Reviews tagging 'Torture'

James by Percival Everett

28 reviews

foresturken's review

adventurous emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Slavery, Death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Blood, Murder, Rape, Racism, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

gregory_glover's review

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Do not miss the Acknowledgments: “Finally, a nod to Mark Twain. His humor and humanity affected me long before I became a writer. Heaven for the climate; hell for my long-awaited lunch with Mark Twain.” That says it all?  What an amazing , incredible, beautiful, wonderful, brilliant novel.  He does the impossible, giving absolute agency, strength, 3-dimensional life, power, and dignity to Twain’s character.  “Jim” is now free….as James has always been. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Rape, Torture, and Slavery

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Slavery, Alcohol, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Torture, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

shay43geek's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Gaslighting, Violence, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Death

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Pedophilia, Hate crime, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Violence, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Torture, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, War, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Police brutality

mrsmoy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective 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

Moderate: Confinement, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Torture, Slavery, Child death, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Murder, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

webslingingadam's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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

James by Percival Everett it is a reimagining of Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the runaway slave Jim’s perspective. It basically follows the events of Twain’s story before diverging in the later half and is a startling good mix of funny and heart breaking and hopeful and horrifying. I absolutely loved it and if I read a better 2024 release I will be pleasantly surprised. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual assault

habeels's review against another edition

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

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Torture, Violence, and Sexual assault

amalas_bookstop's review

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, Torture, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent

readnicoleread's review

adventurous emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Rape and Torture