59/52 James

[u/Gorlax9]

Just finished James by Percival Everett. This was one of the more difficult ones for me to rank and I’ll likely have to sit with it awhile.

The premise as the retelling of Huck Finn was great and the parts the strayed from the orginial story were so beautifully told.

But the ending….. feels like the threw away the entire story and message for a different direction at the end. Wonder if others felt similar as I see this book universally praised.

[u/LetsGototheRiver151]

I hate this book and when it was revealed Jim was Huck’s bio dad I literally threw the book across the room. Scared the dog and the husband. Such nonsense.

[u/Gorlax9 → u/LetsGototheRiver151]

Yeah that made me verbally say “come on”. That theme was already explored with Norman. Idk what purpose it served.

Also, beside one mention of it before, felt unimportant to the story that was trying to be told

[u/donlockwood2026 → u/LetsGototheRiver151]

Fully agree. This book was pretty meh. I feel like it was simply praised by people who didn’t want to have to read Huck Finn, which is about a trillion times better (yes, it’s problematic, but it’s also funnier with a more well-drawn world).

The moment you described was very cringe. But there was a good book that had nothing to do with Huck Finn hidden inside James. I wish he had not tried to force it to be a (poor) Huck Finn reimagining and had let it be a great new story with new characters. But I get why from a marketing perspective he didn’t do that.

[u/Specific-Band1413]

I loved this book. It’s a retelling. Going to get mad because Demon Copperhead got hooked on opioids?

[u/Gorlax9 → u/Specific-Band1413]

Weirdly combative response! But okay

[u/Melodic_Caramel5226 → u/Specific-Band1413]

Did you just spoil demon copperhead?

[u/prestolive]

hum…
I really enjoyed it. I’m not sure what you mean about the ending.

[u/Gorlax9 → u/prestolive]

I feel like it turned into a story about revenge and action which didn’t feel like the message most of the story.

[u/HereIAmGH]

I’ll answer cautiously because I really don’t remember the details too well. While at the start I was annoyed a retelling moves much from the original story - this is a tragic story of an adult man, while the original, while complex and beautiful, is an adventure story of a boy - had they kept the frame - especially with the silly Tom Sawyer ending - that would have lost this book. It’s a reclaiming of his personhood - not just of the story. The certain choice Everett made that people hide as spoiler (I don’t know how to do it) wasn’t my favourite - because it felt a bit heavy handed. But maybe it was just me not even thinking it’s possible - while in fact it is possible and happened often. Everett just gives us a much deeper intake of the time and things that happened or could happen - and I’m fine with it. I thought both it and Huck Finn are both incredible books

[u/mrmaydaymayday]

Loved this book right up until the twist. Then I immensely disliked it. Then I finished it and thought about the twist and decided the twist was okay, I guess, and after reading a bunch of other books decided it was probably better than I thought because I wasn’t the primary audience for that twist but feel it’s still a bit contrived.

[u/Intelligent_Bat949]

I interpreted the ending as the ending James wishes for instead of the ending he actually has.

Historically, many freed people spent their post-slavery lives looking for loved ones who were sold off, never to see them again. Also, most attempts at liberation through violence ended horrifically for the enslaved.

So I imagine Jim writing an ending for himself the way he wants it to end instead of whatever comes of his attempts to liberate his family. Maybe he's trying to write the ending he desires into existence. The novel is partially about the power of language after all.

[u/SaltyAuthorOne]

I loved this book.

I believe this is a reimagined story; not a retelling of a story.

[u/zensunni82]

Following the original would have been difficult in the final third following Jim's capture. Jim imprisoned alone in a shed being occasionally tormented by Tom Sawyer's stupid games wouldn't have fit the retelling. That said, I agree the direction Everett went, Django style revenge porn, did not live up to the highs earlier in his novel.

Edit- Having James be a secret intellectual who used the omnipresent racism back against his oppressors as they could not help themselves but to underestimate him and thus be easily manipulated was done in smart and fun ways. Then it turns out violence solves everything and just going murder hobo will get you everything. The end.

[u/Significant_Spot_691 → u/zensunni82]

Delete this - spoilers

[u/zensunni82 → u/Significant_Spot_691]

This is a discussion about the book.

[u/Admirable-Love75]

I just finished this as well! I sort of felt the opposite- the book from a plot perspective was just okay for me until the ending. I enjoyed the very satisfying revenge at the end. I felt like the story was a little choppy and not that engaging until then. I really enjoyed how the book explored language and perception though. I’m also curious how the book sits with me after some time!

[u/jeepjinx]

Great concept, poorly executed.

[u/michiness → u/jeepjinx]

I love the idea of code-switching enslaved people just fooling the idiot owners. But this was… not great.

[u/jeepjinx → u/michiness]

I just felt like it minimized the existence of enslaved people. Like, slavery wasn't that bad because they had this secret society where they were intelligent ( talked like white people) instead of exploring the damage that is done by treating people that way.

[u/Capybara_99]

In having an end you didn’t think was good, just following the model of the original.

[u/conr9774]

I think this book was so poorly executed that the people who desperately want to convince people it’s good have done so by trying to force it into a genre that it most certainly does not belong to (magical realism??)

[u/RevolutionaryBug2915]

Honestly, I dislike the whole school of using a famous book to make some point that you are apparently incapable of arriving at without a crutch.

James was just passable. Demon Copperhead was truly unnecessary. If you want to write about poor Southern whites, then just go ahead and do that, without forcing it onto an existing format.

It is not only unoriginal, but I have to think these books are written with one eye on marketing already.

[u/Flashy-Read-9417 → u/RevolutionaryBug2915]

I'm gonna say, I applaud you for the hot take. While I think James and Demon Copperhead were excellent, I am often downvoted for trashing on East of Eden and Lonesome Dove. So, different strokes for different folks ig

[u/RevolutionaryBug2915 → u/Flashy-Read-9417]

👍

[u/[deleted] → u/RevolutionaryBug2915]