James by Percival Everett

Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024--San Antonio

James by Percival Everett is one of the top books of 2024.  It won the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize, plus it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.  It is the retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the slave.  It is well written.  One of the features of the book is an emphasis on how the slaves had to constantly be acting--speaking the way they were expected to speak (even though they knew how to speak English and did so among themselves), walking the way they were expected to walk, etc., and the burden and stress this created in their lives beyond the hard work they were expected to do and the maltreatment they received.  I never read the Mark Twain novel when I was young, but I knew the general aspects of the story from short sections that were read in English class and articles and discussions about it.  Therefore, I don't know if someone already familiar with the story from Huck's perspective would get as much pleasure from reading this book as I did, since most of the details of the story were new for me.  But I thoroughly enjoyed it and appreciated the concept of the book.  I gave it 5 stars out of 5.