As my first sampling of Percival Everett’s eclectic, adventurous output, his 2024 novel James is a scintillating introduction. Daringly retelling some of the exploits of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of the slave Jim, the book is immediately memorable as you realize that James/Jim is a literate intellectual who hides, along with his relatives, behind the slave lingo. This conceit is executed brilliantly, often with humor. But all the humor nestles behind the raw horror of the vicious, murderous treatment of the black slaves. Everett’s storyline tracks Twain’s, involving a part adventure, part desperate flight up the Mississippi River of the 1860s civil war time. As Huck and James roam, often hungry, often tossed into the hands of capricious white men, the author provides an unblinking view of a world in flux, a world of inhumanity, a world of hope. Comedy mixes with philosophical musings. The author’s style is cool and light and learned, a pleasure to read on the page. For a non-American, the tale can start to feel a little baroque and random, but Everett brings the book to a cathartic, emotional climax. James is brilliant and a pleasure to read.
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