Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

James by Percival Everett

7 reviews

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, Alcohol, Slavery, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Murder, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

bookb1itch's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

Timing!  This arrived on my final day of isolation with covid, so I got straight into it - when I could wrestle it away from my son!  Such intelligent commentary about race.  I'm now looking for Everett's back-catalogue, starting with Erasure, because I adored the film version "American Fiction".  It is so believably written, BUT I don't want to believe that African-Americans ever lived with this level of bigotry and mistrust.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Bullying, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Racism, and Hate crime

Minor: War

djbobthegirl's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexism, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Murder, Rape, Child death, Sexual assault, Animal death, Classism, Violence, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Alcohol, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Gun violence, and Racial slurs

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

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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

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

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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

tiogair_rioga's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent, War, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia

savvylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.5

James is a darkly comic expansion of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Everett has taken characters well-known (Huck Finn) and less-developed (Jim) and made them each richer, more complex, and human. James as protagonist is intelligent, compassionate, skilled, and determined. Much like in the original text, Huck & Jim spend the novel "adventuring" along the Mississippi River. Unlike in the original text, though, there is an undercurrent of terror throughout the narrative. It's a terror specific to Jim's status as a runaway slave in antebellum America. At every turn, there's a possibility that Jim could be captured, beaten, or hung by the white owning class that lurks in every town or hamlet along the river. This element of fear adds a more realistic approach to the so-called adventures for the era in which it's set.

Regardless of your familiarity with Mark Twain's original story and characters, James is a very enjoyable and well-paced historical novel injected with Everett's signature wit.

Thank you @netgalley & @doubledaybooks for the advance reader copy of James in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Death, Child abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Violence, Trafficking, Slavery, and Alcohol