James – Percival Everett
Expectation: A straight-forward re-imagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
Reality: A dark, engaging story that builds on the source material and delivers a highly entertaining read more attune to our modern sensibilities.
My Take:
Equal parts vigilante story and reclamation of a character, Percival Everett’s reimagining of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a bold and entertaining novel that actually makes the source material better.
I dove into “James” hours after finishing “Huckleberry Finn,” and this back-to-back approach is the best way to fully appreciate how cleverly Everett expanded Twain’s world. The lauded man of letters gave Everett the lines, and he richly colored them in — providing a more literary and cohesive narrative.
From a love of classic literature to internal debates on race and slavery with Voltaire and Locke and frequent code-switching, the author winks at the reader with modern sensibilities that give James multitudes while still acknowledging the time period under which he was initially created.
Here, James is given purpose beyond comic relief. His quest is to find and free his wife and child, and he leverages Huck’s whiteness to his own benefit. But we also learn that his interest in the rapscallion orphan goes deeper.
It was one of many creative liberties that Everett took with the source material, and for the most part, they worked. There are several portions of “Huckleberry Finn” where James is sidelined, and Everett fleshed out his adventures, which proved to be far more sinister than anything Huck could’ve imagined.
From being sold to a minstrel show and passing as white to surviving a river boat explosion, these plots added dimension to the character, but I most enjoyed it when we experienced James’ perspective on the events that happened in “Huckleberry Finn,” specifically the Duke and the King.
A few sections lasted longer than they needed to, making the middle a tad repetitive, but once we enter the last act — a complete departure from the source material — “James” becomes a blood-soaked revenge tale that will keep you breathless.
Some may argue it was a tonal departure from Twain’s novel, but I disagree. Reading “Huckleberry Finn” as an adult, you see how dark the story actually is. Everett simply doubled down on those elements and added a few more that are reflective of James’ journey.
When reading a re-imagining, I always wonder what the original author would think about it. Since Twain was bold in his views about equality, I believe he’d be proud of how Everett humanized James and brought the injustices of systemic racism front and center — something he was only able to hint at.
To both elevate and honor is no small feat, and while I didn’t always love some of the creative decisions Everett made, this was a propulsive, engaging read that is well worth the time.
Dominic Hoffman provided a fantastic audiobook narration that brought James to life in vivid and heartbreaking detail, matching his exhaustion, anger and drive perfectly. He was especially adept at portraying the code-switching that was so crucial to James’ survival before deciding he could no longer wear the mask.
Thank you to Libro.fm, Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group and the author for a free copy of the audiobook. This exchange of goods did not influence my review.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): 5/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (personal library)
Dates read: April 21 – April 23, 2024
Multi-tasking: Okay. The story and writing are easy to follow, but if you’re expecting this to follow the same path as its source material, you’ll get lost in the new characters and situations if you aren’t paying close attention.
