Shopping cart
Your cart empty!
James
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • KIRKUS PRIZE FINALIST • A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view
In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg • A Best Book of the Year of the Year so Far for 2024: The New York Times Book Review, Esquire, W Magazine, Bustle, LitHub
"Genius"—The Atlantic • "A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own."—Chicago Tribune • "A provocative, enlightening literary work of art."—The Boston Globe • "Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."—The New York Times
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.
Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
More Books from Percival Everett
Reviews
What was hard for me about this book was how much James learned on his own. I couldn’t imagines anyone getting to that erudition without any help, in secret, and not getting caught. It helped Everett make manifest the horrors of slavery but he’s is a good enough writer to have done that without creating an almost God like protagonist. James’ erudition, and his imagined conversations with progressive thinkers and philosophers, enables Everett to expose the hypocrisy of “enlightened” thinking at that time. I am not sure how Everett would have been able to do this otherwise, but it seemed a somewhat forced novelistic device. I thought Everett’s depictions of the physical violence of slavery, especially its psychological dehumanization and brutality, was superb. The horror is conveyed but never gratuitously. This book, experienced in conjunction with Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, should be a requirement for any US citizen.
By Scott's take on things
Compelling, enthralling, magnificent.
By Title misfit
LOVED!!! It was Amazing! I will definitely tell others to read it.
By Lolipop22222222220
Captivating, unexpected, and such an easy read.
By amwgmail2019
Terribly Excellent.
By TGFOW