James

Reviews

Pure brilliance. Funny, wise, gracious; this may be Everett's best book yet A sharp novel . . . You may think you know Huck Finn’s story but this version breathes new life into it with unexpected twists and turns making it a must-read. Clever, soulful, and full of righteous rage . . . James is destined to become a modern classic To call James a retelling would be an injustice. Everett sends Mark Twain’s classic through the looking glass. What emerges is no longer a children’s book, but a blood-soaked historical novel stripped of all ornament . . . Genius ‘[A] careful and thought-provoking auditing of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . . . broadening our understanding of an endangered classic by bringing out the tragedy behind the comic façade In a fever dream of a retelling, the new reigning king of satire, Percival Everett, has turned one of America's best loved classics, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, upside down . . . a startling homage and a new classic in its own right Heir to Mark Twain’s satirical vision, Everett turns a boyhood memoir into a neo-fugitive slave narrative thriller . . . a provocative, enlightening work of literary art [A] sly response to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . . . James both honors and interrogates Huck Finn, along with the nation that reveres it Once you’ve picked up Everett’s James, a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, you’ll know that only Everett could take on the task of allowing Mark Twain’s character Jim to show what was missing from the original story Audacious. . . Everett [gives] Jim – who, we learn, prefers to be called James – his agency, letting his intelligence and compassion shine through [Percival Everett is a] prolific genius . . . If anyone is poised to casually write a masterpiece that not only becomes instant canon but also sets a brush fire to the current ones it stands upon, it’s Everett. And that’s exactly what he’s done with James Everett's latest dazzling novel is a supplement and a rebuke, a corrective and a celebration of Mark Twain's [The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn] [James] abounds in satire and irony . . . Like Kafka, [Percival Everett] is capable at once of being scarily funny and chillingly serious By recasting Twain’s flawed classic as a portrait of an enslaved man – in all the fullness of his courage, humanity and humour – Everett leaves a meaningful mark on American letters The wit of the writing and the fascinating examination into the freeing power of language preserves the charm and action-packed adventure of [The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn], while cleverly – and at times harrowingly – deconstructing its flaws [An] ingenious retelling of The Adverntures of Huckleberry Finn . . . Everett has outdone himself An absolutely essential read I’m demanding that you read Percival Everett’s novel James, in which Everett takes the camera from Twain’s Huck Finn and hands it to the slave, Jim. Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them A captivating response to Mark Twain’s classic that is both a bold exploration of a dark chapter in history and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit This is the work of an American master at the peak of his powers The audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain's epochal odyssey Percival Everett is a giant of American letters, and James is a canon-shatteringly great book. Unforgiving and compassionate, beautiful and brutal, a tragedy and a farce, this brilliant novel rewrites literary history to let us hear the voices it has long suppressed James is funny and horrifying, brilliant and riveting. In telling the story of Jim instead of Huckleberry Finn, Percival Everett delivers a powerful, necessary corrective to both literature and history. I found myself cheering both the writer and his hero. Who should read this book? Every single person in the country Majestic . . . [James] is Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful American literature’s philosopher king — and its sharpest satirist Percival Everett is an essential writer and James may be his greatest novel yet A classic novel overhauled by a modern master Fantastically entertaining . . . James’s solo adventures take on a life that doesn’t so much rival the original [The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn] as defiantly stand alone James has the potential to become a classic . . . thrilling, bold and profound Gripping, painful, funny, horrifying . . . a consummate performance to the last Both a page-turner and a profound meditation on the ramifications of slavery and self-hood . . . Luminous Expand reviews