James

Very interesting view of an American classic novel taken from the perspective of the less prominent character in Mark Twain’s original.It is not necessary to have read the adventures of huckleberry Finn before starting in James as the author provides enough background - although with a few variations on the original.Enjoyable book and worthwhile reading.

As for the negative comments speaking out on the impossibility of a black slave to be a learned man, I urge them to learn some history. Do these people know who Blanche Bruce is? And how about Robert Smalls? Josiah Walls? Omar Ibn Said? Do they know that (according to encyclopediavirginia.org) "as many as 5 percent of enslaved people may have been literate by the start of the American Revolution (1775–1783), their educations often tied to religious instruction. Many enslavers viewed Christian teaching as their duty, and converts to the Church of England were required to be literate enough to read a catechism." Not to mention that this number only grew larger, and James, being a Christian convert, his story could've totally happened.Before posting some gibberish, do your research guys. It neither requires effort nor time, just a tiny bit of desire to know the truth.

Ottimo volume, corrispondente alla descrizione.

To read James by Percival Everett is to be ensnared, almost against one’s will, in a world that is at once mesmerizing and repellent. Here lies the Mississippi of the mid-19th century, a land of stark beauty and even starker human ugliness, brought to life by prose so precise and penetrating that one practically feels the grit of the riverbank underfoot. Everett is a storyteller of uncommon talent, and his prose functions not merely as description but as invocation—summoning the sights, sounds, and scents of a world in which a person can own another, and even make a profit from their degradation.Everett’s cast of characters is nothing short of extraordinary, a gallery of rogues and victims, saints and scoundrels, who populate this morally bankrupt society with unsettling vividness. Take King and Duke, two petty criminals who are free to exercise all the license that society permits to the least scrupulous of its white citizens. They roam between the worlds of the enslaved and the free with the mischievous abandon of parasites, embodying a kind of comedic villainy that is both absurd and darkly reflective of a culture that rewards freedom while denying it to others. And then there’s the judge—an image of respectability who, like so many pillars of this infernal system, stands on nothing more than cruelty and hypocrisy.But central to all of this is Jim, a man whose dignity persists despite the system’s constant attempts to erase it. It’s his quiet resilience and his nuanced interactions with other characters—Huck and Norman Brown among them—that lend the novel its soul. In Everett’s hands, Jim is no mere figurehead of victimhood; he is a deeply human, intelligent man who defies the very premise of the slave economy. His presence reveals the grotesque absurdity of the system that holds him captive.James is, above all, a book that refuses to let us turn away from the filth and horror that underpins American slavery. Though a work of fiction, it evokes a more visceral response than many so-called historical accounts, reminding us that the past is far from past. I found myself angry, saddened, even nauseated—an emotional cocktail that Everett no doubt intends. This novel does not merely entertain; it indicts, holding up a mirror to the human capacity for both cruelty and resilience.In reading James, one realizes that Everett’s gift lies not only in his craftsmanship but in his courage. He writes with a fierce clarity, refusing to let his readers escape the brutal truth that lurks in the background of every scene, every character interaction. This is not a book to be taken lightly. It’s a fierce, unblinking confrontation with America’s legacy of inhumanity—rendered with such skill that one can only marvel, even as one recoils in horror.

El autor logra que creas estar leyendo al mismísimo Mark Twain. Obra maestra que retrata perfectamente el hablar de los personajes y el contexto histórico desde el punto de vista del protagonista.

What an interesting concept—to reimagine Mark Twain’s classic ’The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ from the perspective of Huck’s companion, the runaway slave Jim! Jim has been given a voice. He is James, a cerebral narrator, a loyal father and husband, and a teacher to young black children.The first part of the book sticks to events that match Twain’s original. But midway , Huck and James are separated, and the latter begins to have adventures of his own. The chapters are short, and keep the story going at a quick pace. Not once did it drag for me at any stage.Though I thought the ending a bit sudden, it takes away nothing from the rest of the novel.There are twists and turns, much like the river Mississippi which plays an important part, in the tale to keep one engrossed throughout.The code-switching is very well done—how the black folk speak normal English to each other and switch over to pidgin English in front of the whites, because that is what the whites expect of them. The period this novel is set has also been advanced by 20 years from the original to the early 1860s in order to introduce the rumblings of the Civil War.A picaresque novel, it explores rape, murder, beatings and racism with wit and satire. It’s brilliant enough to be a standalone novel, without having to use the crutches provided by Mark Twain. I loved it.