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A review by okiecozyreader
James by Percival Everett
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I think it would be 4.5 stars for me. I didn’t love it like a 5 star book but I think it is such an important look at a classic. I love how he took the pov of Jim from Huck Finn and made him into James, a runaway slave on this adventure, who we see as a full human being. I think if you like Huck Finn, you would love this even more. It has all of the great storytelling and adventure on the river, but with more modern storytelling. It’s interesting reading “classics” and seeing how they stand up to books we read today. Some do better than others.
“The boy was highly excited by the adventure of it all. I admired that, was envious of it, to tell the truth, to be able to feel that in a world without fear of being hanged to death, or worse.” Ch 10
“White people often spent time admiring their survival of one thing or another. I imagined it was because so often they had no need to survive, but only to live.” Ch 4
“IF ONE KNOWS hell as home, as home, then is returning to hell a homecoming? Even in hell, were there such a place, one would know where the fires were just a little cooler, where the rocks just a little less jagged.
And so it was in my hell.” Ch 5
“I wanted to feel the anger. I was befriending my anger, learning not only how to feel it, but perhaps how to use it.” Ch 6
“The boy was highly excited by the adventure of it all. I admired that, was envious of it, to tell the truth, to be able to feel that in a world without fear of being hanged to death, or worse.” Ch 10
“White people often spent time admiring their survival of one thing or another. I imagined it was because so often they had no need to survive, but only to live.” Ch 4
“IF ONE KNOWS hell as home, as home, then is returning to hell a homecoming? Even in hell, were there such a place, one would know where the fires were just a little cooler, where the rocks just a little less jagged.
And so it was in my hell.” Ch 5
“I wanted to feel the anger. I was befriending my anger, learning not only how to feel it, but perhaps how to use it.” Ch 6
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Slavery, and Violence