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melorafern 's review for:
James
by Percival Everett
Wow! This is a powerful read—much greater than a reimagining of an American classic. Percival Everett has profoundly given us a story of survival, boldness, and the quiet dignity of resistance in the face of dehumanization. Just the title alone tells the reader that Jim is much more that what Mark Twain had portrayed. Everett's clever use of language—the code-switching that the slaves taught each other and the way words, writing, reading and even a pencil carry such meaning and sacrifice for James is thought provoking and unsettling. The horror and pain of slavery is at the center of this novel which makes it difficult yet so necessary and important to read. My Queen Bees book club had in-depth and meaningful discussions about this book!
Synopsis: A magnificent reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view. When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
I highly recommend James, especially in light of what's going on in our country today. Everyone should read it—it's a well written, creative book about a person fighting for his voice.
Have you read James? What do you remember from when you read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
Synopsis: A magnificent reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view. When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
I highly recommend James, especially in light of what's going on in our country today. Everyone should read it—it's a well written, creative book about a person fighting for his voice.
Have you read James? What do you remember from when you read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?