoesmaker's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

franklola's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

kmcfall's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Wowza. Wowza. Wowza. I can’t remember the last time I read a book in one sitting, and it’s been a long time that I was so taken with a book that I could not put it down. This story—a retelling of Huck Finn from Jim’s perspective—about racism and claiming one’s own name (and story) is powerful, fully engaging, and incredibly fast-paced. Highly recommend! It came out March 19 and will be a book that will be talked about this year. Do check trigger warnings.

Content Warnings

asims723's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

Content Warnings

reading_ladies_blog's review

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adventurous emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

essjay's review against another edition

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4.75

I just loved this so much. Was not expecting it to make me laugh as much as it did (the tears were expected, though). The ending was a bit rushed, but I appreciated what it was going for.

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