A review by readtotheend
James by Percival Everett

adventurous reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

Wow, this was masterful. I kept thinking I should read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn before I started this book so I started to read Huckleberry Finn but got impatient and started in on James. This can definitely be read as a standalone but I think just reading a few chapters of Huckleberry Finn got me back into that time period. I think it's brilliant that Everett took a Great American Classic novel and gave a voice to one of literature's most well-known but secondary characters, Jim a runaway enslaved man who actually prefers to go by James.  There is a big revelation that happens in this book and I tell you, my mouth dropped open. Again, just brilliant. So happy to have picked this one up, definitely in my top reads of this year.