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A review by vixusg
James by Percival Everett
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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? No
5.0
James is a powerfully poignant read but it's also an incredibly harrowing story of how James reclaims his agency, his life or death journey to freedom, and his exploration of identity.
This book had many great aspects, the code switching, the use of philosophic writers, not to mention the writing is to-the-point and fast-paced, which I liked.I greatly enjoyed James' tactic for stupid white people and his big reveals to them.
Obviously lot of bad things happen in the book, that's the nature of slavery. Much of it is uncomfortable to read, but expected because that was reality. There's a great deal of things covered, the varying dynamics of oppressor/oppressed, minstrels, black face, fake ally-ship, slave rape, murder, hope, resistance, and writing his story.
Some might criticize some of the deviations from Mark Twain's Huck Finn but I think what's being forgotten here is that this book is James' story, not Huck's. Not to mention that Huck's an unreliable narrator for a host of reasons. I saw someone mention that Huck didn't get conclusion, but neither did James in the original. They said he was 'free' but what does free mean in a slave state where any white person's word is worth more? History can answer that one (the book too, James does tell us outright).
If you're YT like me, this book will force you to examine your whiteness, the foundations of it, the cracks in it, and the ways in which we have been complicit in the oppression of black people. And if you didn't get that, I fear you didn't read it close enough.
This book had many great aspects, the code switching, the use of philosophic writers, not to mention the writing is to-the-point and fast-paced, which I liked.
Obviously lot of bad things happen in the book, that's the nature of slavery. Much of it is uncomfortable to read, but expected because that was reality. There's a great deal of things covered, the varying dynamics of oppressor/oppressed, minstrels, black face, fake ally-ship, slave rape, murder, hope, resistance, and writing his story.
Some might criticize some of the deviations from Mark Twain's Huck Finn but I think what's being forgotten here is that this book is James' story, not Huck's. Not to mention that Huck's an unreliable narrator for a host of reasons. I saw someone mention that Huck didn't get conclusion, but neither did James in the original. They said he was 'free' but what does free mean in a slave state where any white person's word is worth more? History can answer that one (the book too, James does tell us outright).
If you're YT like me, this book will force you to examine your whiteness, the foundations of it, the cracks in it, and the ways in which we have been complicit in the oppression of black people. And if you didn't get that, I fear you didn't read it close enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment
Minor: War