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A review by nataliecoyne
James by Percival Everett
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
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
4.75
Before getting into this review, I have a small confession to make: I've never read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or any of Mark Twain's other books. I read through the Wikipedia page for Huckleberry Finn and got some sort of SparkNotes version of it that way. But it was only after I started reading this book that I even made the decision to do that. So, yeah, went into a retelling without even the context of the original telling of the story.
But, this being my experience, just makes me confident in saying that this book can 1000% be enjoyed independently without having ever read Huckleberry Finn. I'm sure there are definitely some references or stuff that I missed out on from not knowing the full context, but this was definitely an incredible read.
I will say that I did have some trouble understanding some dialogue at the start, due to the choice to write how characters were speaking (so words cut off or misspelled to communicate the dialect), hence the 4.75-star rating instead of a 5-star rating. But I do understand the decision, and I think the codeswitching adds depth to the character of James. I also understand, from again reading the Wikipedia page, that this is apparently how the dialogue in Huckleberry Finn was written, so it makes sense that Percival Everett wanted to replicate this style.
Overall, I'd definitely recommend this to others, whether or not other people actually read Huckleberry Finn or not!
But, this being my experience, just makes me confident in saying that this book can 1000% be enjoyed independently without having ever read Huckleberry Finn. I'm sure there are definitely some references or stuff that I missed out on from not knowing the full context, but this was definitely an incredible read.
I will say that I did have some trouble understanding some dialogue at the start, due to the choice to write how characters were speaking (so words cut off or misspelled to communicate the dialect), hence the 4.75-star rating instead of a 5-star rating. But I do understand the decision, and I think the codeswitching adds depth to the character of James. I also understand, from again reading the Wikipedia page, that this is apparently how the dialogue in Huckleberry Finn was written, so it makes sense that Percival Everett wanted to replicate this style.
Overall, I'd definitely recommend this to others, whether or not other people actually read Huckleberry Finn or not!
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Murder
Minor: Gun violence, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, War