Book review: James by Percival Everett

You would have to have been living under a rock not to have heard all the hype surrounding Percival Everett’s retelling of Huckleberry Finn, James.

Everett turns Mark Twain’s classic novel on its head by telling the story from the viewpoint of the slave, Jim – or James in this reimagined version.

The story is fast-paced and highly readable, recounting the rafting journey along the Mississippi River shared between a boy and an escaped slave. The novel is rich with humour and wit in its portrayal of America’s south before the abolition of slavery.

The absurdity of the racism that was rife at the time – evidenced in Twain’s own novel – were highlighted in episodes throughout the novel, including when James joined a musical group pretending to be a white man … pretending to be a black man.

The novel also inverted Twain’s rendering of the language of slaves, with James speaking differently when he was with white people in order to seem less educated than he was. In this way, he makes the reader question their own assumptions.

Despite the humour of the book, there is a far more frightening undertone as James contends with a community that is bloodthirsty when it comes to escaped slaves. James’ fear was palpable as he considered the implications if he was caught, especially compared with those that Huckleberry faced.

The novel also evoked the mighty Mississippi and the constant activity that occurred there, from the huge catfish to the churning paddlesteamers.

Having read and enjoyed James, I decided to read the novel on which it was based. It was a very different beast – far harder to comprehend, due to the speech of both Huckleberry Finn and Jim, and much, much longer.

I’m only halfway through Huckleberry Finn (it’s taking me a long time to get through), but I can already see it is a much more dense novel and I’m not sure how I feel about comparing the two – they’re (strangely enough) so different to each other. It is clear that the books were written in entirely different times, and it is eye-opening to see how much has changed.

One thing I can say is that James is a clever, thought provoking novels that is also an enjoyable read.