James

Goodness I read this in 24 hours, very fast for me. It's very well written, very readable, and wryly funny throughout. Without in any way shying from the horrors of slavery that are described.

I read Huckleberry Finn two years ago and it made me angry. For lots of reasons, but mostly because Twain really gave Jim short shrift in the book. So it's great to read this new novel, the story from James' perspective. Just what I needed.

Mostly it works. I liked Everett's book the best in the first parts where it hews closely to Twain's own narrative, if anything is constrained by the original plot. Everett deftly tells the absurd hijinx of the white boy from the perspective of the escaped slave James. It's interesting to see author succeed at this narrative feat. I think the book goes off the rails a bit towards the end when the narrative diverges from Twain's, but then Everett's got a plan in mind for this book and he gets the story there. It's not place my to criticize that. (I am sorry we didn't get to see James' view of the offensive last quarter of Twin's book, where Sawyer makes a game of Jim's freedom for his own entertainment. I was hoping Everett would somehow redeem that, but maybe in retrospect it's better he just let it go.)

The most powerful thing in the writing is all the code switching, James alternating "slave dialect", a put-on to set white people at ease, vs his own learned "proper" English. It's the source of a lot of humor in the book, then later horror and power and poignancy. It never gets old.

There's also a couple of heartbreaking character details. James' love for Huck, his caring for the boy, protecting Huck on his adventure. And James hunger for written words, for books and writing implements. These speak powerfully to James' humanity and his perseverance in the face of slavery and are elements absolutely missing from Twain, part of what made me so angry reading Twain's novel. I thank Everett for supplying them.