A review by thecrimsoncorsair
James by Percival Everett

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

3.25

This was a great read ,but there were weak aspects to it. The amount of times that Huck and James randomly ran into each other felt highly unrealistic. Like, it's a small world unrealistic. And I felt a certain way about how women were portrayed in the book. Only present in the narrative as beings to be saved, raped, or killed. Not given presence to speak or exist upon their own. They are always victims of the narrative. While that is realistic to the times, this was supposed to be a subversive novel that pushed back against those occurrences. But subversion only applies to men it would appear. That's why I can't fully give this book a favorable rating. I could swear that there were more women present in the original Huck Finn. Probably not portrayed well, but they were at least present in the narrative. In this book, they are mostly absent, and portrayed poorly. Can't have subversion if it doesn't apply to every aspect of humanity you're trying to portray. 
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