Percival Everett is an auto buy and this book exactly proves why. A clever retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from a different perspective. This is a difficult job indeed but the author does it justice. I feel this book does a good job both with and without context of the original material. It is a well balanced read and is a top book for me.

Thank you Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

Having loved The Trees, I was eager to try Everett’s next book. I read James without having much prior knowledge of Huck Finn/Tom Sawyer and still got a lot from this. Folks who know more of Mark Twain’s writing will surely be able to recognise more of the detail and parody, but I would say it’s not essential to real Twain before picking up James. Cleverly satirical, but with heart - Everett has done it again. I think this will make a lot of peoples’ top reads of 24 lists.

I have never read Huckleberry Finn, and I think I would have enjoyed this book much more if I had. This book has its genesis in Twain’s 19th century novel, but this time written from the perspective of the slave Jim.
I would have found the novel quite simple had I not joined a buddy read hosted by @time4reading
The chat about the book definitely delved in deeper that I had seen, so it definitely added to the experience of reading it.
Unsurprisingly the novel addresses the way slaves were treated during this time, and we get to hear their perspective. It’s a good read, but as always with these type of rewrites/different perspectives, it’s hard not to question how accurate it can be for the time, and/or how much of the perspective is derived with the benefit and righteousness off hindsight.

A wonderful retelling of the classic Huckleberry Finn. told through the eyes of Jim a save about to be sold. Cleaver, heartfelt and honest.

Absolutely beautiful and touching story of James. I very much enjoyed this read as Everett balances humour and tragedy incredibly well. Everett educates the reader while absolutely not being on the nose. I can’t wait to read the whole backlist of this author.

I really enjoyed this, a great retelling of the well-known The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but told from the perspective of Jim, the slave that originally accompanied Huck in Mark Twain's story. Jim is clever but chooses when to show it. It is a very interesting and thought-provoking tale about how people have treated each other. There are also some very funny moments which were well woven into included in an otherwise difficult storyline. Very emotional, highly recommend.

The download date was unfortunately missed, I would be happy to re-review it if it became available again. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

Fantastic

Thought this was a well done reimagining of the Huckleberry Finn story.
Loved the two main characters and took away lots to discuss at my bookclub..

Looking forward to Percival Everett’s next book.

I have never read Huck Finn and thought I would read it before this. However I really couldn't get into it and thought I would find James the same. I was wrong.
This re-imagined look at the story through the slave's eyes is extremely well done. There is humour and some very poignant moments as well as the expected shocks.
I can see why so many people rave about the author's books. This won't be my last Percival Everett.

I loved this new novel from Percival Everett, author of The Trees. In a clever retelling of the classic American tale of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Everett brings the slave character Jim to life in a very different way.

In this version, Jim and Huck escape from the farm of Ms Watson in a journey down the Mississippi River. While Jim speaks “slave talk” with the “white Folk”, unbeknownst to them, Jim can also read and speak English fluently. It’s all an act. In private Jim uses language as a weapon in not conforming to the expectations of society.

While there’s lots of sly humour, there’s also stark moments of intense brutality and violence. Notwithstanding, I really enjoyed this clever, subversive book and would recommend it to any readers who enjoyed The Trees. 4 stars for me.

With many thanks to @netgalley and @panmcmillanuk for the advance copy in return for my review.

This reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the story from the perspective of Jim/James, an escaped slave who ran away in order to avoid being sold by his owner and separated from his family. This was an enjoyable read which had all of the warmth, humour and sadness of the original.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy to read and review.

A retelling of the adventures of Huckleberry Finn . I am clearly an outlier here. I didn’t enjoy the book. I knew I was in trouble at the start with the language that was being used. It made me recall that I didn’t enjoy Huckleberry Finn either when I had to read it at school. I felt that this book didn’t have enough structure for me and it was really a rapid series of different adventures. It was also far from subtle as someone else has said “all white people are evil and all black people are PhD level orators who dream in French.”

Not the book for me, but many people seem to have loved it

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC .

Percival Everett is an extraordinary writer- funny, insightful, tender, tough at the same time. This latest work doesn’t dissapoint.

So, I tried to read Huckleberry Finn before reading this, for comparison purposes, but I just couldn't get through it. If you're the same, I can highly recommend this summary blog post: <a href="https://fictionmatters.substack.com/p/reading-in-public-no-32-seven-things">FictionMatters - Reading in Public No. 32: Six things to know about Huck Finn before you read James</a> (and I'm sure there are others).

As others have said, I didn't find this to be a funny book and whilst linguistically it's an easy read, it's not a subject matter that is easy to read. It's simultaneously horrifying and gripping, and I couldn't put it down. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending and <i>James</i> is simply a must read.

This is the first Percival Everett book I've read but won't be the last.

It is a long time since I read about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberrry Finn but this remaking was nevertheless very interesting and cleverly done.
To have the story told by James (not Jim) was fascinating and gave such an interesting twist being told from the viewpoint of an educated negro who had to speak as if ignorant and hide his education and intelligence.
Wittily told.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Percival Everett/Pan Macmillan for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a reimagined sequel to Huckleberry Finn that focuses on James, the enslaved man who escapes. I don’t know HF well enough to know how true to the original story it is but this is the adventure that James goes on after leaving Huck. His plan is to earn money to buy his wife and child back. It’s an epic novel with twists and turns at every point. I really enjoyed it.

A brutal but brilliant read. Bonnie Garmus had recommended this book in a talk she did for the Society of Authors and I can see why - I'll be recommending it to everyone too. James (Jim) is an excellent main character and his shifting relationship with Huck works really well. This is a powerful retelling that stays with you long after the last page.

I'm afraid this book led me into a bit of a reading slump and I had to dnf at 50%. I don't really know what all the hype is about this book. I enjoyed The Trees and felt it was innovative and interesting. However, this just felt superficial and lacked depth for me. I felt the insights into the lives of the slaves were a bit trite and not really nuanced or inventive. The prose style was too simplistic and read like a children's book which I know is what this book is based on but it's surely for an adult audience - so write for adults!
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Pan Macmillan | Mantle in exchange for a free and honest review.

I really liked this book. This book is narrated by Jim/ James who runs after finding out that his slave owner plans to sell him. The story follows James and Huck's adventures. I liked that this book centres Jim and gives his character more depth. Overall, an enjoyable read with some hard hitting themes. I would highly recommend.

This is my first Percival Everett but after the hype of this I added more of his books to my list.

I wasn’t excited about this but it felt like a book everyone was going to be talking about and I wanted to be part of the conversation.

I don’t have a relationship with Huck Finn. I’ve got a joint honours American Lit degree so I’ve read it, but 15 years ago and it didn’t gel with me then.

I really liked the approach here and I liked the set up. I loved the switch up of the classic story and the voice of Jim and his reality.

But I think not knowing the original well meant a lot of this was lost on me.

I’m really interested to read more Percival Everett, I just don’t think this one was for me.

3.5 stars